High School Building Goals Being Reached, Reports Say

By Ben Otte
Co-Editor-In-Chief

A recent report from school administration suggests that student behavior referrals have dramatically decreased in the past few school terms. 

The report was mentioned at a recent school board meeting and indicates that discipline referrals decreased by over 80% during the first marking period of the 2013-14 school year compared to the first marking period of the 2011-12 school year. 

Student failures are embedded in the statistics as well as they show a sharp 43% decline in students failing respective classes. 

According to principal Mr. Mark Shue, much of the decrease is the result of building initiatives that have been put into place.

Decrease in discipline referrals are the result of Mandatory Working Lunch and in-school suspension being replaced with Saturday detention. 

Shue credits the newly implemented Academic at Risk program. According to the Lion’s Roar Blog, the purpose of the program is aimed to unite students, teachers and parents in order to “create an action plan that the student will follow with the goal of improving his/her overall grade in the class”.  

“The problem with ISS was the fact that we were taking kids out of classes for not performing well in those classes,” Shue said. “There was no point in taking away class time that students needed in order to have the opportunity to do well.”

The programs were created in efforts to meet building goals of ‘eliminating failure’ and ‘focus on learning’. 

Much of the decrease in referrals between the first and second year of the study credits the elimination of student I.D. badges. However, Shue says a sharp decrease in the numbers would still be seen even if those numbers corresponding to ID badge violations would be removed from the statistic. 

“What we were and are doing is improving the school climate,” Shue continued. “That’s something that will have a big influence on the behavior of the students.”

Statistic Up Close & Personal

1st MP Discipline Comparison
-2011-2012 – 1,780 referrals
-2012-2013 – 784 referrals
-2013-2014 – 348 referrals
*Discipline Referrals decreased by over 80% during the 1st MP of 2013-2014 compared to 1st  MP of 2011-2012.

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1st MP Student Failure Comparison
-2011-2012 – 239 Failures
-2012-2013 – 196 Failures
-2013-2014 – 135 Failures
*Student failures decreased by 43% during the 1st MP of 2013-2014 compared to 1st MP of 2011-2012.