Paso schools suspend fewer students with new intervention system 

The Paso Robles Joint Unified School District reported a decrease in student suspensions after using a new system for discipline, but school board members questioned whether the results showed better student behavior.

According to Paso Robles Joint Unified School District (PRJUSD) Director of Student Services Thomas Harrington, through its new multi-tiered system of support, fewer students are being suspended, decreasing from 428 suspensions in the 2018-19 school year to 217 in 2023-24.

"Research shows suspension does not change behavior," he told the school board at its Aug. 6 meeting.

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• File Photo By Jayson Mellom
• SUSPENSION VS BEHAVIOR PRJUSD has less student suspensions under a new system of discipline, but its effects on student behavior has yet to determined.

Efforts to decrease student suspension are statewide after SB 274 passed in 2023, prohibiting California schools from suspending students based on "willful defiance," including attendance and talking back to teachers, with the intention of reducing school dropout rates. Paso schools started using the new system during the 2023-24 school year.

Harrington said the district is under orders from the state to reduce its suspension numbers, causing board members to challenge whether reduced suspension numbers accurately represent student behavior, or if the district is simply issuing fewer suspensions.

School board member Kenney Enney said the new system just intends to avoid suspensions.

"My thesis is the less you punish the more likely the behavior is going to increase," he said.

Enney referred to a staff report from February 2024 citing a 6 percent increase in negative student behavior, despite suspension numbers being cut in half.

"In my opinion, we are not helping the problem with suspensions," Enney said. "I'm challenging you to convince me otherwise."

Board member Sondra Williams said the data doesn't match up with what she's heard from staff.

"If we were in a room of teachers, would they agree with our data?" she asked Harrington. "If our intervention is good and our numbers are going down, the staff should feel that, and I haven't experienced that kind of feedback."

Echoing Williams' concern about teacher burnout when it comes to addressing student discipline and reporting, board member Dorian Baker said she wanted teachers to know that the board knows it's an issue.

"The system is trying to play with numbers more than trying to help with the actual problem," she said.

Harrington said the district hopes its tiered intervention system will help address student behavior but added that the district doesn't have the data to support that yet. He said that the end of the 2024-25 school year, the district will have more data that can help answer any remaining questions.

According to the staff report, there are three tiers to the system: Tier one is a universal system for all students including resources of school-wide assemblies, ribbon weeks, and classroom lessons for signs of suicide among grades seven through 12. Tier two is targeted support needed by about 15 percent of students including alternative learning environments and student reflection. Tier three, needed by 5 percent of students, provides school-based community service and loss of privileges.

Rather than suspending students for various levels of behavior, administrators determine which tier of resources each student needs for discipline and future success.

In addition to the intervention tiers, Paso schools started recommending citations for cases of fighting and drugs within the past 18 months, Harrington said.

While the district itself can't issue citations, administrators refer students to student resource officers who determine whether legal action should be taken.

Harrington called it "an effective deterrent" for bad behavior. Δ