Chatham schools report declines in serious incidents; tardiness and AI-aided cheating remain top issues

Chatham (School District of the Chathams) Board of Education assistant principals presented the district's annual discipline report at the board's public meeting, saying overall discipline incidents remained low while raising concerns about student tardiness and the academic use of artificial intelligence.

Connor Henderson, assistant principal at Chatham High School, told the board the annual review is intended to "reflect on some of the topics and areas that, you know, we wanna educate students on, evaluate procedures within our building and, you know, consider any training that we we may wanna implement for the staff in the following school year." He reported 458 total recorded infractions at the high school this year, 263 of which were lateness to school.

The report showed the high school's total discipline-type incidents numbered 167 against an enrollment of about 1,205 students (about 0.13 incidents per student). Henderson said the school recorded nine students who received at least one day of out-of-school suspension and two confirmed HIB (harassment, intimidation and bullying) incidents that met New Jersey Department of Education reporting thresholds.

At Chatham Middle School, assistant principal Danielle Degunas said overall HIB investigations have been declining in recent years although confirmed HIBs persist. Degunas reported 12 alleged HIB investigations at the middle school this year and nine confirmed HIB incidents. She said multiple-student incidents contributed to a rise in suspensionable events even while the number of distinct incident reports stayed similar to prior years.

At Lafayette School, the district reported 76 discipline incidents with an enrollment of 556 students (about one incident per seven students). Lafayette had 16 HIB allegations this year, eight of which were confirmed and required reporting to the NJDOE's School Safety Data System (SSDS).

Henderson and Degunas described several preventive measures the schools are continuing or expanding: a cell-phone policy at the high school that requires phones be placed in a classroom holder during instruction; the addition of three security personnel at the high school (two class-three officers and one security guard); peer-mentoring through the LINKS program; Start with Hello lessons; assemblies and curricular tie-ins that address respect and digital citizenship; and counseling interventions for chronically tardy students.

Henderson said academic integrity and unauthorized AI use have been a focus. "AI was involved in, off the top of my head, at least half of the cheating incidents this year," he said, describing most cases as students taking shortcuts on classroom or homework assignments rather than cheating on secured classroom tests. He said teachers have been using Google revision history, monitoring extensions and other tools to detect improper use.

Board members asked whether later high-school start times had reduced tardiness; Henderson said the current 8:20 a.m. start has improved arrival times compared with earlier years but tardiness to school remains the district's most common infraction. Degunas said targeted counseling groups and automated parent notification through the district's student information system have reduced chronic tardiness at the middle school.

The presenters emphasized the small number of students who reoffend: at the high school 75 of 105 students with incidents committed only one infraction, and students with three or more incidents represented less than 1% of enrollment. District staff highlighted gender disparities: males accounted for a large majority of disciplinary incidents across buildings.

The presentation closed with district officials describing ongoing prevention work: professional learning communities for staff focused on student connections and wellness, redesigns of opening-week schedules and assemblies at CMS, and family engagement activities tied to HIB education.

Board members and administrators said the numbers demonstrate a largely positive picture while also identifying areas for continued attention in the coming year.