Referrals and out‑of‑school suspensions rise in Beloit schools; district cites recordkeeping, AODA increases and policy clarifications

District administrators presented discipline and behavior trends during the June 17 meeting, reporting an increase in office referrals and out‑of‑school suspensions and outlining steps the district is taking to improve consistency and early intervention.

Melissa Beavers, executive director of pupil services, said office discipline referrals rose from roughly 4,054 to 8,227 over four years. She said the rise may reflect both substantive increases in behavioral incidents and improved reporting practices across buildings. ‘‘This increase could speak to both a rise in reported behavior incidents and or improved documentation practices across our buildings,’’ Beavers said.

Beavers said out‑of‑school suspensions also rose in the last two years and that pre‑expulsion hearing requests declined sharply and later rose; many requests are resolved or withdrawn after case reviews or manifestation determinations for students with disabilities. She said recommended expulsions showed year‑to‑year fluctuation and the district conducts a case‑by‑case review.

Eric Weir provided a breakdown of the most common infraction categories by student count. The largest single category was attendance‑related entries (tardiness/absence/truancy), which he noted can skew the aggregate count; physical aggression, disruption/instigating behaviors and major insubordination followed. Weir said the number of students involved in AODA (alcohol and other drug) incidents has increased and remains a concern.

Administrators described actions taken to address behavior: principal calibration exercises and tabletop activities; training building secretaries to run weekly discipline‑data cleanup reports; building‑wide de‑escalation training at elementary schools; implementation of linked MLSS (multi‑level systems of support) site teams; and efforts to streamline the code of conduct language to reduce subjective categorization of offenses.

Board members asked whether the district could report suspension counts as days to better gauge severity; Beavers said that information could be derived from attendance records but is not presently in the discipline dashboard. Administrators also noted continued emphasis on restorative approaches and preserving student access to instruction while balancing accountability.

Why it matters: Rising referrals and suspensions have operational, instructional and equity implications. Administrators said they will continue to refine reporting and use linked teams to intervene earlier and reduce escalations to hearings or expulsions.