Student urges committee to act after data shows discipline disproportionately affects students with disabilities

Trevor Houston, a Norton High School student, addressed the Norton School Committee during public comment, presenting district discipline records and urging the board to act. "Between February 2025 and May 2026, Norton High recorded 1,137 disciplinary incidents," Houston said, adding that 602 of those incidents involved students with individualized education programs and that students with disabilities accounted for 61 percent of all students disciplined in that span. Houston argued the concentration of disciplinary authority in a single assistant principal leaves little oversight and said the pattern amounts to "material discrimination against students with disabilities."

Houston described students with disabilities being disciplined at more than six times the rate of their peers and said many eligibility decisions and discipline escalations happen without meaningful review. He said he raised his concerns with the principal and received a response that he "doesn't know what happens behind closed doors," which Houston said underscored a lack of internal accountability. The committee did not take formal action during public comment; the transcript shows the student concluded his remarks and the chair thanked him. The committee will decide whether to ask staff for follow-up information or to place the topic on a future agenda for fuller review.