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Salem officials present discipline data showing racial and disability disparities; district lays out interventions
Summary
District staff told the school committee that referrals and suspensions show higher rates for low‑income students, students with disabilities and students of color and outlined social‑emotional, restorative and targeted supports to reduce exclusionary discipline.
District staff reported to the Salem School Committee on March 23 that disciplinary incidents and suspensions remain concentrated among certain student groups and described a set of programs intended to reduce disparities.
A presentation by district leaders showed 3,299 recorded discipline referrals as of March 16, 85 out‑of‑school suspensions, and 60 emergency removals this school year. The highest referral counts were among male students and at Salem High School. Using a risk‑ratio metric the district reported students identified as low‑income at 2.14 (meaning roughly twice as likely to be referred), students with disabilities at 1.86, multilingual learners at 1.54 (up from underrepresentation), and students of color at 1.42.
The district framed the numbers as both an urgent concern and a call to expand existing supports. “Behavior is a form of communication,” the presenter said, urging the committee to see incidents as an opportunity to intervene earlier. Staff emphasized the district’s work on social‑emotional learning (SEL), restorative practices and adult de‑escalation training, and said those practices are embedded in classroom and school routines across Salem Public Schools. The presentation noted intensive, targeted supports for high‑incident programs, including peer‑facilitated professional development run by BCBAs and additional behavior specialists.
Special education staff described a mix of proactive and responsive measures. “We provide monthly professional development focused on behavior management, and we add clinical case reviews and behavior specialists where needed,” Jen, a district special‑education leader, said. She also said the district is refining how it records disability‑related behavior so that program‑managed incidents are distinguished from broader disciplinary referrals.
Student voices were part of the discussion: the student representative urged the committee to pay particular attention to immigrant students and multilingual learners, noting that displacement and family circumstances can affect behavior and access to supports. Committee members asked for additional disaggregated data and for the district to present percentages (rates) as well as raw counts so comparisons can be made against each school’s population.
District leaders said they will continue to disaggregate incidents by school, grade and subgroup, expand coaching and feedback for school leaders, and consider further professional development on integrating SEL into academics. The presentation closed with an invitation to return for deeper analysis; committee members suggested a committee‑of‑the‑whole discussion to allow more time to parse the data.
The committee did not take formal action on policy at the meeting; staff said some follow‑up data and school‑by‑school dashboards can be provided to members on request.
