How does Gwinnett County Public Schools handle disciplinary issues? A recent ranking of Gwinnett’s high schools might give you an idea.
According to a searchable database by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Gwinnett County's top five high schools with the most instances of suspensions accumulated 14,907 in-school suspensions (ISS) and out-of-school suspensions (OSS) in one school year.
The database allows users to see how their schools disciplined students during the 2014-15 academic school year. Based on information from the Georgia Department of Education, the database shows a range of disciplinary actions from corporal punishment to juvenile court referrals.
Norcross' Meadowcreek High School tops Gwinnett's list with 4,921 incidents of OSS and ISS. The high school also ranked first in the recent listing of high schools with the most out-of-school suspensions across metro Atlanta.
The school system includes 23 high schools — all with relatively high enrollment — which plays a role in the high incidents of suspensions, GCPS spokeswoman Sloan Roach said in interview with The Atlanta-Journal Constitution.
“We take our work to provide students with a safe, secure, and positive learning environment very seriously,” Sloan said. “Whenever there is a rule violation, the goal is to provide appropriate and fair consequences. That said, when you are looking at just the numbers, it is important to realize that the vast majority of our students do not break the rules.”
This school year, the overall number of OSS incidents has dropped by 699, Roach said. Implementing Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) has had an impact on that decrease, she said.
"We have experienced a number of benefits from implementing this framework, which assists school personnel in adopting and organizing evidence-based behavioral interventions into an integrated continuum that enhances academic and social behavior outcomes for all students," she said.
The school system has three levels of discipline in its code of conduct, and out-of-school suspensions of three to 10 days are the result of "intermediate to serious acts of misconduct."
Here are the top five high schools in Gwinnett County with the most suspensions:
(Note: The list below does not include middle schools or alternative schools, and the numbers reflect both in-school and out-of-school suspensions.)
1. Meadowcreek High School (Norcross): 4,921
Student population: 3,153
2. Shiloh High School (Snellville): 2,968
Student population: 2,307
3. Berkmar High School (Lilburn): 2,708
Student population: 2,862
4. Norcross High School (Norcross): 2,260
Student population: 3,712
5. Dacula High School (Dacula): 2,050
Student population: 2,057
*Student population via Gwinnett Public Schools website.
» Explore The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's interactive guide to Georgia schools here
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