JFK Middle School Sees Big Drop in Suspensions

In one year, has seen a 72 percent decrease in students suspended and a 42 percent decrease in the total number of students receiving referrals, school officials announced in a presentation to the school board on Tuesday.

Building Principal Jennifer Orlos said these improvements in discipline are celebrated at the school.

In the 2009-10 school year, 118 students were suspended from school, Orlos said. However, in the 2010-11 school year, only 33 students were suspended – a 72 percent decrease, she said.

Also, 84 percent of the students have not received any type of referral, and the number of students with referrals decreased from 311 students in 2009-10 to 179 students in 2010-11 – a 42 percent drop, Orlos said.

The school made an active effort to decrease the number of referrals by implementing school-wide positive intervention programs, including recognitions for students-of-the-month, quarterly awards ceremonies and doughnuts with the dean, she said.

Teachers are encouraged to write two positive referrals a week and send positive notes home, Orlos said. School officials are also reiterating expectations quarterly, rather than just at the beginning of the school year and are continuing lessons on bullying, tolerance and character education, she said.

The school has made it its goal to decrease the number of referrals by 25 percent by the end of the 2011-12 school year.

As discipline improves, standardized test scores are also improving, Orlos said. The middle school saw a 2.5 percent yearly improvement in its reading scores and a 1.8 percent improvement in its overall math scores.

The Hispanic and limited English proficiency subgroups showed the largest gains in reading scores, while the black subgroup saw the biggest improvements in yearly math scores.