Naperville District 203: Annual discipline report shows most students have no referrals; board presses for incident-level equity data

The Naperville School District 203 Board of Education on Sept. 8 received an annual discipline briefing showing the majority of students had no behavioral referrals, restraints and time-outs declined from the previous year, and a small share of students accounted for a disproportionate share of incidents. Board members pressed staff for incident-level, disaggregated outcome data and a regular reporting schedule to track equity and intervention effectiveness.

District staff told the board that since the start of the 2022–23 school year the district conducted 834 behavior threat assessments, with most assessed as “no threat” or “transient.” Presenters said physical restraints and time-outs are used only when a student’s behavior poses imminent danger and that reporting to the state (ISB as cited by staff) is required within 24 hours. Staff reported 58 restraints and 84 time-outs in the most recent school year, and said that represents less than 1% of the total student population for the grade bands cited.

At the high school level, staff reported 6,348 recorded behavior incidents for 2024–25; 65% of high school students had no referrals, and another 21% had one or two. Staff described a three-tier pattern: about 9% of students (tier 2) were responsible for roughly 29%…