MANITOWOC, Wis. (NBC 26) — It's what Manitowoc school officials are calling a crisis. The superintendent says students often mirror behavior from across society, and there's been rising tension.
"I have noticed a distinct change in the engagement overall," Lincoln High School teacher Gavin Annette said.
According to Manitowoc police, a student assaulted another staff member at Annette's school last month.
"I will on occasion have a student or students that will just stop learning and will just leave the room," he said.
According to a district report, 92 students were suspended out of school during the first quarter of the year. In the 2019-2020 school year, there were about 200 all year. And Manitowoc has already seen more in-school suspensions than each of the previous three years.
"I simply feel like the consequences that a lot of us are looking for, as much as I wish they were still effective, I honestly feel like they're relatively outdated," Annette said.
That's part of the reason why a student behavior advisory board met Thursday night. The group of parents and former teachers aim to create solutions and guidelines.
"I'm hopeful that we'll be able to come up with some ideas and some advice that we could provide that will better address the behavior issues that we've seen in our schools," school board president Dave Nickels said.
Many of the out-of-school suspensions were given due to fighting, disruptive behavior and even drugs or tobacco.
"Some of that's due to the pandemic and the fact that students haven't been out and about socially as much or were in virtual learning for a period of time," MPSD superintendent Mark Holzman said.
Last week, the district held training to try and help teachers learn more about deescalating situations.
"We've added mental health in our schools," Holzman said. "We've added school counselors this year. We've added nurses this year. So we've added staff to help support students knowing that this will come."
The superintendent says the problem is getting better this quarter, but the advisory board plans to meet weekly. The CDC reports suffering mental health in children across the nation.
"I actually feel like this has been a bit of a shock for all of the students and all of the kids in our community," Annette said. "They essentially went through a low-level trauma."
