Hollister
– San Benito High School officials report that discipline and
behavior problems are generally on the decline, but they are still
concerned about the higher number of incidents reported involving
Latino students compared to incidents involving white or
”
other
”
students.
Hollister – San Benito High School officials report that discipline and behavior problems are generally on the decline, but they are still concerned about the higher number of incidents reported involving Latino students compared to incidents involving white or “other” students.
“Historically that’s been the case for us, unfortunately,” said Karen Schroder, director of student services. “And I think that this is a real problem statewide.”
In addition, incidents involving drugs or alcohol seem to be on the rise among Latino and white female students.
“That’s something we’re really concerned about. It was a surprise” said Duane Morgan, one of three assistant principals at San Benito High School. Morgan is responsible for student safety, among other duties. “It’s time for us to sit down and figure out if we’ve got some issues here, and how we can deal with them.”
School officials published a report Wednesday that tracks discipline “incidents” over the course of the last three years. For the purpose of this report, Morgan said, an “incident” is any time a student committed an offense serious enough to get suspended. So students who ditch class or mouth off to their teachers and receive a few days of detention, for example, are not included.
The report categorizes incidents three ways: as verbal, safety and drug- or alcohol-related. A verbal incident would involve students using profanity or threatening teachers or other students to the extent that administrators think suspension is warranted. A safety incident could involve fighting, for example, or bringing a weapon to school. A drug- or alcohol-related offense would involve students using or being under the influence of a banned substance on campus, or buying or selling drugs on school grounds.
Overall, discipline incidents seem to have decreased during the past three school years, from a high of 373 in 2004-2005 to 326 in 2005-2006. Male Latino students dropped from involvement in 180 to 140 incidents between the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 school years, but the figure rose slightly last year to roughly 150. Male white students were involved in roughly 100 incidents between 2003-2005, but that was almost halved last year, dropping to fewer than 60. Female Latino students were suspended for just more than 80 incidents in both the 2005 and 2006 school years, up from roughly 65 in 2004. White female students were involved in around 25 incidents in 2006, compared to roughly 45 in 2005 and 20 in 2004. Students identified as “other” ethnicities have been involved in fewer than 20 incidents each year, regardless of gender.
“We try to get the message out to everybody equally about what is and isn’t acceptable behavior at school,” said Morgan, noting that no particular discipline outreach program targeted at Latino students, or any others for that matter, is in place at SBHS.
“We have the CAL-SOAP program,” he said. “And what that is is a counseling service to help Latino students get into college. A lot of problems in the classroom are caused because the student is frustrated, so we hope that programs like these will help with that frustration.”
Each year male students are involved in roughly twice as many incidents overall as female students, and freshmen – male and female alike – are involved in more incidents than any other grade.
“That’s not unusual,” Morgan said. “Freshmen don’t know the rules here real well, so we have to explain to them that they’re at school with adult students and teachers now, and they can’t act like elementary school students any more.”
To examine specific kinds of incidents, SBHS compared infractions committed during the first quarter (the first six weeks of school) to the first quarter for the 2006 and 2005 school years.
Safety-related offenses occurring during the first quarter have increased among male students this year compared to 2006 – from three suspensions to eight among male Latinos and from three to four among white males. These numbers are still less than 13 incidents involving Latino males in 2005 and five among white males. Females have remained the same in 2006 and 2007 – 6 Latina females were suspended for safety violations both years and one white female has been suspended each year.
Verbal offenses have increased across the board this year. Latino males were involved in 11 cases, up from seven in both 2006 and 2005; white males were involved in six this year, up from one last year and two in 2005; Latina females committed five such offenses, compared to two in both 2006 and 2005; and white females were involved in four cases, up from one last year and none in 2005.
“The last few weeks have been pretty smooth, but we really did get off to a bit of a rough start this year,” Morgan said, adding that there was an unusually large freshman class this year that might have contributed to the problems.
What officials seem to be most concerned with, however, is a marked increase in drug- and alcohol-related offenses, which typically have not been a major problem for SBHS. While offenses are down among white males (from three last year to two this year) and “other” students of both genders, other students more than making up for them. Male Latino students were involved in eight offenses in the first quarter of this year, compared to two last year and none the year prior. Female Latinas were involved in three offenses for the first time since 2005, and one white female was suspended for a drug or alcohol offense for the first time as well.
Schroder said there has been growing concern at SBHS about an increased drug and alcohol presence.
“But you know, a school district is not isolated,” she said. “What you see happening here is a reflection of the community at large, and there’s a substance abuse problem.”
Danielle Smith covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or ds****@fr***********.com.
