California Endowment president Robert K. Ross and Open Society Foundations director of U.S. programs Kenneth H. Zimmerman wrote this for the New York Times op-ed pages.
Improving school climates lessens the need for suspensions and expulsions and creates an atmosphere more conducive to learning. Education, law-enforcement and government leaders s
hould follow the example of Richmond, Calif., Baltimore and other cities, like Denver, where the public schools and the police department negotiated an agreement defining what police officers in schools can and can’t do, and Los Angeles, which has banned suspensions for “willful defiance.” Th
ey should look to groups like the Chicago Teachers Union, which has consistently pushed for positive alternatives to overly harsh discipline policies.
Ultimately, full-scale change requires giving teachers the tools and resources to effectively manage their classrooms. It also means ensuring that students are not victims of the kind of stereotyping or racial bias that results in unfair punishments. As a nation, we need to embrace the reforms, both large and small, that keep students in school learning rather than out of school misbehaving.
www.nytimes.com/2014/02/17/opinion/real-discipline-in-school.html
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