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Meridian High principal reports gains in on-track and attendance work, flags discipline disparities
Summary
Principal Sean Dauphin reported increases in ninth-grade on-track rates and growth in multilingual student supports, while noting Hispanic students remain disproportionately represented in discipline referrals and tardies.
Meridian High School Principal Sean Dauphin updated the board on school-improvement goals and progress at the March 11 meeting, highlighting academic and social-emotional targets while acknowledging persistent disparities.
Dauphin described three priority goals in the school improvement plan: raise ninth-grade 'on-track' rates for Hispanic students (a stated target to increase by 15 percentage points by June 2026), increase English-language growth for multilingual learners and reduce the discipline-referral discrepancy for Hispanic students to within 5 percentage points of non-Hispanic peers. He said first-semester data show improvement: earlier figures cited were 72% on-track for Hispanic students (vs. 87% for all students), and he reported first-semester increases in both measures.
Dauphin said the school has expanded multilingual supports, hired a second bilingual paraeducator, developed a 'walk-through' tool to identify ML practices in classrooms and used student interviews ('kid talk' protocols) to better understand barriers. He said targeted interventions aim to address attendance and tardy referrals: staff have used data to flag students with repeated tardies, engaged a cultural liaison to contact families and used lunch detentions and other non-exclusionary responses when needed.
On discipline data, trustees heard that Hispanic students, who comprise about 23% of enrollment as presented, accounted for a disproportionate share of referrals and tardies. Dauphin emphasized a strengths-based approach: staff examine adult moves and school practices rather than simply blaming students, and he cited rising extracurricular participation and attendance improvements as positive signs of increasing student engagement.
Trustees asked clarifying questions about the timeframe for data and family outreach. Dauphin and staff said the discipline and attendance figures were for first-semester data and described ongoing steps to monitor second-semester results.
