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District reports mixed results on discipline equity and communications; parent safety while traveling to school flagged
Summary
Assistant superintendent reported Feb. 24 that the district’s discipline-equity and communication guardrails showed mixed outcomes: some equity measures moved toward targets while a Qualtrics parent survey showed high overall favorability but identified low scores on the item “my students feel safe going to and from school.”
Assistant Superintendent Chambers presented updates Feb. 24 on two district guardrails: an equity-oriented discipline guardrail and a communications/climate guardrail.
Guardrail 2 aims to reduce disproportionate disciplinary outcomes. The report compared winter-to-winter data and officials said the district is generally on track to meet a multi-year target that would reduce the percentage gap in Category 2 offenses (a specified disciplinary category) for Black, Hispanic and multiracial students versus white students from 15.4% in 2023 to 12.5% by 2025. For the specific measure tracking Black male students, staff said data showed a decline: the measure moved toward the board’s target (the stated target for Black male students was a decline from 20.4% in 2023 to 13% in 2025); the assistant superintendent said there was a five-percentage-point decrease for Black male students from the prior winter-to-winter comparison and a one-point decline for white male students.
Guardrail 3 covers district communication and climate measures based on a Qualtrics survey. Staff reported a 96% favorable response rate on many parent survey items (district used a 50% benchmark to identify favorable responses) and said 4,061 families replied. Staff noted some notable items for follow-up: a single survey question — “my students feel safe going to and from school” — showed a low favorable rating (reported as 11% in the session), and the district said it would investigate the causes behind that response. On staff climate, 2,602 employees completed the survey and district staff said favorable responses exceeded the stated target (the board had sought an increase from 50% favorable to 54% favorable by May 2025); staff flagged questions with relatively lower values, including “students at my school demonstrate behaviors that allow teachers to teach” and an employee concern measure about physical safety at school.
Assistant Superintendent Chambers said next steps include aligning Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), focusing on early interventions and social-emotional learning pilots, and continuing partnerships (including work with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital) to address discipline and safety issues.
Board members requested copies of prior surveys (Panorama) to compare methods and asked for benchmarking and response-rate detail. Several board members asked that the district share results with city partners to explore safety concerns outside school buildings and during student travel to and from school.
No formal board action was taken Feb. 24; the district said it would follow up with deeper analysis and possible engagement with community and city public-safety partners.
