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Board hears rising discipline numbers, authorizes expulsion officer and renews independent hearing officer
Summary
District officials reported doubled office‑discipline referrals and increases in out‑of‑school suspensions; the board later authorized a board expulsion officer and renewed the district's independent hearing officer amid debate about process and cost.
Melissa Beavers, executive director of pupil services, and Eric Weir, director of special education and student services, presented discipline data to the full board on June 17 showing increases in reported office discipline referrals, suspensions and pre‑expulsion activity.
Beavers said the district’s office discipline referrals doubled over a four‑year span, rising from 4,054 to 8,227. "This increase... could speak to both a rise in reported behavior incidents and or improved documentation practices across our buildings," she said, urging caution in interpretation but noting the operational implications for schools.
Out of school suspensions and hearings: Beavers reported an upward trend in out‑of‑school suspensions over the last two years and said pre‑expulsion hearing requests had fallen from 124 to 32 in one multi‑year window before rising again to 73 in the current year; the number of expulsions recommended or upheld fluctuated, with a low of two in an earlier year and a return to 10 this year.
Top offenses and concerns: Weir said the largest single category of referrals remains tardiness/absence/truancy, and the next highest category was physical aggression. He summarized district actions taken to address behavior: administrative calibration, revised code‑of‑conduct language, weekly data clean‑ups, de‑escalation training, improved linked‑team (MLSS) processes and training for secretaries to run weekly reports so data are more accurate.
Board action: later in the meeting the board voted 5–2 to authorize a board expulsion officer to determine pupil expulsions under Wisconsin Statute 120.13(e)(1) for the 2025–26 year, a change proponents said expedites the hearing process while opponents raised concerns about due process and added cost. The exact roll‑call vote was 5 in favor, 2 opposed.
Independent hearing officer renewal: the board also renewed the district’s independent hearing officer appointment for attorney Mark Kaposius for 2025–26; that motion passed by the same 5–2 margin. Some board members publicly objected to using an independent hearing officer and noted the hourly cost and a belief that the board itself should hear expulsions. "We are making decisions that we are ultimately responsible for at greater cost to the district, with less information," Board Member Amy Levy said, opposing the expulsion officer arrangement.
Why it matters: the discipline data indicate growing behavior and attendance‑related incidents that affect instruction and school climate; board decisions on how expulsions are heard affect the district’s legal posture, costs and transparency of decision making.
Next steps: staff said they will continue implementing calibration and training steps, refine the code of conduct language and bring additional discipline‑policy administrative guidance back to the policy committee for review.
