Northshore review finds fewer suspensions but rising recorded incidents and racial disproportionality concerns

Dr. Wellington, a district staff member, told the Northshore School District Board that recorded disciplinary incidents rose 15% in 2023–24 even though the number of students suspended fell. He said the increase in incidents was concentrated in middle school, while high school incidents decreased and elementary incidents were roughly steady.

The presentation said middle school incidents rose about 43% (roughly 300 students), misuse of technology incidents rose 56% (about 381 additional incidents), and recorded hate-speech incidents increased from 46 to 108. The district reported about 22,300 K–12 students in the roll and 3,204 students had one or more recorded incidents in the year (roughly 14% of students). Staff also said 50.2% of students with incidents had only one incident and roughly 70% had two or fewer.

Wellington described a shift in how schools respond to misconduct. “Discipline is a product of rules and policies and expectations of adults,” he said, adding that “data is a product of the systems that we create as educators.” He and other staff said administrators are using administrative conferences (restorative conversations with a principal or assistant principal) more often: administrative conferences rose 81% across grades and rose sharply in middle school. The…