Audrey Johnson wrote: > 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.
I think that the point here is that some of us seem to believe that suspension is not a productive policy and don't understand why the district continues to use it. > 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. I would certainly agree involving a social worker early is a good policy. > 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. I don't understand why this is an excuse for continuing suspensions. Disciplinary study rooms could be maintained by student interns or parent volunteers. > 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. If this is regularly the case why doesn't the district have transition programs for these students? > 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. I believe that this is a shame. I believe that the government should be responsible for daycare as well as kindergarten, but I don't think that the public is ready to pay for it yet. > 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. Well it's nice to see that there are programs to help children from troubled homes, the question remains as to how effective these programs are and if they are effective why the MPS have such horrible test scores and dismal success rates. Michael Atherton Prospect Park _______________________________________ 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
