I Believe That It Is Our Responsibility As Educators

The procedures and laws that protect students from arbitration and wrongful discipline are important, for schools to discipline disruptive and dangerous students (Arum & Preiss 2009, para. 1).

Out of school suspensions (OSS) are often enforced with the assumption that students receiving the suspension are less likely to repeat the problem behavior in the future. However, this has been proven to be false. Suspending a student for engaging in a certain behavior does not in fact serve as a deterrent from the behavior but as a deterrent from attending school instead. In actuality, receiving just a single suspension can increase the probability of a student experiencing academic failure, school dropout, and involvement in the juvenile justice system. Knowing this, some educators still believe that for many students, suspension can serve as an effective lesson. One of the greatest concerns that educators and administrators face is the matter of classroom management. It is part of their job to ensure a safe, productive and supportive classroom allowing students to learn and grow to their greatest potential. Though there are several strategies gauged towards managing a classroom, the most severe offences often lead to either in or out of school suspension. Some of the largest concerns faced with out of school suspensions is that they are often ineptly applied, used unfairly against students of color and seemingly ineffective at producing better behavior. Also known as exclusionary discipline, the majority of offenses that led to OSS have not been centered around violence but instead emphasised issues of classroom insubordination and defiance. In some rather extreme cases

Often times it’s the student’s needs and the school being unable to meet the student’s needs that lead to the student being disciplined. Kids who are behind academically, and unable to perform at the same level as their peers often act out in frustration or humiliation (Noguera, 2003). Once these students are labelled as difficult, incorrigible, and unteachable they tend to believe these things about themselves and act out more in class which leads to a cycle of discipline that can ultimately lead to permanent expulsion. For some of these students, these continued rule violations lead to run-ins with the police and the criminal justice system. School administrators who are at times frustrated themselves from failed attempts to steer children from a “bad path” don’t realize that in throwing their hands up and giving up on these students, are in a way helping shuttle students from school to the penitentiary (Noguera, 2003).

Schools that are low performing have the highest rates of suspension and expulsion and the lowest graduation rates. According to Mississippi Today, “the dropout rate for students fell slightly to 11.8 percent in 2016, the lowest in five years.” If I were to eliminate funding as a barrier, zero tolerance policies would still exist- especially in public school systems in the South, amidst people of color. Zero tolerance policies are obstacles put in place for small infractions performed by students, which can lead to disciplinary actions such as: corporal punishment, detention, and suspension. These small infractions may be in the form of getting up without permission, excessive talking, etc. Schools should offer more alternative measures, which counsel students on their misbehavior and give the student an opportunity to amend his or her actions. These methods fall under a restorative justice model. Community organizations, like Nollie Jenkins Family Center, have proposed alternatives such as peer mediation and conflict resolution to help keep youth in a learning environment, off the streets, and away from a life of crime. A case study performed by Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program, discovered that after counseling students for infraction their number of juvenile arrests and suspension “dropped by 54%.” This could potentially be a catalyst in bending the moral arc in the direction of justice,

Originally created as a discipline action of last resort for students who cause unsafe or threatening environment or substantive clear and present danger with threats of violence and are possession of weapons in the school, out of school suspension are now being used to address minor offenses such as disobedience, disrespect, attendance issues, or other general disruptions (Stinchcomb, Bazemore & Riestenberg, 2006). Suspension were used judiciously and cautiously as the impact on the student and the perceptions of that suspension by the community was understood to be socially debilitating and cast the student and the family in a bad light (Advancement Project, 2015). It was not until the move towards school reforms in the

Studies have also found a correlation between exclusionary discipline and (1) increased school avoidance, (2) decreased academic engagement, (3) an increased rate of dropouts, (4) increased behavioral problems, and (5) increased involvement with the juvenile justice system. School administrators have the right to want to develop a safe climate for their students and teachers and remove threats from their schools. However, serious threats from students are rare. Nearly 60 percent of the suspensions and expulsions administered in HPS in 2009-2010 were administered for school policy violations—a category that includes things like insubordination, profanity, sleeping in class, and truancy—not serious safety concerns like violence against others or weapons.

When I think back to when I attended grade school, I remember suspensions were common. You could say I was a good kid, because I never got suspended, but that was not so for the class clowns, trouble makers, ditchers of the school. One of the reasons for the increase in suspension rates had to do with zero tolerance policies. Did zero tolerance help shape these children to be better students, or did it simply aid in pushing them out of school? In the news right now there is great controversy surrounding a new approach to help at risk children it is called restorative justice. Does it help, or is it just another way for students not to held accountable for their actions. There are pros and cons I am sure for both but in the end what method helps keep students in school, and learning? Is it Zero Tolerance with its strict guidelines or Restorative Justice where offender is made to feel accountable for his action that aid with at risk kids.

Schools should leave their old ways and get rid of school suspension because this makes the student feel as though there voice is being heard in the matter. Cindy attends Turner Falls High School , Cindy has gotten herself into trouble because two boys were making racist jokes therefore she felt threatened so she throws two lunch trays at them causing her to be in the restorative justice room.Cindy has the chance to explain her point of view to the teacher without feeling pressured or frightened.One might say that it would be more efficient if

Many schools implement the concept of restorative justice, in particular; Good Shepherd Catholic College Mount Isa. The college implements restorative justice in their disciplinary system, they’ve created a new process in dealing with misbehavior through the Responsible Thinking Process (RTP). This process allows the the students to identify what's wrong in their behavior and gives them a chance to reflect upon this. The student is first warned when they misbehave then the teacher proceeds to give them a second chance to correct said behavior after a warning. If the student continues to misbehave, the teacher will go through the responsible thinking process in which they ask “What are you doing? What should you be doing? Where will you go if this continues to happens again?” This allows the students to take responsibility for their actions and think about their wrongdoings which allows them to correct themselves. This is more effective than sending a student away and punishing them, because without verbally addressing the issue, they don’t understand the repercussions of their actions and will often re-offend. If the student then chooses to misbehave again they will be sent to The Responsible Thinking Classroom (RTC), in which they will have to further reflect on their actions. Once this process has occurred, they then have to negotiate with their teachers about returning to the class and what they have to do, in order to be allowed in. (Good Shepherd Catholic College, 2017)

Has your child ever been suspended? Ever been friends with a kid who has been supended? If so you most likely know, it has no good affect. Schools have been suspending students seemingly forever, and it makes sense. It’s simple, cheap, and easy, whereas lunch or after-school detention can be problematic and difficult, and alternative options require money the school simply does not want to spend. Although students will not be able to see their friends everyday, and may feel left out from school activities, suspension is an ineffective punishment because students see it as a vacation, it increases dropout rate, and it makes students more hostile, or problematic.

The report “State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Reports Significant Drops in Suspensions and Expulsions for Second Year in a Row” from the California Department of Education (2015) explains, “Willful defiance became identified with the problem of high rates of expulsions and suspensions after the CDE reported a high number of minority students were suspended for this cause. Those figures helped spur the passage of Assembly Bill 420, supported by the CDE and sponsored by former Assembly member Roger Dickinson. The bill, signed into law last year, limits suspensions and expulsions for disruptive behavior in certain grades.” As California schools work toward meeting the goals of AB 420, they are implementing systems such as positive behavior intervention supports (PBIS) and restorative justice practices. My district is using local control funding formula (LCFF) to decrease suspension rates. Goal One Action D of the San Diego County Office of Education LCFF aims to “Continue to provide and monitor initial implementation of professional learning for staff on PBIS, trauma informed care and Restorative Justice” (SDCOE). My site was an early adopter of PBIS and is currently working with a coach to integrate restorative justice practices into our interventions. Instead of simply following California law on student discipline, we focus on teaching our students how to behave. In order for this to succeed, teachers and students need to work together to learn how to create a positive learning community.

Suspensions hurt children by lowering academic achievement as well as widening the racial achievement gap between African American students and their peers. This is a growing topic across the country. Schools suspend students at a large cost to society as a whole. Every time a student is suspended for non- violent infractions they are being denied a learning opportunity (Townsend, 2000). It is the duty of educators to ensure that this does not happen. Suspensions can lower self- esteem, cause students to lose interest in school and drop out, and prevent students from participating in school sports, or clubs and many other negative scenarios. The goal of this report is to open educators’ eyes about the negative effects of suspensions on school children. It is said that, “Out-of-school suspensions is one of the most widely used disciplinary practices in American schools, with more than 3.3 million students suspended each year (Lee, Cornell, Gregory, & Fan, 2011, p. 166).

Students all over the country face the same “zero tolerance policy” as the students here.Students everywhere have heard about a fellow classmate being suspended for a ridiculous reason.Although suspension gets a student's attention suspension should be abolished in our school systems in order to improve dropout rates, improve student's GPA and improve the behavior of the students overall.

If a student gets suspended, it teaches them to have no respect for authority, such as security guards, teachers, their own principal and even their parents. Thus, for the disrespect of authority, the student ends up getting suspended. Infractions such as pulling something on a teacher and talking back are results of the Zero-Tolerance Policy. Without the policy in place, students will be able to respect authority, learn that cops aren’t bad and realize that their education is important. Alternative education, such as the ‘Innovative Concept Academy’, are in place to teach students, such are in place to teach students with behavioral problems what they are missing from their primary education. Unfortunately, most states don’t have this and

School discipline is to ensure that students and the campus staff are safe and peaceful. According to the U.S. Department of Education on Rethinking Discipline (2017), “Teachers and students deserve school environments that are safe, supportive, and conducive to teaching and learning.” The idea is to decrease bad behavior and school violence which will lead to fewer suspensions and expulsions. There are rules and limitations when it comes to student discipline; there are acts in which students can and must be disciplined. For examples, if a student quality’s for special needs some different guidelines protect them under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act’s (IDEA). Furthermore, the Education Code, Section 48900 was implied to discipline students who committed any wrongful doing such as attempting or threatening to physical harm another person. In the case f any wrongfulness, the student is forced to be disciplined by being suspended or expulsed from school.