Misbehavior, attendance are big issues in Macon schools. How district wants to reduce them

Last week, the Bibb County Board of Education reviewed end-of-semester data highlighting student attendance and misbehavior issues in Macon public schools, as well as various interventions to address them.

Discipline incidents in the Bibb County School District have dropped, including in-school and out-of-school suspension days, compared to last year’s figures, said Jamie Cassady, BCSD assistant superintendent of student affairs.

“We are proud to say that as a district we have seen a decrease in all areas,” Cassady said at the board meeting. ”I want to emphasize that we recognize that there is still plenty of work to do.”

Despite the improved trend, a closer look at certain schools reveals an increase in student discipline incidents compared to other schools. For example, Bruce Elementary School had 147 discipline incidents in 2024, up from 74 the previous school year, according to BCSD data.

New board member Barney Hester noticed that Howard Middle School had 392 discipline incidents, up 379 from 2023, compared to Miller Magnet Middle School, which only had 49 incidents for 2024.

“What is Miller doing that Howard is not doing?” Hester asked Cassady, who said he would have to speak with the schools’ leaders before providing an official response.

Presented data at the board meeting also revealed that the top three student misbehaviors district-wide are incivility, fighting and disorderly conduct.

Leaders said that the district’s goal is to reduce student discipline referrals by 30%, with a main objective to keep students in their seats and maximize teaching and learning.

Current discipline interventions include de-esclation training for all teachers, a bullying prevention program and Project AWARE, a federally-funded program that provides mental and behavioral health services for students.

Board member Daryl Morton raised concerns about the district’s 30% reduction goal, as Morton feared it may tempt administrators to let certain student-teacher conflicts, such as name-calling, slide in aims of making numbers look good.

“Our number one discipline issue is incivility. A lot of that includes how students treat their teachers,” Morton said at the meeting. “This is a very ambitious goal. I worry that in order to meet that goal, we might let some things slide like how our students treat our teachers.

“We are struggling to retain teachers, which means that they have to be respected, and the administration has to have their back.”

Morton said he is hoping that the interventions really implement a change in student behavior.

Student attendance in Bibb County schools

Some Bibb County Schools improved overall student attendance compared to first semesters in previous academic years, but school leaders still see chronic absenteeism as a problem that must be addressed, particularly in high schools.

Chronic absenteeism is defined as the percentage of enrolled students missing 10% or more days of the school year, regardless of the reason. BCSD recorded over 7,300 unexcused absences just this month, according to the presented data.

Morton noticed that unexcused absences in the district increase as students progress to higher grade levels.

“We do really pretty good through fifth grade, and then sixth grade through high school, it sort of falls off a cliff,” Morton said. “Of course, we’re looking to maintain graduation rates … but it seems these numbers just shock me to be honest with you.”

In their respective levels, John R. Lewis Elementary, Elam Alexander Academy, Ballard-Hudson Middle School, and Southwest High schools had the highest percentage of students who missed 10 or more unexcused absences in fall 2024.

BCSD student advisory boards said students are not attending school for various reasons: school buses not arriving on time, fighting in the buildings, a lack of value on education and student-teacher relationships.

Cassady said the district aims to reduce chronic absences by 50% over the next five years through current interventions, which include attendance clerks in all high schools, a truancy task force, and a breakthrough intervention team that monitors targeted students’ attendance development for 10 weeks.

Henry Ficklin called for the board to consider hiring truancy officers to enforce attendance.

Superintendent Dan Sims said although the district currently does not have a truancy officer, the district does write citations to families as enforcement.

Sims also emphasized that chronic absenteeism is also a statewide and national issue.

This story was originally published January 23, 2025 at 10:38 AM.