Suspensions from school were up 10% last year

‘We do come out with strong consequences,' principal says

Friday, Jan. 29, 2010

Fights, insubordination, bomb threats and other student infractions continue to plague St. Mary's public schools, as last school year brought with it a 10 percent increase in out-of-school suspensions.

There were 2,210 out-of-school suspensions doled out to St. Mary's students in the 2008-2009 school year. This was about 200 more than the previous year and the first increase in overall out-of-school suspensions in several years. The vast majority of suspensions were in middle and high schools.

A total of 1,199 students in the 2008-2009 school year were involved in the out-of-school suspensions, 83 more than the previous year.

The suspension data is compiled by each Maryland school system and submitted to the Maryland State Department of Education. The state system published a report of the data in December.

"It ramped up a bit last year," said Scott Smith, director of secondary instruction, administration and school improvement in St. Mary's.

He said so far this school year, "We're in really good shape." The number of out-of-school suspensions at the mid-year point totaled fewer than 900, putting the school system on track to come in under 2,000 total by the end of the year, he said.

Great Mills continued to have the highest number of suspensions, with 512 last school year; this was 40 more than the year before. Spring Ridge Middle School, which had 359, had the next highest total of suspensions followed by Chopticon High School (291), Leonardtown High School (246), Margaret Brent Middle School (233), Esperanza Middle School (164) and Leonardtown Middle School (119). "Our top goal is to maintain a safe and orderly environment in the school," said Great Mills Principal Tracey Heibel.

The category that combines offenses related to arson, fire, bomb threats and explosives showed nine suspensions systemwide, with five of those from Great Mills. Heibel said there was a rash of false fire alarms at the beginning of last school year.

Since then, the school has installed "squealer boxes" over most of the fire alarms. A loud buzzer sounds from the box when it is activated, which helps to identify who pulled the alarm.

Heibel said students must know there are serious consequences for infractions, especially for things like fighting.

"We do come out with strong consequences," which is something the community has asked for, Heibel said.

School assistant principals offer remediation after fights and other incidents that involve multiple students.

Spring Ridge Middle School racked up the most suspensions for fights among all county schools. The school issued 132 out-of-school suspensions for the combined category of attack, threats and fights. About one-quarter of those involved female students. "We don't take any kind of bullying or threats lightly," Smith said.

There were 66 suspensions given for dangerous substances, a category that combines offenses related to alcohol, tobacco and drugs. Chopticon had the most of these offenses with 23 suspensions.

Green Holly Elementary again last school year gave out the most suspensions among elementary schools, 61 in total. Park Hall Elementary gave out 43 suspensions followed by Lexington Park and Leonardtown elementary schools, which suspended students 34 times.

The remainder of elementary schools gave out 25 or fewer suspensions, with several schools at just a small handful. The Chesapeake Public Charter School had no out-of-school suspensions.

As with most years, the largest number of suspensions — 958 total — were given for a combined category of offenses called disrespect/insubordination/disruption. The next highest category at 567 out-of-school suspensions was for the categories attacks, threats and fights.

Many offenses did not make it to an out-of-school suspension. Some led to in-school suspensions, especially for habitually truant students. Other minor offenses led to detention, after-school suspension or Saturday school.

There were 4,000 in-school suspensions given last school year in St. Mary's public schools, according to state data. This was down from 4,452 the year before.

Chopticon racked up the most, with 849 in-school suspensions last year followed by Leonardtown High with 780 and Great Mills High with 712.

In the state overall the number of out-of-school suspensions is more than double the number of in-school suspensions. In St. Mary's, the trend is reversed.

Smith said the school system believes keeping students in an educational setting when possible is more productive than sending them home.

There are no schools in the county considered persistently dangerous, a category defined by the state based on schools which have consistently high rates of suspensions for serious offenses.

There are several programs in place at many of the schools to reward positive behaviors to and to cut down on unwanted behavior.

The greatest challenge identified by the school system in a state report is the disproportionate representation of some student groups in discipline data.

Males accounted for two-thirds of total suspensions. African-American students make up about 21 percent of the public school enrollment yet accounted for about 45 percent of the students suspended out of school and 36 percent of students assigned in-school suspensions, according to reports.

Students from low-income families are assigned to in-school suspension (38 percent) and suspension out of school (47.5 percent) at a higher rate than they are represented in the county.

jyeatman@somdnews.com