Twenty percent of Peoria School District 150 students were suspended from school at least once last year. The total number of out-of-school suspensions increased after steady declines since 2009.
So far this year, suspensions are down about 20 percent compared to this time last year, according to Shannon Marlin, District 150’s director of student affairs. Some of the most common reasons for out-of-school suspensions this year are pretty much the same as last year — disobedience, disruptions, cutting classes.
But a new state law forces public schools to re-evaluate the value of out-of-school suspensions and expulsions as disciplinary tools.
The law, known as Senate Bill 100, still allows the use of suspensions and expulsions, said Stan Eisenhammer, a partner in the law firm that represents District 150.
“But it challenges the assumptions school districts have been working under all this time,” Eisenhammer said. “It causes them to re-examine if suspensions are working for everything.”
[For more of this story, written by Pam Adams, go to http://www.pjstar.com/article/...S/151009648/?Start=1]
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