WORCESTER, Mass. - New data from Worcester Public Schools shows a rise in violence in the last school year, compared to the year prior.

The data presented to the Public Schools Standing Committee on Finance, Operations and Governance this week shows a rise in both suspendable and non-suspendable offenses where a Worcester student was disciplined.

Notably, according to the data, fighting rose from 199 reported in school year '24 to 222 in school year '25 and physical assaults on school employees rose from 92 to 158.

The number of total suspendable events rose nearly 22% from 2024, while total non-suspendable events rose about 36%.

Some categories did show a decline - physical assaults on a student and nearly every instance of the possession of a weapon.

School Committee member Dianna Biancheria requested the report and says while disciplinary issues being up can be discouraging, this is the time to take every step necessary to ensure safety is always a priority.

“We're not looking to increase suspensions. We're not looking to say this student should be it should not be in our school," Biancheria said. "We're trying to find the best avenue to not only have them be successful adults graduate from school, but be able to communicate with their fellow students without having to have violence be the only choice that they have.”

Biancheria sid Worcester schools have a number of safety programs available and the committee will be reassessing to see what’s working and what isn’t. She mentioned she’d also like the committee to hear directly from teachers and staff.

Also notably, the data is bulked and doesn’t differentiate incidents by grade or by specific school.

Biancheria said she’s requested more specific data and the district as a whole needs to work on training staff to be on the same page when they’re entering data about these discipline incidents.

“Everybody has to be on board, because if we're not safe, we're not educating correctly," Biancheria said. "We're not opening our doors and welcoming - and we want that every day, we want to be that every day. Are we ever going to be perfect? Probably not. But no one is and nothing is. So, it's more or less looking at our system, saying we can do better, and this is how we're going to do it.”

Biancheria expects the school committee to receive a more specific data breakdown in the coming days.

In a statement to Spectrum News, Worcester Public Schools said:

“The Worcester Public Schools places the safety and well-being of students and staff as our highest priority. Everyone deserves to learn and work in an environment that is safe, respectful, inclusive, and supportive."

"We take any incident involving harm to staff seriously. In addition to reviewing data entry practices to ensure accuracy and consistency across all schools, WPS is taking several steps to reduce physical incidents from occurring. These steps include increased and consistent training for staff on physical and emotional de-escalation techniques, behavioral supports, and trauma-informed practices. Additionally, WPS will continue to strengthen communication, training and support systems for both staff safety and student well-being.”