FOIA #5 - 2025/26 Discipline Transparency
Sent: Jun 17, 2026, 1:43 PM
Dear Mr. Heitsch,
Pursuant to the Michigan Freedom of Information Act (MCL 15.231 et seq.), I am writing on behalf of PAACT (Parents Allied for Accountability, Conduct, and Transparency) to request the following public records. To stay within the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), we are requesting only aggregated, de-identified data. Where any figure would identify or could reasonably be used to identify an individual student, we ask that it be suppressed or reported as a range rather than the request denied in full.
Please provide the following records for the 2025-2026 academic year:
1. Behavioral and disciplinary incidents. A district-wide report of all recorded behavioral incidents, broken out by building and categorized using the district's own Code of Conduct levels and by infraction type within those levels (including but not limited to physical violence, verbal and physical bullying, and chronic classroom disruption).
2. Disciplinary consequences. A summary of disciplinary actions taken in response to those incidents, by building, broken out by the district's own consequence types: administrative alternatives, emergency removals (snap suspensions), in-school suspensions, out-of-school suspensions, expulsions, permanent expulsions, and instances where restorative practices were used. For suspensions, please include total suspension days.
3. Consistency of response. To the extent the district maintains this, incidents cross-tabbed by violation level against the consequence applied, district-wide and by building where it can be provided without identifying individual students.
4. Staff-directed incidents. The number of incidents in which a staff member was the target of an assault, battery, or threat, by building.
5. Physical restraint and seclusion. The number of emergency physical restraint and seclusion incidents, by building, as tracked under Michigan reporting requirements.
6. Repeat and unique counts. The total number of disciplinary incidents alongside the number of unique students who received discipline, reported district-wide and by building.
7. Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying (HIB). The number of HIB reports filed and their resolution or outcome, by building.
8. Academic proficiency. Remaining M-STEP and i-Ready scores by grade and school.
We are glad to receive these records in whatever electronic format the district already maintains, such as a standard report or spreadsheet export. We are not asking the district to design a new record, only to provide the data it already keeps.
Fee waiver request. As a community advocacy organization, PAACT is requesting these records to provide transparency to the families and taxpayers of Birmingham Public Schools, in the interest of public safety and educational integrity. We request a full waiver of all associated fees. If fees are assessed and expected to exceed $50.00, please provide an itemized estimate before proceeding.
We look forward to your response within the timelines set by the Act, and we understand the district may extend that period as the Act allows given the scope of this request.
I am requesting the full year of closed-out data for all students. If the district's disciplinary records for 2025-2026 are not yet finalized at the time of this request, please hold this request until those records are complete and then provide the full-year data, and let me know the date the records will be finalized. If the district prefers not to hold the request open, please let me know that date so I can refile once the year is complete.
Sincerely,
Betsy McDaniel
PAACT
