Chronic discipline issues haunt CF high

CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. (WPRI) - Records obtained by Target 12 indicate classes at Central Falls High were disrupted thousands of times this school year by behavior problems that were even more frequent last year.

When a student is disruptive at the high school, teachers record their behavior violation on referral forms and send the students to what is known as the 'restoration room'. Boxes on the form specify what was done, covering everything from ‘obscene language’ to ‘possession of firearm’ to ‘habitual class cutting’.

Target 12 also received dozens of pages headlined, 'restoration bulletin'. Each line represents a referral to the restoration room, with the documents covering a time frame dating back to March.

From March 22 to June 8, there were 1033 referrals which is an average of about 20 per day. The documents did not list the reasons for each referral.

Superintendent Frances Gallo's communication's director admits the school is trying to manage its behavior problems but she sent us a chart that compares this school year to last school year.

Yaviri Grosso-Escalera said the chart shows disciplinary incidents are down this year. 4887 incidents were recorded from September to March of the 2010-2011 school year. 1667 were recorded for the same time period during the current school year.

“We feel that with continued fidelity to the Behavior Management System that has been implemented we will continue to see improvements in the 2012-2013 school year,” Grosso-Escalera said.

Teachers who did not want to comment on the record, saying they feared reprisal by the administration, tell Target 12 they have not noticed a difference between the two years. One teacher said 20 discipline referrals a day is too many and too disruptive and they added that in their opinion, the Behavior Management System is not working..

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