Board reviews suspension policy
Mulling `alternative' options for students
BROCKVILLE — The Upper Canada District School board is reviewing its suspension policy, planning to bring in more “alternative” and “restorative” options for students with behavioural issues.
The board says it is reviewing its policy for discretionary suspensions, as its rate was one of the highest in Ontario last year.
While the average suspension rate throughout the province has held steady at around 2% for years, the local rate has been markedly higher.
“The board rate has remained stable throughout the last two years at six per cent,” Dr. Kathleen Moss said at last week's school board meeting.
“Of those, just under half of those students have multiple suspensions.”
Local suspensions in the 202324 school year were handed mostly to secondary students, the board reported, with 52.2% of the total going to those in Grades 9-12. The majority of students were male, and 80% of suspensions lasted one to two days.
The remaining suspensions were given to students in Grades 7 and 8 (21.7%), and Grades 4-6 (21.5%).
Upper Canada's suspension rate has varied throughout the years; it was 6.2% last year, 6% in 2021-22, 3.2% in 2020-21, 5.39 in 2019-20, and 7.15% in 2018-19.
Dating back to 2007, however, provincial data shows the local board's rate is consistently higher than the provincial average, which typically ranges between two and 3%.
Now, the board is looking at how to manage the behaviours that lead to discretionary suspensions in a different way, and has set into motion a review to find alternative forms of consequence when possible.
“Were taking a look at, where appropriate, what might be some opportunity to do something instead of suspending, where in the past we might have been suspending students — to really help, ideally for students to be able to learn from the incident that has taken place,” Don Lewis, principal of safe schools, said at a recent school board meeting.