Tara Zaayenga

This document is an update to the RTO Reduction Plan for South Pekin Grade School District 137, reviewed on May 25, 2023. The plan aims for a 25% reduction in the use of physical restraint, time out, and isolated time out (RTO) for students experiencing five-plus instances within a 30-day period. Key strategic areas include adopting positive behavioral interventions and support, implementing effective de-escalation and crisis intervention techniques, utilizing debriefing meetings to prevent future incidents, ensuring appropriate personnel are informed of student histories with confidentiality, developing individualized student plans, and making information available to parents. The plan emphasizes cultural change in behavior management and continuous monitoring for improvement.

This Discipline Improvement Plan for the 2024-2025 school year focuses on reducing exclusionary discipline and addressing racial disproportionality within the school district. The plan identifies key areas for improvement, including a lack of administrator time for discipline management, noncompliance with existing non-exclusionary measures, and insufficient restorative practices. Strategic actions include hiring an assistant principal to dedicatedly manage student discipline, creating new non-exclusionary discipline options such as Friday detentions and in-school suspensions, and implementing restorative practices to proactively decrease major discipline infractions and address the root causes of student misbehavior.

This Discipline Improvement Plan aims to reduce exclusionary discipline and racial disproportionality within the district. The plan outlines a process involving data review, analysis of root causes such as punitive disciplinary approaches and insufficient professional development, and the implementation of improved practices. Key strategies include comprehensive professional development for staff in restorative practices (Tier-1), targeted social worker support for student groups (Tier-II), and enhanced Tier-III behavior interventions focused on accountability and skill-building through restorative methods. The plan also emphasizes improved student supervision, with a goal of achieving a suspension rate of 8% or lower and consistently remaining outside the top 20% for exclusionary discipline.

The budget for South Pekin SD 137, County of Tazewell, Illinois, for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2024, and ending June 30, 2025, was prepared in tentative form and made available for public inspection. A public hearing was held on September 25, 2024, after giving notice as required by law. The budget includes estimates of amounts available in each fund and expenditures from each fund.