Suspensions of Duval County public school students have dropped dramatically over the past four years in a trend administrators attribute to the effectiveness of the district’s alternative discipline programs but which some teachers say reflects pressure to turn a blind eye to student misconduct.

Details: School suspension records

Details: Conduct violation records

Out-of-school suspensions for middle and high school students — historically the most common offenders — decreased 35 percent, from 91,408 in the 2007-08 school year to 59,203 in 2010-11.

Disciplinary violations committed by middle and high school students dropped 28 percent during the same period, from 163,172 in 2007-08 to 117,314 in 2010-11.

School officials say that success comes from better teacher training in classroom management, positive student behavior reinforcement techniques, intervention programs including counseling, and disciplinary alternatives.

Some teachers, however, say disciplinary referrals for all but the most egregious student offenses are routinely rejected by their supervisors and that the loss of that classroom management tool means disruptive students remain in the classroom, interfering with the education of their classmates.

“I can tell you for a fact, in each of the years I taught, there were no fewer than 10 to 20 referrals that I wrote that went unprocessed, i.e. unreported, and I was one of the more patient teachers,” said Christopher Harvey, a former teacher of the year who taught science at Ed White High School for seven years.

Harvey said when a student assaulted him, administrators did nothing so he reported the attack to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, which was required by law to follow up on the assault.

But Duval Superintendent Ed Pratt-Dannals doesn’t buy it. He characterized the teachers who complain as disgruntled employees who don’t represent the majority of the district’s 8,500 teachers.

Terrie Brady, president of Duval Teachers United, disagrees.

“I believe student misconduct is being under-reported, but it’s not because of orders from the top of the district,” Brady said. “I believe it’s being under-reported because some administrators believe it makes them look weak, that it will work against them in the formula on school grades, and I think that some might feel pressured from mid-level administrators.”

UNDER-REPORTING

Many of the teachers willing to talk about discipline issues said they believe part of the reason student misconduct is ignored is because administrators want to save face with the public and avoid a poor performance evaluation.

Reducing student misconduct is a top school district goal and the number of student code of conduct violations is part of a principal’s evaluation. Both first became part of the district’s strategic plan adopted in 2008.

Some School Board members have publicly questioned whether there is pressure to under-report student misconduct.

“I heard from a few principals in the past that they can’t be seen on their report card as having an uptick in discipline violations,” board Chairwoman Betty Burney said. “The superintendent should simply go out and make a formal statement to all principals that is not the district’s expectation.”

District officials insist they’ve never told teachers or principals not to write up or not to suspend students for misconduct.

“I don’t believe discipline problems are being under-reported.” Pratt-Dannals said.

Brady said past district leaders before Pratt-Dannals became superintendent did pressure principals to keep student discipline reports down. That isn’t happening now, she said.

“Although it existed in the past and isn’t happening now, the feeling can still weigh on administrators’ minds,” Brady said.

Principals didn’t respond to repeated Times-Union published and online requests for comment about the issue. Several contacted by telephone declined comment.

Some teachers, however, did speak out. They say administrators discourage, if not refuse, disciplinary referrals for disruptive and disrespectful students as well as for those who are chronically truant or tardy.

A referral is when a teacher writes up a student for misconduct. Principals may accept or reject a referral. Duval only counts referrals resulting in formal disciplinary action, so it’s unknown, district officials said, how many referrals are rejected.

WARY OF ‘DOWNTOWN’

Bonnie Allen, who retired in June from Timucuan Elementary School after 16 years as a special education teacher in the district, said the prevailing attitude is the fewer suspensions the better.

“The only thing I knew was ‘downtown’ [district administrators] did not take kindly to students being suspended. Too many suspensions look bad,” Allen said.

In fact, reducing student conduct violations 40 percent by 2014 is one of the district’s strategic goals. The School Board holds Pratt-Dannals accountable for student discipline on his annual evaluation and the state considers student conduct violations on school grades.

“We still have a significant number of the violations we need to work on … and we are working very conscientiously to get them down,” Pratt-Dannals said.

Kristyanne Senske, a veteran Sandalwood High School science teacher, estimated she’s written at least a dozen disciplinary referrals, most for students skipping class during the first three months this school year. School officials followed the district’s policy, but “the policy is flawed, not the administrators,” said Senske, an educator for 12 years.

The district no longer suspends students for skipping school because kids view being sent home as a reward. Students can be tardy up to five times before getting written up. Those policies “lack meaningful consequences,” teachers say.

“Kids knew disciplinary referrals were a joke,” said Pam Reynolds, an Army veteran who taught math at Sandalwood and Terry Parker high schools. A teacher for six years, Reynolds left the district because of illness in June 2010.

“A kid can cold-[filtered word] another kid, be gone 30 days, then come back to the same school with the victim. … The accountability is left to the teachers, not the principals, not the parents and not the students,” Reynolds said.

NATIONAL TREND

National experts say Duval’s discipline policies and alternative programs are on track and that the district’s drop in student misconduct is consistent with results in school systems with similar policies.

Daniel Losen, director of the Center for Civil Rights Remedies, which researches education policies that have an impact on minorities, said Duval’s drop in disciplinary violations is credible given it coincides with a gradual rise in student achievement and graduation rates.

“The argument that the changes in student discipline have produced chaos in the classroom doesn’t hold water,” said Losen, who previously taught second through fifth grades for 10 years in public schools. “If keeping kids in school was hurting achievement, they wouldn’t be doing it.”

Like Duval, school systems across the country are using alternative disciplinary programs more often in place of out-of-school suspensions. Experts are encouraged by the results.

“Schools that use out-of-school suspensions a lot tend to have higher dropout rates … have lower test scores on state accountability tests and get lower ratings from parents and teachers,” said Russell Skiba, director of the Equity Project, which offers evidence-based information to educators and policymakers about school discipline and special education.

Losen said research shows out-of-school suspensions aren’t effective in deterring other students from misbehaving, nor does it keep students who are punished from re-offending. If the student’s home is the problem, suspending him won’t improve his behavior.

“Difficult kids need more intensive intervention and more support, and that has to come from the schools because there’s usually no place else for them to get it,” Losen said.

That’s what Duval is trying to do, district officials say.

“We pay attention to all the factors,” Pratt-Dannals said. “Does the student really need to be suspended, and if the answer is ‘yes,’ then we suspend them.”

KEY TO DISCIPLINE

What is really needed to improve classroom discipline is good training for teachers and administrators, Losen said.

“A well-prepared teacher with a good instructional plan is going to keep the kids engaged and challenged in the classroom,” he said.

Pam Chaffin, marching band director and music teacher at Mandarin High School, said it’s all about consistency and communication.

“I have my own policy and the kids adhere to it and I don’t have a problem with disciplinary problems,” she said. “You make it very clear upfront to students and to their parents what you expect of the student’s behavior and what the consequences will be for misbehavior.”

Chaffin said her classroom rules typically are stricter than the district’s. And other teachers say they assign classroom cleanup chores to misbehaving students or give after-school makeup assignments. All emphasized they make the rules clear and are consistent in enforcing them.

School Board member Becki Couch, who taught for 10 years, said the district has a good discipline plan in place. Now it just needs to be enforced correctly, consistently and fairly.

Couch said district officials must ensure that teachers are trained and mentored in classroom management. She also said students and their parents must know the expectations for good behavior and the consequences for misconduct. Then administrators must support teachers in enforcing the rules.

Inconsistency, Brady said, is the problem.

“Where we’re running into problems is the different components of the plan are not being implemented consistently at all our schools,” said Brady, noting she doesn’t know how many schools have that problem.

The solution, however, is simple and straightforward — more frequent training.

“I believe every year the faculty, staff and principals need to be trained in all the these different components of the plan. … It needs to be addressed every single year,” Brady said.

At the beginning of each school year, Brady said, school officials should take the necessary action to ensure that all teachers and principals know and understand the district’s student code of conduct. They also must be properly trained in the district’s multiphase disciplinary plan.

That plan includes Foundations, a positive behavior support model designed to improve a school’s climate, reduce negative student behavior, support positive student behavior and increase the amount of time a student is academically engaged.

Another key component is CHAMPS, a teacher training program that focuses on a proactive and positive approach to classroom management. It shows educators how to teach expectations to students, provide positive feedback and provide “consistent, corrective consequences for student misbehavior.” It also emphasizes how to prevent and respond skillfully to student misconduct.

Nonetheless, striking the right balance in student discipline is no easy task for a school district, said Skiba, of the Equity Project. You want there to be consequences for bad behavior, but you don’t want students spending time out of school.

“What do I do instead? That is the key question,” Skiba said. “… There is no magic answer. But we know kids only learn when they are in school.”