This graph shows some results from a Chandler Unified grades 3-12 student climate survey. Assistant Superintendent Mike De La Torre presented this and many other data sets in an Oct. 8 study session presentation to the CUSD Governing Board on student safety.
Totals are down for some types of Chandler Unified campus discipline and incidents over the past few years, according to an administrative report.
But one Governing Board member asked if those declines were simply lower totals due to declining enrollment.
Chandler Unified has lost roughly 4,000 students over the past five school years, though primarily from the youngest incoming grades.
Assistant Superintendent Mike De la Torre presented statistics and initiatives to the CUSD board in an Oct. 8 study session that included numbers on high-school “discipline events,” or reported infractions that involve documented reprimands and, usually, consequences to a student.
“We knew we saw an increase of disciplinary incidents coming out of COVID-19,” De La Torre said. “But over the last two to three years, we’ve seen event counts trending downward. We’re looking at being significantly lower this year than last.”
De La Torre said the biggest infractions of high-school CUSD issues are attendance and aggression. A total of 515 of the 2,885 discipline events for grades 9-12 in the first quarter of 2025-26 were termed “minor aggressive acts.”
Conversely, there were only 53 events that involved fighting, 46 that involved threats or intimidation and 38 with disorderly conduct.
De La Torre said the definition of “minor” often means reckless or excessive roughness, stopping well short of assault or bullying.
Board member Ryan Heap asked De La Torre if he could come up with per-capita type of numbers that take into account the district’s decline in enrollment, even if that decline has been small at the district’s six high schools.
De La Torre said he’d work with staff to do that and also would put together more year-over-year totals for each type of disciplinary event.
Watch and listen to De La Torre’s entire presentation and responses to board questions by clicking here.
Jason W. Brooks News Editor | Chandler Independent
Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.
Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.
Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.
Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.
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