NHPS
New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) have seen an uptick in student expulsions while the issuing of in-school and out-school suspensions declines.
That discipline update was presented by district Director of Research, Assessment and Evaluation Michele Sherban at Monday’s regular Board of Education meeting.
The majority of expulsions were of students in grades 7 and 8 for incidents involving weapons, arson, battery/assault, threats, and illegal drugs.
Seventeen of the 20 expulsions were in K‑8 schools. Troup School, Betsy Ross, and Clinton Avenue School have had the most incidents so far.
Sherban’s research includes data collected during the period of Aug. 30 to Jan. 31 within the past three school years.
In 2019 – 20 and 2020 – 2021 (which included extended remote learning), the district did not expel any students. This year there has been an increase to 20 expulsions within the school year’s first five months.
Fourteen of this year’s 20 expulsions were of Black students, constituting 70 percent, twice the percentage of the African American student population in NHPS. Five were of Hispanic students. One involved a white student.
View the presentation here.
Two years ago, before the pandemic, the number of in-school suspensions during the five-month period was at 258 . This year the number of occurrences is at 56.
Two years ago, out-of-school suspensions numbered 907 and have decreased slightly to 755 occurrences so far this year.
Multi-language learners (MLL) make up 13.5 percent o the out-of-school suspension rate. That is less than the total MLL population in the district, which is 19.4 percent. In-school suspensions of MLL stand at 18.5 percent.
Students with Individualized Education Programs (IEP) make up 25.6 percent of out-of-school suspensions. As of Oct. 1 students with IEPs make up 15.2 percent of the student population. Students with IEPs constitute 22.2 percent of in-school suspensions and 15 percent of the expulsion numbers.
Black students have also been given the highest number of out-of-school suspensions this year, totaling 318 out of 755 (54.4 percent). Hispanic students accounted for 214 (37 percent) of out-of-school suspensions, while white students made up 33 (5.6 percent).
Out-of-school suspension incidents resulted from fighting, physical altercations, seriously disorderly conduct, drugs/alcohol, and disruptive behavior, Sherban reported.
Click these previous stories here, here, and here detailing student, staff, and administrators perspectives of the uptick in school violence.
The maximum number of days a student can be out on out-of-school suspensions is 10 days.
Compared to 2019 – 2020, 17 schools saw a decrease in out-of-school suspensions, while six K‑8 schools saw an increase. King-Robinson Inter-District Magnet School had a dramatic decline of disciplinary actions, dropping from 68 incidents two years ago to nine this year. Other schools that saw large declines were L.W. Beecher, Clemente Leadership Academy, and Troup School.
Schools that included increases were Ross Woodward, Fair Haven School, Hill Central, Mauro-Sheridan Interdistrict Magnet School, and Edgewood.
Seven K‑8 schools used in-school suspensions this year compare to 15 that did in 2019 – 2020.
“Very few of the K‑8 schools utilized in-school suspension as one of the options this year. We haven’t investigated the reasoning behind that,” Sherban said.
Wilbur Cross High School saw a dramatic decline in in-school suspension rates, going from 83 in 2019 – 2020 to zero this year.
Board member Abie Quiñones-Benítez questioned why students who are skipping school and leaving campuses are being sent home for out-of-school suspension. “If they don’t want to be in school and we send them home, how is that making sense?” she asked.