A principal met a student she expelled, and it changed her approach to discipline:
(There is a video or you can read the transcript)
"black students in our schools represent only 16 percent of the student population, they constitute 32 to 42 percent of students suspended or expelled, 27 percent of students referred to law enforcement and 31 percent of students subjected to a school-related arrest"
Ms. Hanks discusses the school to prison pipeline and who is to actually blame? Is it policies, the system, a group to blame. She speaks in a compelling way about how this is a problem all of those in the education system are responsible for and must change. She proposes on every level the way a teacher, principal, superintendent can evaluate and respond to shifting the system, even a little, as to reduce the suspensions/expulsion school to prison pipeline.
She made an interesting statement when we focus on the system or pipeline, that may lessen the personal responsibility that one may feel to change the system. Would you agree that keeping it a policy, pipeline, system mentality lessens one person's responsibility or fault?
This article/topic is similar to mine. currently, there are policies that are trying to address this issue of disproportionality in school suspensions and explosions. There is a bill being worked on in the senate that is looking to charge Ohio's current policies on zero tolerance so that youth can only be suspended or expelled when they fall within federal guidelines such as bringing a weapon or drugs to school, or cause an immediate threat of harm to themselves or others. However, students can be suspended as a last resort if students behavior is disruptive or inappropriate where the school has no other options. They can not be suspended or expelled for missing school. Senator Lehner and her staff are making this a top priority to try to eliminate unwarranted suspensions and explosions. We will see if their efforts change outcomes in the future.
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