This year, there’s been a big increase in misbehavior compared to the hybrid learning school year; when most students weren’t in the building.

“The areas where we are seeing an increase is, disorderly conduct, incidents where people simply don’t get along with each other and fight to the extent that somebody has to stop that fight. The other area where we’re seeing an increase is in the possession of drugs,” USD 259 Safety Services Director, Terri Moses said.

There hasn’t been a large increase compared to the last time school was fully in person but there has been an increase compared to the hybrid year last year.

“In a perfect world, everybody would get along at all times and we could be able to handle any type of disagreement maturely, with being able to have a conversation instead of something worse,” Assistant Principal Jacob Henning said.

“I think it is a problem, here and any other schools that we have. It’s important to look for other terms in talking and I understand some people don’t have those skills. So, I wish that they do search for adults that we have in the school such as counselors or teachers. We can listen to what they have to say,” math teacher Ivett Michel-Buegeldyk said.

The district is aware of the issue and has been using ways to combat the issue itself for some years now.

“We found for years in regards to public safety that handling minor violations actually decreases major violations,” Moses said.