RICHMOND, Va. --New data regarding safety and student conduct was given at Monday night’s Richmond City School Board meeting.
RPS’ Hearing Office whose responsibilities include holding student conduct hearings, assisting schools in providing a safe environment and establishing guidelines for student conduct, gave their end of the year update. The presentation showed that the number of days students spent out of school due to disciplinary hearings dropped from around 30 days last school year to just over twelve days this school year.
"Some of the factors that have contributed to reduction include, we have streamlined our process utilizing technology resources such as scheduling databases," said a representative from the Hearing Office. "Outreach attempts are also made from both the hearing office and schools and when necessary, by family liaisons to families so they can be involved in the hearing process."
Student conduct incidents fall into six different categories based on a system given by the Virginia Department of Education. Data presented also showed that the total number of incidents in all categories when comparing the 2022- 2023 school year to the 2023-2024 decreased by almost 1500.
"Last school year we had a total number of 20,658 incidents in comparison to this year's total of 19,186," said a representative from the Hearing Office.
Although the total number decreased, categories involving some negative student behaviors saw a slight increase, but many of the board members say they're thankful to see a decrease in numbers overall.
Ultimately the Hearing office proposed a policy that would require students to participate in a mandatory class for substance abuse, anger management, conflict resolution and/ or community service as apart of the disciplinary process.
The policy passed in a unanimous vote and is set to start at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year.
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