District staff presented its SB285 reporting, which disaggregates reported incidents, bullying and disciplinary actions by sex, race and student subgroups to check for disproportionate outcomes.

"So the purpose of this report is to identify if we are disproportionately suspending or expelling," Mr. Brown told trustees as he walked through the state-required spreadsheet and the bullying summary sections.

Brown explained the report separates reported incidents and offenders, then breaks the totals down by ethnicity and subgroups such as English learners and students in foster care. He said the state looks for disproportionate indicators and that one red cell in the district’s table identified expulsions for Native American students as a possible disproportionate finding; Brown explained that a small absolute count can produce a disproportionate percentage in a small subgroup.

Trustees asked about how the district investigates bullying, what supports are provided and how long records remain in the student information system. Brown said administrators conduct thorough investigations, create safety plans for both parties when appropriate and teach bullying prevention in advisory and elementary curricula.

Brown also said the district had only six expulsions last year; the presence of one Native American student among those expulsions caused the disproportionality flag because the subgroup size is small. He said the district was previously one of only two districts without disproportionality and that staff watch trends over multiple years: "Anything 3 or higher... is considered disproportionate if it is 3 consecutive years," he said, describing the state’s approach.

The board did not take action on the report. Trustees asked for quarterly school-level bullying counts to be provided so the board can review site-by-site data.

Ending: Staff said they will continue to provide SB285/bullying data quarterly and investigate flagged patterns; the district emphasized training, counseling and a collaborative threat-assessment process with law enforcement and juvenile justice partners.