High Suspension and Expulsion Rates Raise Safety Concerns at Some Tri-Valley Schools
In addition to API and other standardized test scores, many parents and students in and around Dublin, CA have used school climate as another metric in evaluating the different schools. Two objective measures of school climate and safety include the suspension and expulsion rates of a given school. The California Department of Education tracks the suspension and expulsion rates at each public school to satisfy the No Child Left Behind requirements related to “persistently dangerous” schools and the uniform management information reporting system. While no school in the Tri-Valley has won the dubious distinction of being “persistently dangerous,” a review of the 2008-2009 high school suspension and expulsion data in the Tri-Valley yielded some surprises.
Granada High School in Livermore had the highest suspension rate of all the Tri-Valley high schools in the 2008-2009 school year at 21%. Livermore High School had the second highest suspension rate at 16% during the same time period. Dougherty Valley High School in San Ramon rounded out the top 3 with a suspension rate of 11%. On the other end of the spectrum are the two high schools in Danville and one of the high schools in Pleasanton. San Ramon Valley High School in Danville has the lowest suspension rate of all the Tri-Valley high schools in the 2008-2009 school year at 3%. San Ramon Valley High School is followed by Monte Vista High School, the other high school in Danville, with a suspension rate of 4%. Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton has the third lowest suspension rate at 5%.
The trend seen with expulsion rates for the Tri-Valley high schools is similar to that for the suspension rates. One reason the suspension rates are higher than the expulsion rates is that a student may be counted more than once, if the student has been suspended multiple times. Livermore High School had the highest expulsion rate in the 2008-2009 school year with 0.7% of its students getting the boot. Granada High School expelled 0.6% of its students. Dublin High School and Monte Vista High School were the only Tri-Valley high schools that did not expel a single student during the 2008-2009 school year.
One approach to predicting future high school performance is to look at the middle schools that feed into the Tri-Valley high schools. Not surprisingly, all four of Livermore’s traditional middle schools (6-8) were in the formidable five of all Tri-Valley middle schools based on the combined expulsion and suspension rates. Junction Avenue Middle School in Livermore had a jaw-dropping 65% combined expulsion and suspension rate for its students during the 2008-2009 school year. Junction Avenue Middle School converted to a K-8 configuration in the 2009-2010 school year and became Junction K-8 School.
Christensen Middle School in Livermore had the second highest combined expulsion and suspension rate at 38%, followed by Livermore’s East Avenue Middle School at 31%. Wells Middle School in Dublin and Mendenhall Middle School in Livermore rounded out the formidable five with a combined expulsion and suspension rate of 24% and 16%, respectively.
Of the three K-8 schools in the Tri-Valley for the 2008-2009 school year, Joe Mitchell School in Livermore had a combined expulsion and suspension rate of 42%, Eleanor Murray Fallon School in Dublin had a combined expulsion and suspension rate of 7.4%, and Livermore Valley Charter School, which serves many families throughout the Tri-Valley, had an impressive combined expulsion and suspension rate of 0%.
Acts that can lead to suspension and expulsion include vandalism, theft, physical violence, sexual harassment, possession of drugs, tobacco products, alcohol, weapons, and firearms. The suspension rate of a school is calculated by the number of incidents triggering suspension divided by the total enrollment of the school; similarly, the expulsion rate of a school is determined by the quotient of incidents triggering expulsion and the school’s student population. Both provide objective measures for how safe a school is.
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9:51 AM on November 9th, 2010
Disturbing… Would have never guessed that suspension rates are in double digits. And Fallon @7.4%!?
9:39 PM on November 9th, 2010
It would be interesting to see how these numbers compare to other cities in the Bay Area. None of the numbers look particularly encouraging though, especially Livermore’s.
6:02 PM on November 10th, 2010
That could be the reason for the need for Charter schools in Livermore. There seems to be a need for stronger discipline in the public school system in Livermore.
8:25 PM on November 10th, 2010
Hi Anonymous – this is definitely one of the reasons why LVCS and LVCP are blessings for Livermore. Unfortunately, the Livermore school district has a high % of their students in gangs or involved in gang-related activities and incidents.
Thx, John Z.
7:02 PM on March 17th, 2011
As a four year veteran substitute teacher in Livermore I can tell you that discipline is not necessarily the problem: it’s the over-use of referrals. When teaching middle school, I am encouraged to send all disruptive students to the time-out room or front office on referral. Accumulate enough referrals in a given period and it becomes a suspension. Accumulate enough suspensions and it typically leads to expulsion. Teachers get minimal backing from parents when it comes to student behavioral problems and administration is not always good at creating a feeling of “we’re in the together, let’s problem solve.” On the flip side; I can also say from talking with other substitutes that other districts are having similar behavioral problems (although maybe not to the same extent), but administration is overly reluctant to suspend because it looks bad for them. Nobody wants to move into a school district with a high suspension/expulsion rate.
9:57 AM on November 21st, 2010
Schools that do not have relationships with kids and families are destined to have high suspension/expulsion rates. Moreover, many teachers are not given the tools to be creative in classroom discipline in lieu of suspensions. Automaton administrations dispense punitive, zero-tolerance policies which require no thought, no imagination, an no way to address the real issue: lack of relationships and a general mistrust.
2:52 AM on November 12th, 2010
SCHOOL SAFETY REPORT PAINTS GRIM PICTURE OF SAFETY IN U.S. SUBURBAN AND RURAL SCHOOLS
Read more: http://www.seraph.net/2010/11/06/state-school-safety-american-schools
2:17 PM on November 13th, 2010
John,
Are there any numbers for the elementary schools?
Chris
3:27 PM on November 13th, 2010
Hi Chris – the info’s available. However, there is so much that we didn’t pull all the elementary school pieces together for the article. Which school(s) would you like numbers for?
Thx, John Z.
11:29 PM on November 13th, 2010
Hi John,
I was just interested in the numbers of elementary vs. middle school to see what the difference is between the two levels.
thanks,
Chris
9:59 AM on November 14th, 2010
Hi Chris, Excuse me for jumping in. The word “suspension” is relative. Kids get suspended for eating someone’s lunch, “stealing” lunch box, showing off their cell phones, texting in class, talk back at teachers or fellow students. Most suspension are for minor incidences. I would encourage you to talk to the school principal’s directly for reasons of suspension and suspension statistics. Now expulsion is more serious. In my experience with Elementary schools, frankly I did not hear of suspension except there was a case when one kid got into a fight with another at lunch. So really minor case. Again, I am talking dublin/pleasanton schools. Obviously oakland, livermore has a different take alltogether. Thanks.
3:57 PM on November 13th, 2010
Fallon has a higher rate (if 7% is considered high)..it is because the discipline is very good and there is ‘no tolerance’ policy. Also remember suspension just means out for a day because the student flashed their phone or text in class. Some teachers can suspend for a day because of that. I know when my child went to fallon, there were suspension for a day (or stay back for few hours, or miss a rally or dance) just because some child used their cell. All in all, Fallon was a wonderful school and very safe. There were no big incidences. I have heard DVHIGH has some of those very strict policies. As for pleasanton and dublin high schools, from what I have heard students have reported those very safe as well. Guess we are nowhere close to livermore, so that is good !
1:08 PM on November 22nd, 2010
I’m not sure what these numbers tell me. Do Livermore schools perform more poorly on these metrics than other schools, or are they just more diligent in punishing offenders?
Maybe Dublin is a better school because they don’t have incidents that trigger expulsion. It is also possible they choose to classify these incidents differently, or that they choose simply not to expel students for a violation that would result in expulsion in Livermoore.
Without data ensuring that classification of events and delivery of punishment is apples to apples, I’m not sure how this data can be used to compare one school vs another. It might be more useful to compare say, Livermoore high school today vs 3 years ago.
11:55 AM on April 10th, 2012
I have had 3 kids go through the Livermore schools. It is my opinion – that they over suspend and over expel kids. The process for suspension and expulsion is not fair. They need to have a childrens advocate protecting the rights of the students. They also should have alternatives to suspension and expulsion. Both suspension and expulsion disrupt the childs education. In-school suspensions would be better for the child for minor offenses.