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Health & Fitness

Keep Kids in School...Not in Court

Suspensions from school are necessary. For which infractions and ages, though?

From My Side of the Desk:


Sometimes an article in the newspaper ignites an eye-popping, “You’ve got to be kidding,” reaction from me. Last week’s story, “Primary schools suspend thousands,” (St. George, Donna. The Washington Post: February 13, 2012) did just that when I read that a four-year-old was suspended for “…kicking off his shoes and crying in frustration.” A four-year-old? More than likely, he couldn’t even read the referral yet or even understand what suspension meant. Near the end of the story, St. George explained that this boy had been suspended multiple times and sent home early even more, causing his mother to lose her job. What a sad outcome for the boy, the mother and the school: the child is now probably turned off to school, the mother is job hunting and the school lost teachable moments with the child and probably chased the mother away from future involvement in her son’s education. Not even a shred of a positive outcome exists in this whole situation.

The article states that during the 2010-2011 school term, over 6000 pre-school to fifth grade students were suspended or expelled for, “hitting, disrupting, disrespecting, fighting and other offenses,” (St. George). My first reaction to this was, “How ridiculous,” but then I remembered that at the start of my second year of teaching in a boys’ reform school, a self-contained class was set up for court-sent seven to twelve year olds. Talk about unruly! Suffice it to say that when I saw the teacher hurrying past my classroom with a screaming, kicking seven-year old slung across his shoulders, I was very relieved that I didn’t have to deal with those children. Teaching and managing those thirteen to eighteen year old young men incarcerated for armed robbery, attempted rape and various other felonies was difficult enough.

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Here lies my quandary. What age is too young for such punishment? Where does a child cross the line from benefitting from in-school disciplinary measure, i.e. the time-out room, parental/staff/counselor conferences, conflict mediation or other alternative sources, to the realm of suspension? As various responses whirl around in my head, one stands out time after time: when the lives and welfare of the other students and staff are put in jeopardy.

In my twenty-five years plus in public school classrooms, I sent students to the principal on only three situations; twice the young people ended up suspended. One incident occurred when a young man purportedly had a gun; it ended up to be a cigarette lighter. In light of Columbine, and since this young man was at our school because he was expelled from another county school for repeated violent behavior, he was expelled. Another time, a young man kept on breaking pencils and lobbing them at his peers, even after I had implored him to stop and had taken him into the hall to talk with him when he continued to put the other students in danger (he was aiming for their faces). A first offense, he was suspended. The third situation involved a young man who couldn’t ever accept not being the center of attention. One day when students were presenting oral reports, he wouldn’t stop acting out. When I asked him to sit in the hallway, he sauntered past my desk and blew me a kiss as he patted his posterior. His message was clear. He spent three days in in-school suspension.

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Were these the only occurrences in all of my years teaching that students acted out? Absolutely not. While teaching, I firmly believed that when a minor disciplinary situation arose (talking, sleeping, texting, not following other class rules) the conflict was between the student and me and we had to resolve our differences and build respect or other acting out behavior would just continue. I chose to handle these clashes myself and try to build rapport between us since we had to face each other day after day. It worked, or at least it made our times together tolerable enough that my teaching and the students’ learning wasn’t adversely affected. Any classroom veteran will tell you, though, that no matter how hard a teacher might work to alleviate negative behavior, alone or with the help of administrators and parents, offenses do occur that will probably result in suspensions.

In October of last year, Mr. Steve Teske, a juvenile court judge near Atlanta, was quoted in The Washington Post regarding public school disciplinary policies as saying, “Zero tolerance is zero intelligence,” (St. George, Donna. “He wants kids in class-not in court.” Washington Post 18 October 2011: EZ. RE. Print). Discipline issues at schools, especially secondary schools, not academic concerns, head the hot topics list among rising high school parents that I encounter. “I heard that John Doe High School has a lot of fights. I’m worried for my son as he is shy,” or, “I heard that Jane Doe High School is a high school,” are typical comments. The threats of fights, especially when weapons are involved as well as concerns about drug and alcohol usage cause more parents to reach for the Tums and Tylenol in the weeks leading up to the start of a new year than worries about how well Johnny will do in his classes.

Even considering these parental concerns, Judge Teske, “… wants kids in class-not in court.” Although he is adamant, thankfully, about the need for the police and courts to deal with drug and weapons charges, especially guns, and, I would assume, any action that calls for a felony charge, he is equally resolute that misdemeanor issues should be handled by the principals and other school personnel. He was quoted as saying, “This is ridiculous. They weren’t delinquent kids,” about adolescents sent through the judicial system for a hallway scuffle or for disrespecting a teacher. Or for truancy, I must add. He also addresses the fact that kids who are suspended or who become mired in the court system often double their chances of dropping out and quadruple their likelihood of not graduating.

Suspensions are devastating for the student as well as grueling and frustrating for teachers. The truth is the majority of the kids who face suspension and maybe expulsion don’t list school (the hours, the regimentation, and the perceived monotony), homework or assessments as a few of their favorite things. Often they are  the neediest academically, socially and emotionally and face more disciplinary measures in the classroom and school environments than their more eager to learn peers. Their actions cause headaches for the teacher and heartaches for themselves, because on some level, they want to succeed. Why else would they even be in the building most days?

When a student is suspended, teachers must compile a folder of assignments that is given to a court functionary, at least in the system where I worked for twenty-five years. The teacher then faces a series of phone calls and email messages from the people working with the student, the principals and counselors, and the parents for more explanation about the teacher’s expectations regarding the work. Even allowing for all of that, the student rarely completes the assignments, which puts him/her at an extreme disadvantage if and when he/she returns to the classroom. Feeling so overwhelmed and discouraged, these kids often drop out, maybe choosing to earn a GED, maybe not, just as Judge Teske proved with his research. This is sad, sad, sad for the child and for everyone involved with the him/her.

Conversely, districts that followed Teske’s protocols and which utilized school-based creative disciplinary actions as well as counseling, workshops, mediation and other more positive methods to help the children who had committed misdemeanors, saw a 40-70% drop in court referrals. When the school administrators chose to be proactive instead of reactive, the student body as a whole, not just the offenders enjoyed a more positive atmosphere, one where the students and staff felt safe and respected. “The cases we have in court now are the burglars, the robbers-the kids who scare you, not the kids who make you mad,” Teske said when referring to the Georgia schools where he worked with educators, parents and the courts to develop a policy separating punitive measures for misdemeanors from those for felonies.

Every student desires to be treated as a unique individual, not someone stamped from the same cloth with the same stencil or stuffed into a pre-set category to make the headache disappear. Those who repeatedly disrupt their classes, be they pre-kindergarteners or seniors usually do so because of underlying issues they don’t know how to face, be they academic, emotional, social, personal or
familial. They know that they can’t help themselves and are crying out for assistance. Their problems must be diagnosed and then alleviated with counseling, by moving the student to classes better equipped to handle the causes, or by similar measures before the suspension word is uttered.  

Teske’s policies are refreshing regarding this matter.  He firmly believes that schools should uphold safe environments for the student body, the staff, and the parents. In doing so, though, all who are involved with this child need to insure that  each disciplinary offender, especially when those who are so young that they barely even know how to read, is offered every chance to make school a positive force, to turn them on instead of turning them out, proving that all kids do come first.

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