Are Santa Barbara Schools Getting Less Safe?
Suspensions for Weapons and Violence on the Rise
There has been a 41 percent increase in weapon-related suspensions in the Santa Barbara Unified School District since the 2015-16 school year.
This grievous statistic is one of several cited in part one of the district’s student services board report. Frann Wageneck, assistant superintendent of special education, presented the data at Tuesday’s school board meeting as a way to illustrate school climate. She said that the reported rate of student suspension has increased district-wide by 1.4 percent in the past three years (4.2 percent in the last year alone for socioeconomically disadvantaged, English learners, and students with disabilities) and the total number of suspensions has increased by 37 percent.
“What is most concerning about [the suspension increase] is the impact on students who are socioeconomically disadvantaged, our students with disabilities, and our English learners,” Wageneck said. “There is a disproportionality of impact on those students.”
