Brandywine School District officials are reporting fewer disciplinary problems this year.
That was the message from Superintendent Lisa Lawson at a Board of Education meeting on Monday. The 2026 school year saw some 15,000 disciplinary referrals, down from nearly 17,000 the previous year, she said.
“The total number of referrals in Brandywine fell by approximately 1,500 from school year 25 to 26, representing an 8.5 [percent] decrease,” she told board members.
Much of the decrease was driven by improving culture and climate in the district’s middle schools, she noted.
“Continued improvements in climate and culture at our middle schools were the biggest contributor to the decrease, while high school also showed a significant drop over the previous year,” Lawson said. “At the elementary level, the number of referrals increased slightly but remained stable.”
Lawson also correlated the data with other results that measure students’ sense of belonging in their schools. That number has been increasing in recent years as well.
“From school year ‘23 to school year ‘26, we improved students' sense of belonging at the secondary level by 10 points,” she explained. “The four-point increase between ‘25 and school year ‘26 was equivalent to moving from the 20th to the 30th percentile of schools nationally.”
Still, there is significant room for improvement. Lawson says that she is concerned that, while students feel generally good about their relationships with adults like teachers and administrators, they are less pleased with their relationships with peers.
“Both adults and peers affect a student's sense of belonging at school,” Lawson said. “Students report a high level of support from Brandywine staff, but their responses indicate that their relationships with peers are driving lower levels of belonging.”
Lawson added that that was a concerning finding because of the importance of peer interaction in developing life skills.
