Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Student Discipline Wellbeing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
DeKalb reports sharp drops in suspensions, expands mental-health and PBIS supports
Summary
The district says in-school suspensions fell by 15% and out-of-school suspensions by 28% year over year; officials credit expanded mental-health staff, PBIS expansion, 'Disconnect to Reconnect' phone policies and restorative-practices training.
Keisha Towns, chief of wraparound services for the DeKalb County School District, told the board on May 1 that the district saw a decline in disciplinary removals this school year and described the district’s broader effort to address behavior through prevention and mental-health supports.
Towns reported that, year to date, the district reduced in-school suspension incidents by 15% and out-of-school suspension incidents by 28%, which she said represents a combined decrease of 24% or 1,657 fewer students suspended compared with a year earlier. District due-process hearings — the most serious discipline cases — fell by 37%, from 806 last year to 510 year to date.
Why it matters: District officials say the reductions come as they increase counselors, restorative-practices trainers and targeted school-level support. Towns told the board: "When students are safe, healthy, and well, they perform better in school."
What the district has added: Towns said the wraparound services staff totals 667 people working on mental-health and related supports — nurses, psychologists, counselors and prevention liaisons. The district has 60 schools implementing Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) with one school earning the state’s “distinguished” recognition and 18 operational PBIS schools. The district trained roughly 300 staff in verbal de-escalation since August 2024 and about 314 staff in restorative-practice circles.
Attendance and 'Disconnect to Reconnect': Towns described Everyday Labs attendance nudges the district uses to reduce chronic absence, saying 23% of chronically absent students at some pilot schools improved to non‑chronically absent status after intervention, and 51% improved after receiving automated nudges. She described the Disconnect to Reconnect effort to remove phones from instruction and cited positive classroom effects during pilot periods.
Board discussion: Members asked about sustaining progress, distinguishing discipline from health needs, and staffing for in‑school suspension spaces. Towns said the district is redesigning its ISS curriculum and training paraprofessionals to run constructive in‑school interventions.
What’s next: Towns said the district is moving toward Georgia MTSS integration and continuing to scale PBIS, restorative practices and attendance interventions while training staff to identify mental‑health or academic needs that underlie behavior.
