Brevard officials report mixed results on student discipline; tardy tracking drives referral rise

Brevard Public Schools student services staff told the school board that overall office discipline referrals rose in 2024–25 but that most of the increase is tied to new, more consistent tracking of student tardies.

“we have increased actually in our referrals that have been processed this year from, to approximately 7,293 or 8% increase,” Director of Student Services Mister Armstrong said, describing a three‑year comparison. He and other staff explained that an increase of 8,054 tardy referrals drove most of the overall rise because several schools piloted handheld devices to record tardies and began issuing detentions more consistently.

The increase in logged referrals contrasts with other improvements. Staff reported a 9% decrease in in‑school suspension (about 828 fewer ISS days), an 8% drop in students placed in alternative settings (from 658 to 603 students), and declines in three of the top five student…