The Evanston Township High School District 202 Board of Education reviewed ETHS’s 2022-2023 school year discipline report Monday night. The number of disciplinary incidents increased 51% from the 2021-2022 school year.
Keith Robinson, ETHS associate principal for educational services, and the school’s four deans of student safety, success & wellbeing presented the report.
There were 2585 behavior incidents throughout the year, 42% being due to “unauthorized presence,” when students were in unapproved places. More than 13% of these incidents resulted in the suspension of the student.
Almost 750 individual students were involved in at least one incident, an increase from 629 unique students in the 2021-2022 school year. Of the students disciplined last school year, 42% were Black or African American and 24% were Latine. About 30% of these incidents also involved students from the class of 2026.
Nichole Boyd, the class of 2024 dean, attributed the high numbers of young students being disciplined to lingering effects from pandemic-era virtual learning.
“Our kids are missing some skills, communication skills, problem-solving,” Boyd said.
To reduce the numbers of disciplinary incidents across the board, the Deans’ Office aims to create better support systems for students, Robinson said.
The office is collaborating with the North Cook Regional Education Office to bring in student advisers who each would have a caseload of 25 students, Robinson said. These advisers aim to develop “deeper, non-punitive relationships” with students to determine how to best help them, he added.
There are also plans to hire a restorative practices coordinator who will be in charge of implementing support strategies, Robinson said, and the office will also continue using data to understand the patterns they are seeing.
Letitia Hinkle, the dean for the class of 2026, said these initiatives are part of the effort to support students “holistically.”
“We’re providing a safe space for students to be open and say, ‘This is why I did what I did. Now, how can you help me?’” she said.
Supporting students is important to meet the district’s goal of providing students with an environment centered around their wellbeing, Board President Pat Savage-Williams said.
“We recognize that this goal, right now, has to be a priority for us,” she said.
Board members also unanimously approved tenure for 25 teachers across eight departments, school calendars for the next two school years and a renovation for a part of the athletic wing’s roof.
The renovation will take place between May and July and will not interfere with school activities.
Board Vice President Monique Parsons emphasized that there is “beyond urgent” work to be done. She said it’s important to determine what resources will help the Deans’ Office empower students.
“The leaders need to determine how to support (the Deans’ Office’s) work because our kids are dropping through the cracks,” she said.
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