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 the second semester.

Why it matters: the board and staff said the spike did not indicate a return to the high referral counts the district recorded several years ago, and officials emphasized that a referral does not automatically mean suspension. Brown said many referrals are resolved with counseling, parent conferences or re‑entry meetings rather than exclusionary discipline.

Key findings and initiatives

- Top incidents: Brown said “defiance” — described as not following staff requests — rose and was the highest single category this year; staff linked that to enforcement of the cell‑phone rule. He said last year the top category had been physical altercations such as “push, shove, strike.”

- Locations: Brown said about 45% of incidents occurred in classrooms (down from roughly 48% the prior year). He cited a 15% reduction in hallway referrals compared with the previous year and attributed that decline to increased hallway monitoring and other practices.

- Repeat referrals: Brown said 47 students accounted for 10 or more referrals in 2024–25 and that three students had at least 20 referrals each. He said those small groups of students can drive large parts of a school’s totals.

- Interventions: the district will expand in‑school reset spaces (ISS/OSS focus centers), re‑entry meetings that include counselors and parents after suspensions, a unified student handbook (to reduce inconsistency across schools), targeted “innovation teams” at three schools with large increases in referrals, a reorganized PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) rollout, and a stronger anti‑bullying campaign led by staff member Cindy Devers.

- Behavioral supports and partners: Brown highlighted efforts to use restorative practices, to keep counselors in direct student work (an “80/20” expectation), to expand wraparound services with community partners, and to deploy a returning behavior specialist, Christy Catchings, to support schools with intensive needs.

On metal detectors and restrooms

Brown described a summer pilot that placed metal‑detection units outside restrooms to curb vaping and contraband in restroom lines during lunch and summer school. He said the detectors were not intended to replace units at building entrances: “The unit in the front remains there all day.” Brown said sensitivity settings and random checks are part of the overall approach to keeping weapons out of buildings while balancing throughput during morning arrival.

Board response and next steps

Board members asked for more frequent data updates. Vice Chair McGee asked whether the board could receive more than the annual report; Superintendent John B. Gordon III said the administration would provide a semester update in January and offered to work with Brown to provide raw or more detailed school‑level data for members. Several board members asked for school‑level breakdowns by incident type for their wards. Brown said principals and central office staff would provide that information on request and outlined plans for targeted innovation teams at three schools that showed significant increases.

Ending note: Brown framed the changes as iterative. “We’ve been trending down for the most part,” he said, and emphasized continued focus on consistency, fidelity to interventions, and early‑semester preventative work such as town halls and mentoring.