On February 7, I posted a summary of interviews I did with several secondary public school principals on the frequency of serious discipline incidents involving students. All principals reported that serious incidents in the school were "rare," and that their schools were safe for students. I also noted that the St. Paul Public Schools reported to the state that for the 2003-04 school year, there were 36 EXPULSIONS for assaults and 94 incidents involving a weapon. Somewhere along the information chain, the word expulsions was substituted for suspensions. The correct statement is that the district reported 36 SUSPENSIONS for assault. The distinction is significant. According to an email from a district official, "a suspension means dismissed from the school for an amount of time that is greater than 24 hours and usually no more than 10 days, though it can run longer when awaiting an expulsion hearing." By contrast, according to the same email, "an expulsion is an act by the school board to remove the student from the district. (Students can also be removed from a school and transferred to another SPPS school, but that's something entirely different.) An expulsion is legally limited to one year maximum, and is sometimes less, but is reserved for extremely serious events." In the 2003-04 school year, the number of EXPULSIONS, according to the district, was only 10.
Apologies to the forum and thanks to the St. Paul Public Schools for the correction. Roger Barr Support Our Schools _____________________________________________ To Join: St. Paul Issues Forum Rules Discussion Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ____________________________________________ NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [email protected] To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul Archive Address: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/
