Board hears spike in discipline incidents tied to vaping and cell-phone rule enforcement

LUBBOCK — Lubbock ISD officials told trustees March 12 that discipline incidents are up overall this year, driven in part by cell-phone and e-cigarette (vape) violations that now make up a meaningful share of removals and in-school suspensions.

Kam (school support and special services) presented three-year trend lines and said the third-nine-weeks data show in-school suspension is up while expulsions and DAP placements are down. Kam said middle-school numbers fell slightly year over year but that high schools saw a 28% increase primarily tied to technology and vaping enforcement.

"Most of those are cell phone violations and vaping removals," Kam said, and staff later summarized that about 28% of the total increase seen in the period is attributable to those categories. Brian Ellison, who presented the DAP update, confirmed that DAP placements are down overall year to date and offered campus-level placement breakdowns.

Staff described several responses in place: PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) handbooks and nine-week data meetings to identify tiered supports; campus walkthroughs and coaching to strengthen classroom management; a Strong program providing intensive support to identified teachers; and opioid-grant-funded supports and recidivism reduction efforts for more serious incidents.

Trustees were told that the district has refined removal procedures under recent state changes (House Bill 6 amendments to Chapter 37) and that campus teams are using data to identify whether increases reflect policy changes, supervisory gaps at individual campuses, or student behavior shifts.

Staff said they will continue walkthrough coaching, parent engagement, and targeted campus supports and will report back on the effectiveness of those interventions.