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Kirkwood reports rise in referrals and suspensions; data show disparities for Black students and students with IEPs
Summary
District leaders told the board referrals and in-school/out-of-school suspensions rose in FY25'26, with roughly 65% of referrals tied to tardiness, skipping and cell-phone violations; out-of-school suspensions remain concentrated in a small group and disproportionately involve African American students and students with IEPs.
Doctor Bailey presented the student-discipline report showing a rise in office referrals, ISS and OSS for the year. He said approximately 65% of referrals and 58% of ISS were related to tardies, skipping class and cell-phone violations; OSS instances rose but remain focused among a small group of students, representing about 2.3% of the district population.
Bailey highlighted disproportionality: African American students make up about 8.9% of the student population but accounted for roughly 30.3% of referrals and 42.7% of ISS instances in the reported year. Students with IEPs were about 13.5% of enrollment yet comprised a larger share of referrals and about half of OSS instances. Bailey outlined next steps including calibrated, equitable behavior response systems, expanded restorative-practices training, improved reentry meetings after suspensions and building-level action plans to address early-tenure elementary behavior increases. "The majority of our exclusionary discipline... are related to violent actions or illegal vaping," Bailey said, noting 74% of OSS instances were for violent/aggressive behaviors, threats or vaping/drugs. The board emphasized that this data ties to the district's opportunity-gap goals and asked for future breakdowns by number of unique students impacted (not only incidences).
