At a recent meeting, Milford School District Board of Education approved Discipline Improvement Plans for Milford Central Academy and Milford High School. This was a state ordered plan after several discipline discrepancies were discovered in the district.
“I would like it to be understood that this is a state requirement,” Vice-President Matt Bucher said. “These improvement plans are a state requirement. I think, unless anyone has another idea, that these could be combined into one version, especially number three and number four of the improvement plan.”
Initially, a motion was made to approve the two plans separately with Jennifer Massotti, Ashlee Connell and Scott Fitzgerald voting to approve. Bucher and Butch Elzey abstained, which meant the motion did not pass. Yanelle Powell was not present at the meeting.
Based on the document provided in the board packet, there were five goals set for each school and all of them read identically. The improvement plan was ordered after a review by the state of Delaware in January, February and March discovered both schools were underperforming regarding a lack of evidence-based interventions prior to discipline; lack of parental involvement with student support; additional training needed for special education students who need specific supports; and a need for Code of Conduct training.
“By the conclusion of the 2025-2026 school year, our school will maintain a disparity of less than ten percent in the application of exclusionary discipline between the most and least disciplined student subgroups,” the action plan for both schools read. “This will reduce the proportionate impact on racial subgroups and students with disabilities, as reflected in discipline data and student demographic reports.”
The discipline improvement plan’s goal two was better collaboration with teachers, students, families and external stakeholders to establish and lead group sessions for male students as well as those with disabilities. The goal was to reduce discipline referrals for specific group members by five percent.
“Throughout the 2025-26 school year, staff will participate in Safe and Positive Approaches to Staff Effectiveness training,” the third goal read. “These trainings aim to equip staff with strategies to manage classrooms and behaviors with de-escalation techniques with a focus on self-regulation.”
The fourth goal was to continue to use Compass Curriculum as a Tier I intervention. Student growth is to be determined using pre-, mid- and end-of-year evaluations with a goal to achieve a five percent improvement in social-emotional growth by mid-year and 10 percent by the end of the school year.
“Milford Senior High School and Milford Central Academy will implement the Bridges
