To Suspend or Not to Suspend, That is the Question

Hammurabi, the Lawgiver

Numerous sources point to the "cradle to prison pipeline."  Some believe schools are a critical link in this pipeline.   According to a recent New York Times article, "black students are suspended and expelled at three times the rate of white students."  Despite the fact that African-American children compose 18% of preschool enrollment, they account for about half of the children who are suspended more than once.

According to a 2012 Chalkbeat piece, suspensions slightly declined in the City's public schools between 2010 and 2012 (with superintendent suspensions declining more than principal suspensions).  There were 73,441 suspensions between 2010-2012 and 69,643 between 2011-2012.  There was a slight rise in crime in schools though.  According to Dignityinschools.org, overall suspension rates continued to decline to 53,465 between 2012 and 2013.  However, African-American students and students with disabilities still suffer a disproportional amount of suspensions.

Keeping these things in mind, NYC public-schools chancellor, Carmen Farina, seeks to implement a policy of "restorative justice."  According to this model which seeks to establish "social emotional" connections, there would be a greater focus on conflict resolution, peer mediation and student-teacher conferences.  Instead of emphasizing punishment, students would be encouraged to make amendments for wrongdoings.  Of course, common sense tells one that it is always better to prevent future conflicts than to deal with their repercussions, just as preventative medicine is better than hospitalization.

   
As I pondered the statistics of suspension several thoughts came to mind.  Obviously, stats can lie.  For one, the City's discipline code has been rewritten.  There are fewer student offenses which are classified as worthy of suspension these days.  Also, if the ratings of schools and their principals depend in part upon their suspension rates, it would behoove school authorities to overlook a good deal and only rarely suspend, more so during the Bloomberg era when the mayor had a penchant for closing schools on a dime.  As students get away with more though, they may be emboldened to engage in bigger offenses.

Between 2002 and 2003, at the start of the Bloomberg years, there were only 31,879 suspensions, half of the number by the end of his "threepeat."  I am always somewhat suspicious of stats.  Yet, I have always thought that increasing stress in society during this period, soaring poverty rates in the City as well as the spread of a test-based psychosis which overlooks students' emotional and social needs, might have played a role.  I have no evidence though, just a feeling.

Growing up relatively mild-mannered, I marveled in the stories of how the younger of my two older brothers bust out of his crib as a baby, leaving scraps of wood here and there.  Rumor had it he was expelled from nursery school.  Trying to confirm the legend with Mom the other night though and understand the causes for such an unthinkable thing, Mom concluded that he might not have been expelled.  They might have just decided to move him to a less restrictive environment.  So much for legend!

Regardless, I do remember clearly waiting outside the elementary school upon a number of occasions with my oldest brother, twelve years my senior, who had come to walk us home from school.  We had to wait and wait for my brother whom a third-grade teacher held after school regularly for acts of misbehavior.  I hardly know what he did, and I'm a little hesitant to ask him now, but I believe he merely made some witty, but unwelcome, comments out of turn and that his strait-laced teacher failed to identify with his sense of humor.  He had not been engaged in any fighting.

I am sure there are a lot of things that teachers, administrators and public schools can do to lessen suspension rates (unless, of course, you're a charter school that thrives on this stuff, here and here).   We used to have SPARK coordinators speak regularly to our classes.  They would come in for a week and hit different grade levels with a different set of lessons.  It was all about prevention, stopping alcohol and drug abuse and conflicts.  Perhaps the budget has been cut.  Perhaps these programs do not fit in with the Common-Core agenda.  There are still SPARK counselors, but they rarely make it into the classroom for scheduled visits as in years past.  Maybe this will change with a promotion of "restorative justice."

Growing up with a "trouble-maker" brother, I never saw him as such, and I, of course, never classified him as such.  Although I like discipline in my classroom, I appreciate probably more than the average person a student with a sharp wit, even if he calls out occasionally.  It is nice to think that I in no way feel threatened by this student or worry about the erosion of my authority.  If students were to start fighting in my classroom, however, this would be entirely different.  I would use every skill in my repertoire to try to defuse the conflict and, if all else failed, call for the security guards as quickly as possible.  Thankfully, in twenty years, my classroom has not yet been a battleground.

Neither will I be Pollyanna, however.  While I fail to understand high suspension rates in the youngest grades, I can appreciate that severe behavior may be hard to head off in teenagers.  I favor prevention, but I do not favor loosening the code or failing to apply it adequately.  I believe laxness will only further embolden students and we will see the worst abuses grow in frequency.

In case you're wondering if my "trouble-maker" brother was on a crib to prison pipeline, let me allay your fears.  He eluded prison.  Instead, he endured a truly rigorous education, graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy, serving his country with discipline, honor and courage, and all of that from a kid who couldn't be controlled by authoritarian figures!  He earned his current rank of Colonel, making a little sister more proud than words can say.