I AM A:

TEACHER
SCHOOL LEADER
SYSTEM LEADER
+1 (619) 768-2752

Resources

search

High Tech High Graduate School of Education
High Tech High Graduate School of Education
Get Started
High Tech High Graduate School of Education
Get Started

SEARCH

An Elementary School’s Secret to Cutting Suspensions: Recess Referees

By

Alec Patton, Ray Gamez, JJ Donat, Robyn Snyder

published

February 19, 2026
Three smiling people, two men and one woman, are positioned side by side in front of a cloud-themed background with a white square border. The word “unboxed” appears at the bottom.
Alec talks to Robyn Snyder, Director of Supplemental Services at Clovis Unified School District, Ray Gamez, the principal of Janet L. Young Elementary School, and JJ Donat, who’s the guidance instructional specialist at Janet L. Young, about how that school cut the suspension rate for African-American students from 8.7%. to 4.2% in a single year.

Listen us AT any platform

Share this

season 7,

Episode 13

An Elementary School’s Secret to Cutting Suspensions: Recess Referees

By

Alec Patton, Ray Gamez, JJ Donat, Robyn Snyder

By

February 19, 2026
Alec talks to Robyn Snyder, Director of Supplemental Services at Clovis Unified School District, Ray Gamez, the principal of Janet L. Young Elementary School, and JJ Donat, who’s the guidance instructional specialist at Janet L. Young, about how that school cut the suspension rate for African-American students from 8.7%. to 4.2% in a single year.

listen to us on any platform

TITLE

An Elementary School’s Secret to Cutting Suspensions: Recess Referees

by

Alec Patton, Ray Gamez, JJ Donat, Robyn Snyder

published

February 19, 2026

tags

share this

Podcast Notes

Every other week, we publish a newsletter with great resources like this one, sign up for it here!

What are you waiting for, register for the National Summit for Improvement in Education before you miss out!

If you’re looking for a good introduction to Continuous Improvement in education, start here.

download episode
A group of people cheer and celebrate together. Text reads: Continuous Improvement. Build routines that drive real improvement. A blue button at the bottom says REGISTER.
READ MORE

Most Recent Podcasts

Three women smiling, posed closely together against a soft, pastel-colored background with clouds. The word unboxed appears in white text at the bottom, partially framed by a white square border—highlighting improving outcomes for students with disabilities.
Improving Outcomes for Students with Disabilities at Cloverdale Unified
Alec Patton talks to Beverley Jenkins and Kate Hogan of the System Improvement Leads Networked Improvement Community and Nicole Leveille of Cloverdale Unified School District about how Cloverdale dramatically increased the percentage of students with IEPs in the general education population, and cut chronic absenteeism among students with disabilities in half.
Alec Patton, Kate Hogan, Beverley Jenkins, Nicole Leveille
A woman with straight brown hair smiles at the camera, framed by a white square with "unboxed" below. Soft gray and purple tones in the background evoke the spirit of Transform Schools and moving Beyond Bureaucracy.
Beyond Bureaucracy and Managerialism: How Learning Hives Transform Schools
Alec Patton talks to Liz Chu, Executive Director of the Center for Public Research and Leadership (CPRL) at Columbia University, about the new book she co-authored, The Learning Hive: Leading Collective Innovation to Transform Education Systems.
Liz Chu, Alec Patton
Three people stand side by side, smiling at the camera. The left person wears a gray jacket, the middle person wears black, and the right—wearing a green shirt with an ID badge from Fremont High School. The word unboxed appears at the bottom.
How Fremont High School is Changing Grading so it Reflects Learning
Alec Patton talks to math teachers Sunny Chan and Sandy Tu, and improvement coach Amanda Meyer, about Fremont High School's remarkable success at improving ninth-grade on track.
Sandy Tu, Sunny Chan, Alec Patton, Amanda J. Meyer
A young woman with long braids mixes ingredients in a white bowl at a table with a pot of brown powder, a water bottle, and craft supplies—showcasing her entrepreneurship in cosmetics. The word unboxed appears in the bottom left corner.
A 12th grade hydroponics, cosmetics, & entrepreneurship project you should know about
Alec Patton talks to teacher High School teacher Karen Shaffran and student Alegria Vargas about how their class created a socially conscious cosmetics business, featuring products made from plants grown hydroponically in a storage room!
Karen Shaffran, Alec Patton, Alegria Vargas

Related Content

A District-Wide Approach to Improving Math Proficiency
Alec Patton talks to Michael McDonald, Stephen Rinaldo, and Tarima Levine about how Yonkers Public Schools and Bank Street Education Center improved eighth grade math proficiency particularly for students who are Black, Latinx, or experiencing poverty.
Alec Patton
Kim Carter on Leading Change in Battle Creek
Alec Patton talks to Dr. Kim Carter, superintendent of Battle Creek Public Schools in Michigan, about how her district broke a pattern of outmigration through building relationships with families and local businesses and nonprofits based on transparency and LOTS of conversations.
Alec Patton
Building Belonging and Grading What Matters to Boost Achievement
Bell Middle School reduced its D/F rate from 51% in 2022 to 28% in 2024. That's a 23 percentage point reduction. Even more impressive, for low income students, the D/F rate was 67% in 2022, and Bell cut it by more than half, down to 29% in 2024. In this episode, Alec Patton talks to science teacher Teddy Meckstroth about how they did it.
Teddy Meckstroth, Alec Patton
How Hamilton Elementary Cut its Chronic Absenteeism Rate in Half
Alec Patton talks to Hamilton Elementary Principal Dr. Brittany Daley and San Diego County Office of Education Executive Leadership Coach Julia Bridi about how Hamilton cut its chronic absenteeism rate from 24% to 10% in a single year, using creative parent communication, home visits, data checks, and public sliming
Brittany Daley, Julia Bridi
Skip to content