The Facts

San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) schools are sending students home for discipline without recording suspensions, reports Jennifer Wadsworth at The San Francisco Standard. One Guadalupe Elementary parent says his third-grader was sent home without written notice, yet the school reported zero suspensions that year. District student-services chief Tony Payne says these undocumented send-homes are illegal, but SFUSD cannot say how often they happen.

The Context

Low suspension numbers can hide lost learning. Stanford researchers found that SFUSD educators used unrecorded removals while struggling with classroom safety and staff shortages. One employee said schools were “so scared of having bad suspension data” that they used exclusions that would not be documented.

The GrowSF Take

Children still miss school; the statistics just look better. Off-the-books discipline hides whether students are getting help and whether classrooms are better learning environments. Superintendent Maria Su should enforce the documentation requirement, and ensure every principal is complying.