MUSD recaps discipline progress

During a Maricopa Unified School District meeting on June 14, Assistant Superintendent Tracey Pastor presented student discipline data from the 2022-2023 academic year.

She showed the raw data, including totals of the more common discipline infractions such as alcohol, assault, drug, bullying and weapons.

The total number of infractions in each area has decreased since the 2021-2022 school year, with the exception of fighting, which increased to 403 from 333.

A total of 21 alcohol infractions were recorded through Synergy, the district’s student information system, this year, a 50% decrease from the previous year.

And bullying has lowered to 15 recorded infractions, compared to the 96 infractions in 2021-2022.

“We’ll continue to work on analyzing our data and working together to leverage supervision, prevention services, PBIS and collaboration with parents in order to reduce our total incidents of student discipline,” Pastor said.

Another significant accomplishment this year was the implementation of the 71-member task force, comprised of students, community members and staff.

Participants in the task force completed an online survey to identify top concerns. Based on the findings, four subcommittees were formed, each tasked with establishing goals and actionable steps.

One current project is the revision of the elementary code of conduct.

Pastor met with elementary principals and administrators to reconstruct the student handbook, update policy definitions and outline progressive discipline.

With four meetings held in the last quarter, the task force maintained strong and consistent participation throughout, Pastor said.

Moving forward, the district is planning task force meetings for the 2023-2024 school year.

“MUSD has accomplished many milestones on our journey toward improvement in safety and discipline during this last school year,” Pastor said.