It is an alarming number of children to be suspended. However, there were not 20,000 different students suspended. I believe the actual number is about 9,000 students. Some of these students were suspended multiple times. I do not know the cause of every suspension, but no students are suspended for truancy. The policy has been changed for the last 2 years.
My child's first day of kindergarten was a memorable one. I waited for her by the bus stop and asked her how her first day of school went. She told me that one teacher went to the hospital in an ambulance and that she was on the floor crying when they took her away. I asked her what happened? She said another child in her class kicked the teacher and broke her leg. I was horrified, my little girl had never witnessed anything like that! I called the school. It turns out the teacher, who was 5 1/2 months pregnant, had been kicked so severely and completely blindsided that the child had dislocated her knee. She was the phy ed teacher and was out of circulation for several days after that incident. I spoke to another teacher who was punched so severely by a kindergartner in her glasses that she had 2 black eyes. Still another told me about the worst bite of her life that she got from a little kindergartner. She had to be taken to the hospital and treated for an infection in her arm. Yet another recounted how a kindergartener threw a chair through a window in the first week of school. These stories go on and on... When these incidents take place, the social worker is immediately called in and they start to investigate what is going on with each child, that at such a young age, such behavior would occur. The younger children who are suspended are suspended for behavior that is dangerous to other students and staff: biting, fighting, spitting, and weapons violations. There is a city wide discipline policy. I believe it is posted on the MPS web page. It is being reviewed by the administration. Most every site has an in school suspension room. That is usually reserved for lesser infractions of the policy. It would be great to have lots more counselors and support staff on every site to help children in their anger management and behavior challenges. But cutting $60,000,000. over 2 years does not allow for those types of staff in the numbers that they are needed at every site. There are social workers at every site, but again, their case loads are very high. They are the ones who are usually in touch with families. Some sites have family liaisons who also work with contacting families. Many of our kindergarteners come into school with very low school readiness skills. While there is some screening for mental illness and behavior challenges, not every student is reached before entering school. Some parents come the first day, or within the first 2 weeks to register their child or children for school after the year has started. So for many kids, the first time the district sees them is the first day of school or in some cases, several days or weeks after school has begun. There is work being done to help screen children for mental health and behavior problems. But you should know that our state is ranked 50th in early childhood education funding. So early childhood school readiness is not a priority of the Governor or the current state legislature. If there were more quality programs in early childhood readiness programs, then no doubt more children would be identified as needing help. Our ECFE programs do provide opportunities to spot such behavior generally. And interventions are usually brought in to help. These are services that, in many cases, come through the county wide mental health collaborative. For more information about that, you can check out the Hennepin County Alliance for Children and Families. Audrey Johnson LHE, MPS BOE and Candidate for reelection _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
