Schools use alternatives to suspension, see student behavior improve [Sacbee.com]

Moms with pizza boxes and dads with McDonald’s bags filed into the quad at Harriet Eddy Middle School last week to eat lunch with their kids.

Parent Lunch Day, held monthly at the Elk Grove school, is one innovative method that educators are using to improve the climate on campus and, as a result, reduce suspensions and expulsions.

Sacramento-area schools had a sizable drop in suspensions and expulsions in 2013-14, according to new data from the California Department of Education. About 21,600 students in K-12 public schools in Sacramento, Yolo, El Dorado and Placer counties were suspended last year, down from 28,000 two years prior. Roughly 270 students were expelled last school year, 180 fewer than two years ago.