Principal Pat St. Clair in reports to Regional School Unit 73 board of directors in September and October said behavioral issues are increasing in students at Spruce Mountain Elementary School in Jay. File photo/Livermore Falls Advertiser

REGION — Two Spruce Mountain schools have reported reduced incidences of poor student behaviors, one has seen an increase and one didn’t have figures available as of Oct. 31.

Spruce Mountain Primary School Principal Darcy Shink submitted a written report for the Regional School Unit 73 board of directors meeting on Oct. 24. “Many behaviors are from students who are on behavior plans currently,” she wrote. “They have decreased since September as of now from 129 to 115 in October.”

Shink expected to have more behavior referrals than last year because behavior is being tracked “with more fidelity knowing we need data to get support for students and staff are trained on how to do it.”

Figures Shink provided show there have been 252 behavioral instances this year in kindergarten through second grade. Kindergarten has had 122 instances with 32 of them classed as major and 90 as minor. First grade had 103 recorded with 63 major and 40 minor. Second grade saw 27 instances with 13 major and 14 minor.

Behavior continues to be an issue at the elementary school, however. Principal Pat St. Clair gave a written update on behavior issue numbers since his last report on Sept. 26. At that meeting he reported there were seven suspensions, 61 minors and 34 majors. “We are now up to 19 total suspensions, 144 minors and 75 majors,” he indicated. St. Clair wrote RSU 73 Superintendent Scott Albert allowed him to hire a long term substitute “who has helped greatly by working with students and going into classrooms to support teachers.

A comparison between last year and this at the middle school shows improvement. “Last year at this time we had 33 out of school suspensions and 10 in school suspensions,” Principal Kristofer Targett said in his report to the board. “This year we have had 10 out of school suspensions and five in school, so we have seen a huge improvement.”

Is there anything specific about the number of suspensions decreasing, Director Jodi Cordes asked.

“It’s a combination,” Targett replied, “The vape sensors work. Early on last year we had several instances with vaping and then we put the vape sensors in and we have seen a decrease in vaping since then. Some of it too is cultural changes, the mindset that some students might have moved on.”

Targett also shared about students’ recent trip to Camp Kiev. More than 60 schools and over 5,000 students have attended this year, he noted. Camp staff told Targett “that we were one of the best behaved and most respectful groups that attended. I was super proud of those kids.”

TJ Plourde, principal at Spruce Mountain High School was contacted Oct. 31 to obtain behavior comparison numbers there. He said he was compiling them but could not provide them before sharing the information with the RSU 73 board of directors.