Suffolk Public Schools reviews 2024–25 discipline data; officials cite cell‑phone policy and expanded hall monitoring

Suffolk Public Schools officials presented the division’s 2024–25 student discipline data at the Aug. 14 school board work session and said a new cell‑phone policy and added student monitors are the most likely causes of a short‑term increase in referrals.

Dr. Rodney Brown, the district’s chief of administrative services, told the board the district tracks both incidents and referrals and that one incident can generate multiple referrals when several students are involved. “One incident could include five students. So you may have five referrals for one incident,” Brown said, explaining why the two counts do not always match.

Brown said the first semester of 2024–25 produced an uptick in referrals compared with the prior year, and the division’s analysis shows that increase was concentrated in September and October. Brown pointed to the cell‑phone policy — rolled out in January — and to new “S‑3” student monitors in hallways as likely contributors. “We suspect our increases, efforts to student monitoring … may have to do with those increases,” he said. Brown and other staff said referrals declined in…