First-semester suspensions in BSD dip to 258

The Brandon School Division reported 258 suspensions in the first semester of 2025-26 — down from 290 suspensions given out during the same period in the previous school year.

The division’s board of trustees heard the report at Monday evening’s regular meeting.

“Seeing that that has decreased from last year from 290 to 258 shows progress … but that there are sometimes things that the school has to deal with,” Supt. Mathew Gustafson said on Tuesday.

“We want there to be no suspensions, but we also understand that there are times that a student may engage in a behaviour that requires an approach that may involve a consequence, like a suspension,” he said.

Suspensions are given for a variety of reasons, including inappropriate behaviour, assault or possessing drugs or alcohol.

Ninety of the suspensions doled out were for students in kindergarten to Grade 8 classes, while 168 were in high schools.

The report says 218 suspensions were served at home and 40 at school. In-school suspensions can mean separating a student from the rest of class, but vary for different schools or based on a student’s needs, Gustafson said.

The 258 suspensions were given out to 202 different students, a senior administration report shows.

Students in the first semester were suspended for a total of 1,064.5 days, equal to an average of just over four days per suspension.

There were six instances of students receiving the longest suspensions, which range from 21 to 30 days. Five of those were given to high school students, and one to a K-8 student.

Trustee Jim Murray (Ward 1) said the raw data can make it look like there’s a much larger problem than there actually is. He asked administration if it could break the numbers down in future reports to give people a better idea of the overall picture.

The division has more than 10,000 students across its 24 schools. The students who were suspended account for less than two per cent of the total student base, Gustafson said.

“Over 98 per cent of students never received a suspension. If you take out the ones that either had only one suspension or less than three days, that number goes down even more,” he said.

“We are always concerned if there are behaviours that end up resulting in a suspension, because you never want those kinds of behaviours in your school,” Gustafson said. “But suspension is not the only approach that we use.”

Gustafson said the division has a variety of tactics and programming to limit suspensions. That includes counselling and social work supports, social-emotional programming and ensuring students have a way to communicate their concerns with a trusted adult.

“You want a very comprehensive approach that deals with not only the things like expected behaviours and rules within a school, but the supports for students to be able to meet those expectations,” he said. “Making sure that you have a climate in the school building that’s welcoming.”

Inappropriate behaviour was the most common reason that students were suspended, with 215 suspensions for that reason. Also, 190 suspensions were for assaultive behaviour and 31 for drugs and alcohol, the data show, with some suspensions based on multiple causes.

Additionally, 42 suspensions were issued between Feb. 3 and Feb. 16 in the second semester.

» alambert@brandonsun.com