Discipline (CIRS)¶
CIRS stands for Combined Incident Reporting Software.
This page covers the questions about the following files:
04_16_CIRS_Incidents,
04_17_CIRS_Offenders,
04_18_CIRS_Actions,
04_19_CIRS_Victims
- Discipline (CIRS)
- Why is the Discipline/CIRS information collected?
- If we have no incidents to report, do we still need to send in a form verifying that?
- What is considered to be a criminal offence?
- How do I properly format a description of the incident?
- What should I used as a unique identifier for victims and offenders?
- What incidents require a victim?
- How do I record more than one victim?
- How do I record a victim from another school?
- How to handle an Incident_Type that might not have a Victim (example: Danger to self, Fighting, or Vandalism)
- What does "Unilateral Removal to an Alternative Setting" mean?
- Suspensions or Expulsions. Is this both types of suspensions -- in school or out of school? Is this regardless of what the action actually was? regardless on restraint/seclusion?
- What if we don't know who the victim is, but the incident type requires a victim be set?
- Are districts required to report all complaints (Hazing, Harassment and Bullying) received or just the ones that are investigated?
- If they are required to report all complaints (Hazing, Harassment and Bullying) received, then how should school districts differentiate in the State reporting between complaints in which an investigation is opened versus those that are bumped into other student misconduct categories?
- What are the requirements for reporting that a student was restrained? Is it that a student was restrained at any point or does this refer to the Seclusion and Restraint form where a student was restrained for longer than the prohibited time of >30 minutes?
- Are all suspensions reportable?
- What if staff move a student out of the classroom and to a place where he/she is still receiving instructions? How exactly is an in school suspension defined?
- How are suspensions in preK organizations handled?
- When is an incident required to be Admin Verified?
- Each school is required to send to the State of Vermont each 4500 Restraint and Seclusion report. Where is that data held? Is it possible to get a count of documents for each school within the SU054 from the state?
Why is the Discipline/CIRS information collected?¶
- To provide each school with important data about their school climate to support their improvement efforts
- To show trends throughout the state which can inform policy decisions
- To provide evidence of compliance with federal and state requirements
Key Points to Remember when reporting CIRS data¶
- Suspend (in and out of school)/expel judiciously - These discipline strategies should be used as a last resort. Our goal is to use restorative practices and tiered supports as much as possible to keep students in school and learning.
- Required Incidents to Report:
- Suspensions and Expulsions
- Hazing, Harassment, and Bullying Complaints
- Violent Crimes
- Weapon Possession/Use
- Unilateral Removal to an Alternate Setting
- Miscelaneous reporting advice related to CIRS data.
- Detailed incident type definitions can be found in the Incident Type codset definitions
- Choose "School Policy/Conduct," ONLY if the reported incident is not in the Incident Type drop down menu.
- Clearly explain the incident so someone not present would understand the reason for the resulting suspension/expulsion.
- Only complete one incident report per suspension/expulsion.
- Choose the most serious incident from the Incident Type codeset to report if there are multiple incident types in one situation.
- Mark suspensions/expulsions in 1/4 (.25) increments of a day, not just whole days, each and every time a student misses instruction for disciplinary reasons.
- Incident Reports should be completed on an ongoing basis. It may be difficult to recall all the required information later in the year. Also, some student information may change.
If we have no incidents to report, do we still need to send in a form verifying that?¶
No, you would simply submit the four CIRS files with just header rows.
What is considered to be a criminal offence?¶
We have defined this as being when the police are called in relation to incident that happened at school. Almost all of the offense are criminal if charges are pressed aside from School conduct/policy violation, bullying, harassment, hazing.
How do I properly format a description of the incident?¶
Incidents and actions that require a description should be entered without commas in the text. Even if you put quotes around text, EdFusion will still separate the text to additional fields when commas are used.
What should I used as a unique identifier for victims and offenders?¶
Victim_IDNum and Offender_IDNum: Unique number for an individual that is assigned by the school that is used across one incident. This number will not be used in another incident if it involves the same individual.
Victim_ID and Offender_ID: Unique state assigned ID number for students (PermNumber). The number will duplicate across incidents and actions.
What incidents require a victim?¶
Fights - If both individuals involved are equally at fault, they are both reported as offenders and victims with the same incident number
School Threat – Entire school is a victim and you are required to create a victim named “Multiple Victim”
The following incidents require a victim:
15 – Harassment
114 – Kidnapping
16 – Hazing
117 - Robbery (taking of things by force)
49 – Bullying
119 - School Threat - bomb, fire alarm, other
102 – Arson
120 - Sexual Assault/Battery (Simple or Aggravated)
103 - Assault/Battery/Maiming
121 - Stalking (Simple or Aggravated)
107 - Disorderly Conduct
122 - Threat/intimidation
110 - Fighting
126 - Vandalism (Personal or school property)
113 – Homicide
128 - Danger to self/Danger to other(s)
129 - Lewd or lascivious conduct (with an adult or a child)
How do I record more than one victim?¶
Example records:
SUxxx,1234,0123,PSxxx,Multiple,Victim,,01/01/1900,,N,N,N,Y,N,N,5,3,1234567,N,2019
Or
SUxxx,1234,0123,PSxxx,Person,Unknown,,01/01/1900,,N,N,N,Y,N,N,5,3,1234567,N,2019
How do I record a victim from another school?¶
If the victim is a student or a community member, you will use the school where the incident occurred for the ENRORGID. The Victim_Type will be coded as either 2 student from another school, 4 other adult, or 5 for unknown
How to handle an Incident_Type that might not have a Victim (example: Danger to self, Fighting, or Vandalism)¶
When Incident_Type=128 (harm to self) we advise you make the offender the victim for that incident. The other Incident_Type you could run into the same kind issue on is 126 (vandalism) or 110 (fighting), we would advise you indicate multiple or an unknown victim using the following information in the Victim table:
| ADMINID | Victim_IDNUM | Incident_Num | ENRORGID | Victim_LastName | Victim_FirstName | Victim_MName | Victim_DOB | Victim_Grade | Victim_Gender | Victim_AmIndAKNat | Victim_Asian | Victim_Black | Victim_White | Victim_Hispanic | Victim_Hawaiian | Victim_Type | Victim_Injury | Victim_ID | Victim_Choice | SY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SU# | 1 | Must match incident | Must match incident org | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Anything really, could use 1/1/1991 | Not required with Victim_Type=5 | M or F | Y or N | Y or N | Y or N | Y or N | Y or N | Y or N | 5 | 3 | Not required with Victim_Type=5 | N | YYYY |
What does "Unilateral Removal to an Alternative Setting" mean?¶
The student was removed from his or her regular classroom and assigned to an interim alternative setting that allowed him/her to continue to participate in the general curriculum at a school setting for a period of time LESS THAN ONE SEMESTER. Include students receiving prescribed special education services who continue to receive these services.
Suspensions or Expulsions. Is this both types of suspensions -- in school or out of school? Is this regardless of what the action actually was? regardless on restraint/seclusion?¶
Suspension includes both in school and out of school suspensions, there are separate action type codes from both in school and out of school suspensions. Please see the Incident Type codeset for more clarification. Restraint and seclusion are a separate item that is answered regardless of the action type taken. Most of the time the answer to these questions is “N”.
What if we don't know who the victim is, but the incident type requires a victim be set?¶
There are two options depending on the situation
Multiple unknown:
SUxxx,1234,0123,PSxxx,Multiple,Victim,,01/01/1900,,N,N,N,Y,N,N,5,3,1234567,N,2019
Or Unknown victim singular
SUxxx,1234,0123,PSxxx,Person,Unknown,,01/01/1900,,N,N,N,Y,N,N,5,3,1234567,N,2019
Are districts required to report all complaints (Hazing, Harassment and Bullying) received or just the ones that are investigated?¶
Districts must report all complaints made of harassment, hazing, and bullying, whether they are or are not verified by the administration.
If they are required to report all complaints (Hazing, Harassment and Bullying) received, then how should school districts differentiate in the State reporting between complaints in which an investigation is opened versus those that are bumped into other student misconduct categories?¶
There is a field in the incident table that indicates this called Admin_Verified, which is a Y for Yes and N for No field.
| Y | Admin_Verified | administrator identified hazing, harassment, or bullying | A codeset value indicating whether or not the incident has been verified by the school or district administration. | STRING |
|---|---|---|---|---|
What are the requirements for reporting that a student was restrained? Is it that a student was restrained at any point or does this refer to the Seclusion and Restraint form where a student was restrained for longer than the prohibited time of >30 minutes?¶
Both would be reported here, but in the case of it exceeding 30 minutes there is an additional report to Tracy Harris, Student Support Services, at our agency under State board of Education rule 4600. The AOE Student Support Services staff for the more in depth restraint and seclusion is Tracy Harris, Tracy.Harris@vermont.gov
Are all suspensions reportable?¶
Absolutely all suspensions are reportable. Both in school and out of school. The smallest increment that we are interested in is ¼ day. Smaller than that it is just a visit to the planning room.
What if staff move a student out of the classroom and to a place where he/she is still receiving instructions? How exactly is an in school suspension defined?¶
This situation depends heavily on the circumstances of it happening.
If the incidents involve one of these types of things, then it should be reported as an in school suspension because the student has been removed from their usual settings for one of the outlined behaviors.
If the student is going to this time out and it’s part of an IEP or some other type of behavior plan, then it is probably not an in school suspension. Particularly if the student is provided school work in this setting or alternative setting instruction.
If on the other hand the student is sent there and school work is not being completed we can consider it an in school suspension. So it would almost be a “planned” suspension. So if the student acts this way, then we suspend them to the planning room or some other area for the rest of the day.
The difference could be very nuanced and you might also want to check in with those that made the plan to see what their intentions around school and suspension are.
It's good to keep in mind that the purpose of this data set is the following: 1. To provide each school with important data about their school climate to support their improvement efforts 1. To show trends throughout the state which can inform policy decisions 1. To provide evidence of compliance with federal and state requirements
How are suspensions in preK organizations handled?¶
Please review this memo:
https://education.vermont.gov/documents/k-to-age-8-suspension-and-expulsion-definitions-data-collection-and-reporting
You should report any students that are attending approved independent schools and prequalified private universal prekindergarten education programs.
When is an incident required to be Admin Verified?¶
All hazing, harassment, and bullying(HHB) incidents should be investigated by an administrator. Please review VT Title 16 V.S.A. § 570f to ensure this procedure is followed. Answering "Yes" here means you have followed this procedure.
Each school is required to send to the State of Vermont each 4500 Restraint and Seclusion report. Where is that data held? Is it possible to get a count of documents for each school within the SU054 from the state?¶
Rule 4500 only requires a subset of reports of restraint and/or seclusion be shared with the AOE. Those are instances where the intervention lasted longer than 30 minutes, incidents where significant injury occurred or incidents involving a violation of some element of the rules. We do not have a record of every incident.
The rule also requires that each school maintain a record of all incidents. Some of these are required to be shared with the schools’ superintendents, but not all. Superintendents then share the incidents described above with the AOE.
The only complete data set for any school will be at the school itself. Principals should have or be able to access these reports. Additionally, Superintendents will have copies of all reports forwarded to them and those forwarded to the AOE.