Office referrals decreased for the Highland Huskies in the most recent school year. The Highland School Board heard reports on discipline referrals for the 2024–25 school year at the board’s June 23 retreat.

At Highland Secondary School, office referrals fell, but suspensions were static in the first year of the four-day school week schedule for the district.

At the elementary, a deeper dive was taken on the numbers. Results were similar, showing a 50% decrease in office referrals overall but the same number of “check-in-check-out” meetings throughout the year, which are established for students with three or more major office referrals.

The decrease in overall office referrals was credited to an increased focus on classroom management, which was the elementary school’s professional development focus for the school year.

According to elementary school principal Jane O’Leary, teachers regained 44.5 hours throughout the year due to the decrease of office referrals, while students regained 66.75 classroom hours.