It seems like every year there are more stories about young children being suspended from daycare, pre-school, or kindergarten.
For a parent blogger, these types of stories are usually an excellent opportunity to decry the current state of education and parenting. I will admit to exacting some pleasure in pointing out how badly some of these schools over-react.
But sometimes, there is a gleaming act of pure and simple rationality that makes even this jaded blogger smile… New York is trying to ban suspensions for young students:
“It is time for us, as a city, to have an honest conversation about the impact of punitive school discipline, and we applaud our leaders for committing to tracking and releasing comprehensive data about school climate,” said Maryanne Kiley, executive director of the teacher group Educators for Excellence-New York, in a statement.
And this decision is starting a chain reaction. My own hometown of Philadelphia is also banning suspensions for young students:
“We can’t educate children who are not in school, and the fact that kindergartners are being suspended for things that are not considered violent behavior, that’s something that we need to address,” School Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said after the SRC meeting.
“We have not seen zero tolerance be very effective, particularly for younger students,” said SRC Chair Marjorie Neff.
Here is an alarming statistic, last year 448 Philadelphia kindergartners were suspended. There are currently 5,000 registered students for public school kindergarten, meaning 9% were suspended at some point.
Houston and St. Louis also recently made similar decisions to ban suspensions for younger students.
I can’t imagine how frustrating it must be for educators to work in under-funded and over-crowded classrooms, but kicking young children out of the classroom, letting them fall behind, is the first steps to a permanently damaged relationship with education.
Today I am happy because instead of writing an article mocking the over-reactions of certain educators, I get to point out that common sense is becoming contagious and we are witnessing an intelligent trend in public education.
What is your reaction to banning suspensions for young children? Please leave your comments below.
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