MPS Superintendent Carol Johnson wrote: > 3. Establish intervention programs for specific students > We have learned that while there must be consequences for misbehavior, > only suspending students has not been successful. We are seeing some > promising results from our work with three community groups to pilot > efforts where we have observed some students with chronic behavior > problems. These programs focus on African American and Native American > students specifically and offer them alternatives to suspensions, > programs that train them in conflict resolution and peer mediation, and > help them to develop their own social competencies.
If suspension has been shown to be ineffective why is it still being practiced? Action not vision. How about a plan to phase out suspensions by the beginning of the next school year? So there are programs that focus on African American and Native Americans, does that mean my children will be suspended without being offered alternatives because they are not members of these racial groups? > Last week, more than 300 school, community and partners in the faith > community met to discuss ways that we could bring even more people to > the table to deal with this challenging issue. Great a committee of 300! I would much rather see a directive come from the superintendent phasing out suspension as a disciplinary method. > The District’s attendance initiative will also positively impact the > suspension rate since it prohibits schools from suspending students for > truancy. In the past, students who skipped school or class risked being > suspended. The consequence students received for their negative behavior > only served to reinforce it. Hello? It took people years to figure out that suspending students for truancy is an oxymoron? This policy is as brilliant as social promotion, where failing students are passed on to the next grade without the necessary skills. Who's running the schools, Moe, Larry and Curry Joe? > Of course, some behaviors are potentially very serious. The School > District’s Citywide Discipline policy mandates suspensions for the > following: > § Possession of a weapon, alcohol or drugs > § Assault, sexual harassment or sexual violence > § Violating school bus safety guidelines Hello again! Last time I looked weapons possession, alcohol consumption by a minor, drug use, physical assault, sexual harassment, and sexual violence are CRIMES, not just violations of school policy. Tell me if I'm totally clueless, but what sense does it make to suspend a student for drug or alcohol use? It seems to me that the schools are shrinking from their responsibility if their solution to student discipline is to remove a student from the classroom and place them on the streets. Why not place them in a more structured academic environment? > Lowering our suspension rate is not about lowering schools’ expectations > of students, especially in the extreme cases noted above. Efforts to > improve student behavior are about making sure we maintain a school > environment where students do not disrupt each other’s learning and > staff provide engaging lessons and build strong relationships with > students. Parents and the community must promote and model respectful > behavior and communicate the value of education to students. So what if parents and the community fail to get on the bandwagon are the schools just to throw up their arms and surrender classrooms to student anarchy, or should they instead institute policies that do not require the full participation parents and the community? > Many of the poor behaviors that students exhibit in school are learned > at home and in the community. Unfortunately, too many of our students – > even kindergartners - arrive having experienced or witnessed acts of > violence, abuse and sexual activity that leaves them unequipped to > function well in a classroom setting without being harmful or disruptive > to the other children. Somehow I don't think that the experiences of children are much different now than they were in say NYC during the early 1900s. The idea should be to provide islands of safety for children who have suffered abuse. I believe that this is possible. > As I have said before, we need the collective wisdom and input of the > community to solve these issues of behavior. I don't think we need the collective wisdom and input of the community to solve these problems, I think that we need a task oriented superintendent with the courage and determination to make hard decisions. Michael Atherton Prospect Park _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
