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Discipline incidents decline, board upholds three appeals in closed session
Summary
District data show year‑over‑year declines in recorded discipline incidents and suspensions despite rising enrollment; the board reviewed the multi‑year report, asked staff to investigate a North Texas secondary increase, and in closed session upheld administrative decisions on a staff grievance and two student expulsions.
Harmony Public Schools presented a multiyear student-discipline report to the board on May 17 showing a decline in reported behavior incidents and suspensions compared with the district’s 2018–19 baseline, even as enrollment increased.
Presenters said the analysis excluded years heavily affected by COVID‑19 and used the district’s Skyward system as the source for incidents recorded between the 2018–19 baseline and May 13, 2025. Staff explained that each recorded event in Skyward counts as one behavior event; a single event may include multiple students. Presenters highlighted systemwide initiatives — character-school recognition, expanded counselor roles, explicit classroom instruction on social-emotional skills, and updated pre-K–2 suspension policy — as contributors to the downward trend.
District presenters and board members discussed specific figures: enrollment rose from about 41,500 to roughly 43,400, while board members cited a drop in certain suspension measures (one board member noted a movement from 323 students to 251 in a cited measure and observed a reduction from a 0.78 to a 0.58 rate in another slide). Staff cautioned against direct comparisons with state data because Texas reporting mixes expulsions with placements in alternative disciplinary programs for some districts and because reporting practices vary across systems.
Board members asked for further analysis drilled down by district and by grade band. Staff noted that some Harmony districts submit separate internal reports (for example, Central Texas showed a larger decline) and that staff would examine why North Texas secondary rates rose this year.
During public comment before the board presentation, a parent (Butler) urged the board to review a timeline submitted by email and asked the board to consider due process in hearings; Butler said, “My daughter does not vape,” and urged the board to review evidence and timeline materials the parent said were emailed to the board on May 15. The board did not take public action on the individual student matter in open session; discipline appeals were handled in closed session.
After reconvening from closed session, the board announced it had discussed legal and personnel matters and returned several formal decisions to open session. The board voted to deny a staff-grievance appeal from Harmony School of Innovation, Dallas, and to uphold administrative decisions on two student-expulsion appeals (Harmony School of Excellence, Laredo, and Harmony School of Excellence, Dallas). For the motion on the Dallas expulsion appeal, the chair recorded 4 ayes and 1 nay; other closed-session vote tallies were announced as approved without specific roll-call tallies in the public minutes.
Staff said they will provide additional district-level breakdowns and follow-up analyses requested by the board, including a focused review of the North Texas secondary data and more granular grade-band and campus-level reporting.
