Saint Croix reports one bullying incident; publishes seclusion and restraint counts for 2024–25

Leah Volker, Saint Croix School District Director of People Services, told the board at the Aug. 20 meeting that investigations for the 2024–25 school year found one incident that met the district’s definition of bullying. The incident was verbal, occurred at the elementary school and resulted in an in-school suspension for the student involved.

"This is an annual report you get on the number of bullying instances that are found to have happened within the previous school year," Volker said, summarizing the district definition she presented: bullying is repeated behavior involving an imbalance of power that is deliberate, systematic and either spoken, written or physical.

Volker also presented the district’s seclusion and restraint report for the year. The district reported eight incidents of seclusion affecting three children and 11 incidents of restraint affecting six children with disabilities. The majority of both seclusions and restraints occurred at the elementary school: eight seclusions and 10 restraints were reported there, with one restraint at the middle school.

Volker told the board that seclusion and restraint are lawful when used only in situations in which a child poses imminent danger to themselves or others and that staff receive training in nonviolent crisis intervention and de-escalation strategies. She said the district follows Department of Public Instruction guidelines and that parents are notified and IEP teams convened when these interventions occur.

No board action was taken on the reports; Volker’s presentation was informational and followed by questions but no motions.

Context and next steps The district said counselors provide classroom lessons and prevention work, particularly at the elementary and middle school levels, to reduce incidents that meet the legal definition of bullying. The board did not specify additional policy changes during the meeting.