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Lubbock ISD reports decline in suspensions and placements, cites middle‑school behavior as focus
Summary
District behavior officials told trustees incidents and expulsions are down overall, but middle schools — particularly seventh grade — account for a large share of placements; the district described PBIS, tiered interventions, Priority Intervention placements and partnerships with community agencies as responses.
Lubbock ISD student behavior staff told trustees Wednesday that overall disciplinary incidents have declined compared with last year, but that middle‑school behavior — especially classroom disruption and student assaults — remains a district priority.
Cammy Finger (staff member) presented the “school support and special services” portion of the workshop and said district placements at Priority Intervention and expulsions are down while some categories require continued attention. “Our expulsions are down. Our placements in our AEP or PI are down. Our out of school suspensions are down,” Finger said.
Finger showed a three‑year trend and said the district has reduced overall disciplinary incidents by percentage: “Right now we're at a 27% overall decrease. The last time we checked this number it was 26%.” She identified classroom disruption and student assaults as the two largest areas of concern in current data and said middle schools account for a disproportionate share of placements: “106 of our 7th graders out of 233 have been placed at PI this year,” she said.
District staff described a tiered approach to behavior support. Finger said campuses should track tier‑2 and tier‑3 students and document the interventions applied, including behavior intervention plans, classroom‑level systems and outside agency referrals. She emphasized coaching for classroom management and the use of CHAMPS‑style expectations to reduce disruptions: “By walking into the classroom, by coaching the teacher, by making sure she has a classroom wide system… positive reinforcement, all of those things,” Finger said.
Staff also described a decrease in several serious categories compared with the previous year: drug offenses, assaults (overall trend down but with some increases this reporting period), staff assaults and terroristic threats all showed net declines in the district’s compiled figures. For elementary schools Finger reported three aggressive student assaults and noted felony incidents are usually off campus but still require district action.
Finger said Priority Intervention Academy (PIA) placements and other interventions are monitored weekly and that the district partners with community providers to address behavior and mental health needs. She noted a drug intervention program with an estimated 75–85% completion rate among participants and praised Communities In Schools (CIS) as a community partner in attendance and student supports.
Trustees asked for more demographic breakdowns and for clarification on how gender and other factors factor into incident rates; Finger said female physical altercations had increased slightly and that staff could supply gender‑specific breakdowns. The presentation also noted work on attendance, truancy and targeted ABIP (attendance behavior intervention plan) responses at the secondary level.
Finger closed by listing ongoing actions: continued PBIS handbook coaching, weekly checks on PIA placements, systems walks coordinated with instructional leaders, and targeted efforts to identify and intervene with students who show repeat classroom disruption or escalation toward assault.
The board recessed after the presentation and moved to the next agenda items.
