While rates of suspension, expulsion and violence are decreasing in high schools statewide, that’s not the case in San Benito County.
Of the two main high schools, Hollister High, with a student population of 3,500, has been the most consistent, as it has maintained its suspension rate between 4.1%-4.6% since the 2016-17 school year. But last year’s 234 total suspensions was the second highest in the last 11 years.
This school year, the school will see an 11-year high of suspensions and expulsions. San Benito High School District Public Information Officer Adam Breen said there have been 72 physical altercations (as of March 29) involving 106 students. He added that 256 students have received 374 suspensions this school year, and 19 students have been expelled.
The school averages over two suspensions a day this year as California law requires schools to have a minimum 180 instructional days.
According to data from the California Department of Education (CDE), not including this school year, Hollister High has expelled 51 students since the 2011-12 school year, including 14 last year. Of those 14 students, eight were for violent incidents, compared to 11 over the previous nine years. That data includes four years in which the school did not expel students.
Hollister High School student Max Sandoval, 16, said he felt safe on campus and that he didn’t feel like more fights in school were occurring this year.
He said to prevent student altercations the school should “make us feel like they care for us more.”
Anzar High School’s suspension rates are more variable, with a student population averaging 350. The school reported a 10-year-high 9.1% suspension rate in the 2021-22 school year, coming off a 3.6% rate in the 2019-20 school year. Anzar has expelled two students since the 2011-12 school year. Both were for weapons possession.
“Although we are not the only school district negatively impacted by two years of the pandemic, we do know the 2021-22 school year brought unprecedented challenges for Anzar High School which we feel are important to understand when looking at data for the year,” Principal Angela Crawley said. “We saw a significant increase in the use of drugs and nicotine on campus as well as the use of force between students.”
She said additional challenges have included staffing and substitute teacher shortages, which meant administrators spent much of the school day in the classroom.
“Administration was unable to respond immediately to student and teacher needs or to plan for big-picture solutions to address the increase in student discipline,” Crawley said.
While CDE has data for the 2020-21 school year, BenitoLink is not including it, as most of the year students were attending school online or attended only a few days of in-person instruction following the COVID-19 lockdowns.
What is consistent about Anzar’s suspension rates is that it’s been below the state average in eight of the last 10 years.
Schools’ response
To get back on track this school year, Crawley said Anzar has implemented these measures:
- Bringing additional counselors on campus
- Establishing A wellness room for students who need to take a break, and Wellness Wednesdays, a group counseling option for students
- Participating in a countywide social-emotional learning community of practice
- Introducing a social-emotional learning curriculum called School-Connect for its advisory program
- Working with Harmony at Home, an agency that provides counseling and supports anti-bullying education
- Installing vape detectors in all restrooms
- Filling all open positions and engaging additional substitute teachers
“As a result of these measures,” Crawley said, “the suspension rate for the 2022-23 school year so far is just 1.8%. Anzar’s staff has worked tirelessly to help make our students feel more comfortable and safe on our campus, which remains still our highest priority.”
BenitoLink requested the number of students suspended and expelled from Anzar this school year but has not received it.
Hollister High, which has been below the average suspension rate in the six of the last 10 years, has also taken steps to address student behavior issues.
In a March 29 joint statement from Principal Adrian Ramirez and San Benito High School District Superintendent Shawn Tennenbaum, the school said it had hired four unarmed security guards to patrol its campus.
“The uniformed security guards will be focused on ensuring a safe campus in conjunction with our current campus supervisors and school resource officer,” they wrote.
While the school originally had said it hired four security guards, On April 17, Breen said the district is paying approximately $55,000 to provide five full-time security guards through the end of the school year.
He added the school has 15 campus supervisor positions, of which four are vacant. Campus supervisors’ responsibilities include patrolling the campus, assisting in preventing student conflicts and fights and supervising all in-house suspensions/restorative services.
Hollister High School freshman Braydon Brown said that while he feels there are fewer fights now, the presence of security guards didn’t make him feel safer because they weren’t “intimidating” to stop altercations and that students always find a workaround.
“People still fight off campus so I think it kind of works but there’s no point really,” Brown said. “It doesn’t stop violence it just [relocates] it somewhere else.”
Following a BenitoLink request March 29 for information on open campus supervisor positions and data on student fights/altercations, suspensions and expulsions for the 2022-23 school year, the district, which had been on spring break between April 3-10, issued a message on April 11 to students and parents affirming its goal to promote a safe and respectful school community.
“On unfortunate occasions, students have engaged in serious disciplinary infractions such as physical altercation on the campus,” the message said. “District staff and administrators have been called upon to investigate these incidents, often with the cooperation of local law enforcement, and then determine the appropriate disciplinary consequences for violations of the student code of conduct.”
The students code of conduct prohibits behavior that endangers the safety of other people on campus such as fights, bullying, conduct that disturbs “orderly” classroom or school environment, willful defiance of school staff’s authority, the use of profane, vulgar or abusive language and wearing attire the violates the school’s dress code.
According to the code, students who violate it may be subject to suspension, expulsion, transfer to alternative programs, referral to student success team or counseling services, or denial of participation in extracurricular or co-curricular activities or other privileges.
Maria Solis, mother of a freshman Hollister High School student, said the responsibility of addressing student behavior should not fall entirely on the school, adding that parents need to take the time to speak to their children.
“También uno como padre tiene que poner de su parte, educarlos bien, que ellos no deben de pelear por algo que a veces son cosas que no tienen sentido. Nomas por buscar pelea o por que se quieren sentir mejor que el otro.” (As parents we have to do our part to educate them so they don’t fight for things that don’t make sense. Sometimes they are just looking for fights or because they want to feel better than the other person.)
In Hollister High’s message to students and parents, the district said, “Staff will investigate and assign disciplinary consequences to the fullest extent permitted under the district’s policies and the law, to ensure that safety on the campus is maintained.”
Hollister High has 95 security cameras throughout the campus that it may use to identify students involved in altercations.
The school’s April 11 message states the district attempts to keep students involved and attending school by intervening as early as possible and addressing behavioral issues through referrals to counselors and other support staff.
Tennenbaum told BenitoLink in 2020 that the school was implementing Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, which focuses on reinforcing student positive behaviors by recognizing students for academic or personal achievements. He said staff also recognize students who might need extra motivation. Those students then participate in student-teacher luncheons.
The high school also implements a multi-tier system of support, which consists of providing emotional support services to students. The system is based on tiers that include teachers, administrators, counselors, and San Benito County mental health.
“The primary focus is keeping students from missing classroom instructional time to the greatest extent possible,” the message said.
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