MONROE - The number of students being referred to special education in the Monroe school district has decreased in the last few years, dropping into the range of 30 to 40 referrals per year, according to Director of Pupil Services Joe Monroe.
Monroe attributes the decrease to the quality of the district's special education and to its regular education, where teachers are asking themselves what benefit students get by being labeled "special ed."
In the last two years, the district has exceeded the state average in scores on standardized tests by special education students.
"We feel like we're crushing it here," he said, noting that he thinks the mindset shared by instructors is to thank. "Our teachers believe these kids can do it."
There are currently slightly more than 300 special education students in the Monroe school district, which is about 11.8 percent of the student body and 2 percent lower than the state average.
But "significant behavioral issues are taking up a lot of time," Monroe said in his report to the school board Monday.
Incidents where students have to be secluded - where an instructor doesn't let a student leave a room, but is still in the room with him or her - were down in the 2013-14 school year. But Monroe added that the 20 fewer incidents might not mean too much, since one student can account for many of them.
Nineteen students were involved in a total of about 60 incidents in 2013-14.
In seclusion and restraint incidents, some differences appear between schools. For example, Northside Elementary and Parkside Elementary had more than 20 incidents each where both seclusion and restraint were used on a student, while Abraham Lincoln Accelerated Learning Academy had none.
Monroe said some differences can be explained by the use of different methods, others by different programs - like Northside's autism program - but that he didn't want to attribute a reason before he had spoken to the individuals involved.
Restraint involves a trained instructor holding a student in a way that doesn't allow the student to move or hurt anyone, but that doesn't hurt the student, Monroe said.
The top five reasons for elementary students being referred to the office for discipline includes defiance, fighting, physical aggression, language and harassment/bullying. Monroe said the district focused on defiance and fighting this year, which had an effect. Referrals for defiance decreased from 110 to 85 in 2013-14, and fighting decreased from 92 to 88.
However, referrals for physical aggression popped up from 79 to 124.
"It's like Whac-A-Mole," Monroe said. "You hit one down and another pops up."
At the middle school level, referrals for disruption increased from 79 to 166, and tech violation referrals jumped from 30 to 72, which Monroe suggested is due to the novelty of the Chromebooks and is likely to decrease in following years.
Overall, discipline referrals have decreased from 2,381 last year to 1,765 this year, or by about 26 percent.
"It's not like they're bad kids," Monroe said. "These are kids that have learned these behaviors over time."
Bullying, defined as behavior that hurts others, is intentional and is difficult to stop, decreased by more than 50 percent, with 76 incidents in 2013-14 compared with 162 the year before.
Monroe said he thinks the district may have come down too hard on students for the high number of bullying incidents in 2012-13, but that it was worth it and is starting to pay off.
He listed several programs that are intended to help these numbers improve, including Youth Frontiers Retreats and Buddy Benches.
The retreats are meant to empower kids to be "everyday heroes," he said, noting that other schools around Wisconsin have reported the retreats as making a significant and lasting difference in the community and the schools. Fifth-graders and eighth-graders each take a day for the retreat.
Buddy Benches are benches on elementary school playgrounds that kids are told to sit on if they need a friend or are having a bad day. Other students see that and can provide support or friendship.
"It's a really simple thing, but it just shows how powerful our community can be," Monroe said.
The benches are expected to be up in August.
"Our staff works together as a team," Monroe said. "We're constantly talking and making an effort to improve."
Not every instructor would say they feel 100 percent supported, he said, but overall the programs are doing better.
"We make do with what we have," Monroe said.
Monroe attributes the decrease to the quality of the district's special education and to its regular education, where teachers are asking themselves what benefit students get by being labeled "special ed."
In the last two years, the district has exceeded the state average in scores on standardized tests by special education students.
"We feel like we're crushing it here," he said, noting that he thinks the mindset shared by instructors is to thank. "Our teachers believe these kids can do it."
There are currently slightly more than 300 special education students in the Monroe school district, which is about 11.8 percent of the student body and 2 percent lower than the state average.
But "significant behavioral issues are taking up a lot of time," Monroe said in his report to the school board Monday.
Incidents where students have to be secluded - where an instructor doesn't let a student leave a room, but is still in the room with him or her - were down in the 2013-14 school year. But Monroe added that the 20 fewer incidents might not mean too much, since one student can account for many of them.
Nineteen students were involved in a total of about 60 incidents in 2013-14.
In seclusion and restraint incidents, some differences appear between schools. For example, Northside Elementary and Parkside Elementary had more than 20 incidents each where both seclusion and restraint were used on a student, while Abraham Lincoln Accelerated Learning Academy had none.
Monroe said some differences can be explained by the use of different methods, others by different programs - like Northside's autism program - but that he didn't want to attribute a reason before he had spoken to the individuals involved.
Restraint involves a trained instructor holding a student in a way that doesn't allow the student to move or hurt anyone, but that doesn't hurt the student, Monroe said.
The top five reasons for elementary students being referred to the office for discipline includes defiance, fighting, physical aggression, language and harassment/bullying. Monroe said the district focused on defiance and fighting this year, which had an effect. Referrals for defiance decreased from 110 to 85 in 2013-14, and fighting decreased from 92 to 88.
However, referrals for physical aggression popped up from 79 to 124.
"It's like Whac-A-Mole," Monroe said. "You hit one down and another pops up."
At the middle school level, referrals for disruption increased from 79 to 166, and tech violation referrals jumped from 30 to 72, which Monroe suggested is due to the novelty of the Chromebooks and is likely to decrease in following years.
Overall, discipline referrals have decreased from 2,381 last year to 1,765 this year, or by about 26 percent.
"It's not like they're bad kids," Monroe said. "These are kids that have learned these behaviors over time."
Bullying, defined as behavior that hurts others, is intentional and is difficult to stop, decreased by more than 50 percent, with 76 incidents in 2013-14 compared with 162 the year before.
Monroe said he thinks the district may have come down too hard on students for the high number of bullying incidents in 2012-13, but that it was worth it and is starting to pay off.
He listed several programs that are intended to help these numbers improve, including Youth Frontiers Retreats and Buddy Benches.
The retreats are meant to empower kids to be "everyday heroes," he said, noting that other schools around Wisconsin have reported the retreats as making a significant and lasting difference in the community and the schools. Fifth-graders and eighth-graders each take a day for the retreat.
Buddy Benches are benches on elementary school playgrounds that kids are told to sit on if they need a friend or are having a bad day. Other students see that and can provide support or friendship.
"It's a really simple thing, but it just shows how powerful our community can be," Monroe said.
The benches are expected to be up in August.
"Our staff works together as a team," Monroe said. "We're constantly talking and making an effort to improve."
Not every instructor would say they feel 100 percent supported, he said, but overall the programs are doing better.
"We make do with what we have," Monroe said.