Hundreds of kindergarten students suspended from school. It started with a report to the state's Office of the Child Advocate that a child had been expelled from preschool.
Jamey Bell, the child advocate, saw no reason why a child that young should be suspended, and wanted to know how widespread the problem was. She also had learned that a 7-year-old had been arrested while at school. She would soon find out that there were 1,967 incidents of students age 6 and under that were suspended last school year -- almost all of them black or Hispanic. According to a report from the Connecticut Department of Education, the number of students suspended is actually higher, but privacy issues restrict the state agency from releasing information that could identify unique student information.
"That's a lot of kids... The leader of the state's child protection agency, Joette Katz, agrees. "I was shocked" by the statistic, the Department of Child and Families commissioner told a roomful of people at the state Capitol complex Friday. The secret to fixing school discipline problems? Change the behavior of adults « ACEs Too High. Godwin Higa, principal, Cherokee Point Elementary School Two kindergarteners at Cherokee Point Elementary School in San Diego’s City Heights neighborhood get into a fight on the playground.
Their teacher sends them to the principal’s office. Instead of suspending or expelling the six-year-olds, as happens in many schools, Principal Godwin Higa ushers them to his side of the desk. He sits down so that he can talk with them eye-to-eye and quietly asks: “What happened?” He points to one of the boys. In this school, a fight turns into a teachable moment on how to resolve conflict. Establish what happened. Have them accept responsibility. Have them tell each other how they felt about having their shirt grabbed and being pushed down. Have them apologize and agree that they won’t do it again. Higa keeps talking. “Congratulations!” “And what do you do when you’ve worked something out?” The Hidden Epidemic of Undiagnosed Disabilities Among Students of Color. Photo Credit: iofoto/Shutterstock.com July 2, 2012 | Like this article?
Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. Wanda Parker’s son missed seven weeks of school after being suspended under a zero-tolerance policy for having a cell phone in class. Remarkably, his story is not unique: growing numbers of students in the United States are facing what many of us would consider excessive discipline for relatively minor infractions, derailing their academic careers and setting them back by weeks or months.
Detailed civil rights data from the Department of Education reveal shocking disproportionality when it comes to who is suspended in US schools and why. Demonstrating for students, how to single out.