KALAMAZOO, MI -- A school administrator’s report suggesting improvements in student behavior at Kalamazoo Public Schools does not reflect what teachers are experiencing inside their classrooms, the president of the district’s teachers union says.

Amanda Miller, president of the Kalamazoo Education Association, said behaviors among students are not getting better, despite the decrease in expulsions highlighted by district administration at a recent school board meeting.

In fact, Miller said, behavior issues are getting worse, and teachers need help.

District staff recently reported a decrease in expulsions over the last decade was a direct result of a shift toward restorative practices in the school discipline process. Nkenge Bergan, director of student services, and Rikki Saunders, director of special education, gave the report during the Board of Education’s Thursday, Jan. 25, meeting.

Restorative practices, like daily class meetings or conflict resolution meetings, allow students to remain in school and learn resolution skills, Bergan said. Students learn to resolve differences while considering the perspective of others using skills like peer mediation, peace circles and mentoring, she said.

According to the report, no students were expelled during the 2017-18 school year, a continuation of a decade-long decline in expulsion numbers for the district.

But Miller said, based on what she is hearing from the district’s teachers, incidents of poor behavior are on the rise.

Teachers have reported cases of students hitting teachers and other students, roaming hallways, attempting to leave the school building, fighting with each other, throwing items or refusing to sit down in class, Miller said.

“There’s only so many things (teachers) can manage before things become unmanageable,” she said.

Administrators declined to give specific statistics on the frequency of behavior issues or school incidents, but said the efforts toward restorative practices have decreased the number of students kept out of classrooms as a result of discipline, Bergan said.

Obstacles such as the large size of the district, teacher turnover and funding make the implementation of a new discipline philosophy slower, but the goal remains to make it district-wide.

“This is a transformation, and this is the first step,” Bergan said.

Their report showed a decline in the total number of exclusions and expulsions in recent years. The district defines exclusions as suspensions longer than 10 days, but shorter than 180 days.

From the 2010-11 school year through 2013-14 school year, the district averaged 66 exclusions or expulsions per year. From the 2014-15 school year to 2016-17 school year, the district averaged 47 exclusions or expulsions. For the 2017-18 school year, the district reports, it issued 13 exclusions and no expulsions.

The total number of suspensions across the district has remained steady, the report said. A total of 2,447 students were suspended for at least one day in the 2017-18 school year. With 12,759 students enrolled last year, that means about 19 percent of the district’s students received some sort of suspension.

Miller said the report was not an accurate picture because restorative practice efforts are not yet district-wide, and said there is not enough support staff to help teachers achieve that goal. The success of restorative practices requires they are implemented in every building and with every staff member, she said.

Smaller class sizes and more support staff would help teachers better manage students, Miller said.

“There’s a very big lack of support,” she said.

Training is ongoing, and the effort is a cultural shift that will take time for everyone to learn and believe in, Bergan said.

The school offers teachers a variety of training, such as classroom management and verbal deescalation skills. All of the training, including restorative practices, “work together to provide stability in the classroom,” Bergan said.

The district also leverages community partnerships with organizations like Gryphon Place and the Kalamazoo Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services to bring experts into the schools to help students.

Maricela Alcala, CEO at Gryphon Place, said surveys taken by participants demonstrate the progress that restorative practices make in the schools. About 90 percent of those surveyed say they learned a new skill or feel more engaged in the classroom, Alcala said.

Restorative justice practices, as defined by the state of Michigan, are encouraged by the state Board of Education and the Michigan Department of Education’s model code of student conduct.

Former Gov. Rick Synder signed a law in December 2016 giving individual districts more flexibility on whether or not to suspend or expel students. Prior “zero tolerance” policies meant students were automatically expelled if serious enough offenses were committed, like assaults against a teacher or when students come to school armed with a dangerous weapon.

Under the new rules, school administrators and Board of Education trustees are required to consider seven factors, including restorative practices.

Bergan said the district’s move toward restorative practices was in place before the recommendation from the state. The district’s rate of expulsions is tracked by the state, but she said her staff does not use that as a “guiding post."

“We just want to do right by the children,” Bergan said.

About 80 to 90 percent of behavioral incidents are managed within the classroom, according to the report given by Bergan and Saunders.

A much smaller portion of behavioral incidents, only 1 to 3 percent, are considered possibly illegal and cause a more substantial disruption to the safety and security of the classroom. Up to 10 percent of the incidents require the support of behavioral specialists.

But those personnel are limited, Miller said.

Teachers are asked to handle more poor behavior inside the classroom, she said, but can request assistance by pressing a button on the classroom wall or by phone.

“Sometimes we call for help and no one comes because of so many other things they’re doing," Miller said.

Teachers see a clear need for more counselors, mental health therapists and behavioral specialists trained to handle tougher situations involving students, Miller said.

“It barely reaches of the surface of the kids that need it," she said of the resources currently available.

Last year, three additional social workers and six new mental health therapists were added to the school district budget.

The report presented by Bergan and Saunders looked at the topic from the perspective of policy, but the district also needs to consider the problem “from a teacher’s lens,” Miller said.

“What is happening at the building level is not being handled very well,” she said. “I don’t think (the report) accurately portrays what’s going on in the classroom for teachers and students. Not at all.”

Adverse childhood experiences impact students' ability to learn inside the classroom. The school offers many good resources to help meet basic needs like food pantries and the mobile medical unit. But truly solving the issue will require a community-wide understanding of trauma-informed care, Miller said.

Students facing challenges like poverty or homelessness require more from the schools, but state funding has not increased to help the district meet those challenges, Superintendent Michael Rice said after the presentation to the school board last month.

According to a recent report from Michigan State University, Michigan ranks last among 50 states in funding growth for public education. Under Proposal A, Michigan ranks last in funding growth for public schools, the MSU study says.

Funding limitations mean programs from organizations like Gryphon Place and Communities in Schools of Kalamazoo are limited and cannot help every student, board member Tandy Moore said.

She encouraged the administration take a deeper look into the use of restorative practices, and requested district staff be “more clear on the limited scope” of the programs.

“I think they are effective when we can get to students,” Moore said. “It’s not something that is available to every student in every building."

The philosophy of restorative practices has a lot of value, she said, but must be implemented completely.

“We’re not going to see a huge change in our school culture unless we can do that,” Moore said.

One of the school board’s newest members, Moore said she wants to implement the practice district-wide through policy and help administrators find the resources to better train staff. The board should be looking for ways to overcome obstacles like funding, she said.

“It’s frustrating to me that we fall back onto our challenges,” Moore said.

Expelling students is not beneficial to their education, she said, but it’s not enough to simply keep them in the classroom without addressing the issue.

“We can’t just keep them in school,” Moore said. “But while we have them, we need to do more.”