District official: over 3 million student‑days recorded; 84 disciplinary actions and 16 technology‑related incidents reported

At the Aug. 3 meeting Chuck Whitlock presented the district's annual discipline and bullying data submitted to the Tennessee Department of Education. Whitlock emphasized the scale of the district when interpreting counts, saying the district has "over 3,000,000 student days per year," and explained the difference between the number of bullying cases and disciplinary actions where multiple students can be disciplined in a single case.

Whitlock told the board that the record shows 57 bullying cases where bullying or intimidation was found and 84 disciplinary actions for harassment/intimidation/bullying (other than out‑of‑school suspension); he said 16 incidents involved electronic technology and cautioned that cyberbullying often appears alongside other in‑person incidents. "Again, I'll go back to the fact that this involves over 3,000,000 student days a year," Whitlock said while describing the data.

Board members asked whether the technology incidents were primarily at particular age levels; Whitlock said middle school is where the most severe cases typically arise because students change classes and have greater unsupervised access to others, while high school incidents were less frequent. He emphasized investigations take time and require irrefutable evidence before disciplinary action.