Bellevue School District administrators are eliminating short-term suspensions in favor of more proactive actions, in light of data showing that the punishment is disproportionate and generally ineffective.

The Bellevue School Board voted late last month to eliminate short-term suspensions in the coming school year in all cases except for harassment, bullying and intimidation or drug and alcohol offenses. All short-term suspensions will be dropped by the 2017-2018 school year.

The School Board began discussing eliminating short-term suspensions more than a year ago after data and research showed that the practice is ineffective.

“We were really disturbed about the data. It wasn’t going in the right direction,” Executive Director of Schools Patty Siegwarth said. “If we keep doing the same thing, we’ll keep getting the same outcome, or worse.”

Research shows that students who are suspended once are more likely to be suspended in the future. In Bellevue, students who receive exclusionary punishments (suspensions or expulsion) are 1.54 times more likely to be penalized in the future, according to data from the organization Washington Appleseed.

In 2013, there were 811 disciplinary incidents in Bellevue. The small percentage of the second body to receive these punishments (about 2.75 percent) were largely black, Hispanic or American Indian/Native Alaskan. Students receiving free and reduced price meals or in special education were also more than 2.4 and 3.76 times more likely to be suspended, respectively.

“There was significant disproportionality in the data about who was getting suspended in our district. That was bothersome to us,” Siegwarth said.

Siegwarth oversees discipline in the district and said she has seen young children who are just entering elementary school and haven’t had school experience or been around other children be suspended.

A district-wide committee of parents, teachers, school support staff, administrators and community members was formed last year to look into changing school discipline policies. Together, they examined the policies and created new best practices and measures for teachers and administrators to prevent and/or respond to student incidents.

A large part of their recommendations are proactive, preventiative practices rather than reactionary actions. Instead of suspensions, teachers and administrators will work to identify the issues behind why a student is acting. Students will also be trained in peer mediation to resolve conflicts.

While the district phases out short-term suspensions, principals considering them must consult with the supervisor of pupil management or the executive director of schools so they can consider alternative options.

The new practices will also tie into the district’s ongoing work with social emotional learning and improving students’ self-awareness and responsible decision making.

Siegwarth and her team will begin training teachers on the new practices next week. Over the coming months, they will be using a tiered implementation plan in order to make sure the changes are sustainable.