Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Discipline topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board reviews August discipline report; phone, dress code and truancy top infractions in different grade bands
Summary
District leaders presented the August discipline baseline: high school incidents were led by cell‑phone violations (18.3%), dress code (11%) and truancy (10.8%); middle and elementary schools showed different top infractions and principals were asked to standardize reporting and pursue supports.
The board received the August discipline report as a baseline for the school year. Doctor King (presenting the data) said the district will present monthly reports to track trends and to inform supports.
Doctor King summarized top infractions by level: at high schools, cell‑phone violations accounted for 18.3% of incidents, dress‑code violations 11%, and truancy 10.8%. For middle schools, the top categories were inappropriate behavior (26.4%), disrupting class (12.3%), and inappropriate language (8.5%). Elementary top incidents included "hit/kick/push" (29.7%), inappropriate behavior (16.8%), and truancy (11.6%). District‑wide, the top five incident categories accounted for 46.3% of reports, led by inappropriate behavior (11.7%), phone violations (10.2%) and truancy (9.9%).
Board members raised questions about the use of out‑of‑school suspension for young students and how infractions are coded. Dr. King explained that discipline is progressive and that some infractions require OSS under handbook procedures; she said principals work to use supports before suspension and that OSS sometimes serves as a temporary "reset." "If they're suspended or OSS, we're not required to provide services," Dr. King said when asked about elementary suspensions coded as "out of school, no service."
Board members also highlighted potential inconsistencies in reporting between schools. One board member noted wide differences in reported incidents among middle schools and asked whether some events are under‑reported or entered differently; staff said this was the first baseline run of this format and pledged to review reporting practices with principals and to recheck school entries.
Presenters and board members discussed supports for behavior and mental‑health needs, including wraparound services and community mentoring; staff said cost and resource constraints limit some options.
District staff said they will clean up the reported format to make monthly discipline data easier for board and public review and will meet with principals to confirm consistent incident entry and follow‑up practices.
