SFUSD reports steep drop in suspensions but racial disproportionality persists as district rolls out BAT teams

San Francisco Unified School District staff told the Board of Education on June 24 that overall suspensions have fallen roughly 50% compared with three years ago, but that racial disproportionality in referrals and suspensions remains a significant concern.

Thomas Graven, presenting for Pupil Services, said the district has "cleaned the data" and is expanding systems to track out-of-class referrals and interventions. "We are seeing a dramatic drop in overall suspensions," Graven said. "If you look from three years ago, we're 50% of where we were three years ago." He added the district is still clarifying school-level reporting and cautioned that inconsistent reporting can make schools that track more closely appear worse in the raw numbers.

Why it matters: the district is using the Safe and Supportive Schools resolution to shift discipline practice and the supports that follow. Officials said the measures aim to reduce lost instructional time and address equity by identifying schools and student groups that need targeted help.

What was presented: staff described several implementation steps. The district will: - Draft an administrative directive to prohibit suspensions for defiance and require documentation of all out-of-classroom suspensions and referrals using the CORF system; - Expand behavioral Response to Intervention (RTI) so 85 schools will be in behavioral RTI cohorts next year, leaving about 18 schools to join the following year; - Deploy multidisciplinary BAT (behavioral assistance team) units composed of PBIS coaches, restorative-practices coaches, board-certified behavioral analysts (BCBAs), counselors and other specialists to provide on-site and individualized school support; - Continue a Saturday alternative-to-suspension pilot that served "over 70 kids," providing instruction and social-emotional supports as an option to out-of-school suspension.

Supporters and caveats: Chelsea Boulard of Coleman Advocates praised the drop in suspensions and the BAT-team approach but said she was disappointed a promised three-year implementation plan and detailed budget allocations were not yet finalized. Board members pressed staff on school-by-school disproportionality data, and staff said they are still cleaning the first-year data and building an intervention-tracking system that will allow daily-level monitoring of behavioral supports.

Staffing and funding: presenters said Pupil Services has over 23 full-time staff already working in these roles and indicated additional budget requests (including funding for Saturday school and more on-site restorative-practices coaches) would be brought through the district budget process.

Next steps: staff said the district will return with more school-level data, the draft administrative directive, and further budget details tied to the implementation timeline. Commissioners asked that the district prioritize transparency and build the implementation plan with robust site and community input.