In response to questions from the community about discipline on campus, the Coronado Unified School District is unveiling a new “discipline dashboard” at the end of September.
Superintendent Karl Mueller shared information about the dashboard at the August 20 school board meeting. The purpose is to provide the community with a snapshot of occurrences that have happened on school campuses in the last month.
“We believe it will provide some clarity and transparency for our parents as to some of the challenges and opportunities for parental partnership, in how we, as a school district and as a community, support those infractions,” said Mueller.
He shared a draft of what the discipline dashboard could look like. It includes a legend and descriptions of behaviors. Mueller said it’s directly connected to the district’s Discipline Action Guide.
“Our goal here is really to strengthen the partnership between CUSD and our parents,” said Mueller.
He said that the dashboard will track trends they are seeing on campus and outline the district’s response.
In addition, the district will provide resources and links for parents, helping them talk to their kids about the shifts or trends noted in the dashboard.
“We are very hopeful that knowledge and a snapshot of what is occurring on our campuses can really lead to some important conversations at home,” said Mueller.
Mueller said he is aware of instances where parents might think that a perpetrator wasn’t punished for an infraction. He says this can be a challenge, because site administrators can’t discuss what consequences are handed out.
“But I’m hopeful this tool will provide a little more clarity,” he said. “We want to share with parents how we, as a district, are responding to incidents … Obviously, for confidentiality, these will be non-specific. Student names, times, and dates of occurrences will not be included.”
Trustee Renee Cavanaugh said it’s important for the teachers to know the board is interested in seeing what supports are needed, and where.
“Where do we need to put more resources and support to help our students and teachers and parents?” she said.
Trustee Scot Youngblood said that the board has heard from parents about incidents that occur on campus.
“What we hear from parents is ‘this occurred on the playground, this occurred in the class, the perpetrator wasn’t punished, or nothing happened,'” said Youngblood. “And I think that, as a board, we have been very supportive of holding perpetrators accountable. Obviously, there has to be an investigation, but we should definitely hold those people accountable who are misbehaving and enforce the Disciplinary Action Guide appropriately.”
Parents can expect to see the first discipline dashboard as part of the Superintendent’s email at the end of September.
“I’m excited to see how this works and how this rolls out,” said Mueller.
