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TOLERANCE UPDATES FROM JLC.ORG
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This week's issue 10.01.04
-
School
suspensions cause alarm
-
KISD Off
-
Calvert Board Agrees
to Settle ADHD Lawsuit
www.newsobserver.com
Durham school administrators talked up their attempts to reduce
suspensions rates and put in a plug for more money next year
during a joint meeting with the county commissioners Monday night.
Several county commissioners have expressed grave concern in
recent months over the district's high suspension rate. A January
report revealed a 52 percent spike in short-term suspensions --
the largest increase in at least five years. County Commissioner
Mary Jacobs, who is giving up her seat in November after not
seeking re-election, had requested that suspensions be added to
Monday's agenda. News Observer, Nikole Hannah-Jones, September 28,
2004.
Click Here To Read
www.houstonpress.com
Anna sits at home on her couch, a pretty girl with blond hair. She
looks normal, although it is almost immediately obvious that
something is half a click off, as evidenced by how she
overarticulates her words and shows frequent flashes of temper.
Although Anna claims to have a high IQ, this high school freshman
reads at the third- or fourth-grade level. Diagnosed with
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, she is also bipolar and
suffers from clinical depression. She couldn't read the Student
Code of Conduct if it was handed to her gift-wrapped with a bow on
top. Houston Press, Margaret Downing, September 30, 2004.
Click Here To Read
www.washingtonpost.com
The Calvert Board of Education has settled a lawsuit brought by a
former student with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) who alleged he was forced out of Northern High School
because of his disability, attorneys for both parties said. Ryan
T. McNulty, 20, will receive tens of thousands of dollars from the
school system under the settlement, according to a person with
knowledge of the agreement. The exact amount was not made public
because of a non-disclosure clause in the settlement. Washington
Post, Amit Paley, September 30, 2004.
Click Here To Read
This week's issue 9.24.04
-
Expelled boy gets backing of judge
www.chicagotribune.com
By Deborah Horan
Tribune staff reporter
Published September 21, 2004
A 10-year-old boy expelled in spring for bringing a pellet gun to
his Sauk Village school should be allowed to return to the
classroom this fall, at least temporarily, a Cook County judge
ruled Monday. Judge David Donnersberger gave administrators at
Strassburg School until Sept. 30 to devise a step-by-step plan to
reintegrate the boy into his 5th-grade class. The Consolidated
Community School District 168 board must approve the plan and
present it to the judge by the end of the month. "I know boys will
be boys," Donnersberger admonished the boy's grandmother, Sheila
Howard, as she stood in court with her grandson, a small,
soft-spoken boy wearing a black dress coat and black shoes. "But
this is serious business." Howard praised the decision. "I think
the judge was fair," she said. But the ruling--temporary until a
hearing is scheduled to determine the boy's fate--was not well
received by Supt. Thomas Ryan. He said the school's principal and
a social worker would begin putting together ideas to reintroduce
the boy to his class. Chicago Tribune, Deborah Horan, September
21, 2004.
Click Here To Read
This week's issue 9.17.04
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State's
warnings ignore progress of city schools
-
Manteca girl suspended for 'hit
list'
-
Beyond the point of no
return
www.baltimoresun.com
As a teacher in Baltimore's public schools for the past eight years,
I share the Maryland State Department of Education's concern for the
safety and security of my students. But the method used to determine
that my school, Booker T. Washington Middle School, is "dangerous"
is deeply flawed ("16 schools warned to reduce violence," Aug. 25).
The 25 students who were suspended, and who account for our
"dangerous" label, apparently matter more than the more than 600
other students who come to school each day ready to learn. The MSDE
also chose not to consider our math and reading scores, which have
consistently improved since the No Child Left Behind Act took
effect. Baltimore Sun, September 4, 2004.
Click Here To Read
www.oaklandtribune.com
A Manteca High School student has been suspended and faces possible
expulsion for compiling a "hit list" and posting it on the Internet,
officials said. Titled "Prep massacre," the list contained 49 names
of students the 16-year-old girl thought were preppy, school
officials said. She posted the list in her America Online member's
profile. AOL did not return calls for comment. The Manteca Unified
School District was made aware of the list Sept. 1 after a parent
stumbled across it and sent an anonymous fax to the district,
spokeswoman Clara Schmiedt said. Schmiedt said once word of the list
became public, "it caused a pretty big disruption." She said the
sophomore was suspended Sept. 2. Oakland Tribune, Simon Read,
September 10, 2004.
Click Here To Read
www.csmonitor.com
Schools today are quicker to expel problem students. But what
happens to these kids once they're out the door? By Alexandra MacRae
| Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
NEW YORK - Eighteen-year-old Ivory recently spent nine months
working full-time at a clothing store in her New York City
neighborhood. Many of the students who had once been her classmates
were still in school during those months, but Ivory had stopped
attending classes.
Earlier in her school career she had been both suspended and
expelled from school. Those two lengthy absences left her shy of
enough credits to complete her high school degree. When she realized
- just before her seventeenth birthday - that she would not be able
to graduate with her class, she became discouraged and quit school
altogether. Christian Science Monitor, Alexandra MacRae, September
14, 2004.
Click Here To Read
This week's issue 8.27.04
-
Boy's expulsion over
gun sparks suit
-
Discipline vs. student
needs: a delicate balance
-
16 schools warned to
reduce violence
www.chicagotribune.com
Two boys in his 4th grade class kept "messing" with him, the boy
said, so when his older brother gave him a stolen 9 mm pellet gun,
he stuffed it into a book bag and took it to his Sauk Village
elementary school. "They kept saying they wanted to fight me," the
9-year-old said as he sat on his grandmother's couch in a red
basketball jersey and black sneakers. "I told the teacher three
times, and she didn't do anything." The gun was discovered after a
teacher caught him playing with BB-gun pellets during math class,
the boy said. She turned him over to the dean at Strassburg
Elementary School, who asked if he also had a gun. Chicago Tribune,
Stanley Ziemba and Deborah Horan, August 22, 2004.
Click Here To Read
www.northjersey.com
This is the memory of senior prom that Raccine Frank will carry
through life: Girls in gowns twirled into the drugstore where she
worked late into the night. They wore silk and rayon. She wore a
white lab coat. When, weeks later, Raccine's class graduated, she
remained home. And in the year since, she has been in a state of
suspension. Almost literally. In 2002, Raccine was suspended from
Indian Hills High School in Oakland for five days for fighting. When
her parents refused to get her evaluated by a psychiatrist, the
school barred her return. Now she and her parents are suing. North
Jersey, Maia Davis, August 20, 2004.
Click Here To Read
www.baltimoresun.com
State education officials have placed 16 Baltimore schools on
probation for consistently high rates of violence over the past two
school years - a designation that could allow parents to transfer
their children to safer schools if the trend continues this year. If
administrators are unable to help students improve their behavior
and lower suspension rates by next summer, the schools - most of
them middle schools - will be considered "persistently dangerous," a
label established by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. "This is
a very sad day for all of us," Lynn E. Linde, who oversees student
services and alternative programs for the State Department of
Education, told the state school board yesterday. "I never dreamed I
would have to come back before you to discuss enforcing this
regulation." Baltimore Sun, Laura Loh, August 25, 2004.
Click Here To Read
This week's issue 8.20.04
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Some schools start testing for
drugs
-
No Western Pa. schools on state's
'dangerous' list
-
Minority students
sue over expulsions
www.chron.com
Schools across the state will add random drug testing and increased
locker inspections to this year's schedule, raising questions about
whether such practices violate civil rights.
At least three school districts in the Houston area and dozens more
across Texas will begin random drug testing, spurred in part by a
recent Supreme Court ruling upholding the practice and by the lure
of federal money that may help pay for it. The Katy, Splendora and
Huffman independent school districts will begin testing this year,
and one company that provides testing for Texas schools has signed
up nearly 30 districts across the state. Steve London, whose son is
a senior in the Katy school district, said the testing will help
prevent drug use. Houston Chronicle, Rhea Davis, August 15, 2004.
Click Here To Read
www.post-gazette.com
The state Department of Education yesterday named 14 schools as
"persistently dangerous," all of them in Philadelphia. This is the
second consecutive year that schools in Western Pennsylvania have
avoided getting on the list. "We're pleased that none of our schools
is on the list of persistently dangerous schools, but we are going
to have to monitor the data regularly to make sure that our schools
remain safe so we can duplicate their record next year," said Pat
Crawford, spokeswoman for Pittsburgh Public Schools.
The designation was established under the federal No Child Left
Behind Act, which enables parents in public schools deemed
persistently dangerous to seek transfers for their children to safer
schools. The "unsafe school choice option" took effect last fall.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Eleanor Chute, August 18, 2004.
Click Here To Read
www.sfgate.com
A group of students has filed a federal class-action lawsuit that
claims the Berkeley school district violated their civil rights by
failing to give them hearings before barring them from campus for
bad behavior.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Oakland, said
the district had "wrongfully and arbitrarily" reassigned African
American and Latino students to alternative schools during the past
several years without providing sufficient notice, thereby
discriminating against them on the basis of their race.
Named as defendants in the suit are Berkeley school board members,
Superintendent Michele Lawrence and Gerald Herrick, director of
student services for the district. San Francisco Chronicle, August
19, 2004.
Click Here To Read
This week's issue 8.13.04
-
Few District
Students Apply for Transfers
-
Jeffco
schools see surge in number expelled
www.washingtonpost.com
About half of the District's public school population, or 33,000
students, are entitled to transfer to better-performing schools
under the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 because their
schools have failed to meet test-score benchmarks for two years in a
row.
But there was no great rush among parents to submit transfer
applications yesterday, the first day that such applications were
being taken.
At the Logan Building, a crumbling two-story structure near Union
Station in Northeast Washington, two schools officials sat at a
table in Room 107 with laptop computers and a pile of application
forms in front of them. For most of the day, only a trickle of
parents -- 15 by early afternoon -- dropped by to ask about the
transfer option. Washington Post, Sewell Chan, August 10, 2004.
Click Here To Read
denverpost.com
Student expulsions at Jefferson County schools last year jumped by
38 percent, a trend that left school administrators troubled and
perplexed.
The district's middle schools saw a big increase in expulsions, as
did the overall categories of expulsions because of weapons and drug
infractions, according to a report released Tuesday. In the 2003-04
school year, Jefferson County schools expelled 305 of the district's
approximately 85,700 students."It's hard for me to tell you whether it's our people being more
vigilant, kids are telling more or that kids are bringing more
weapons to school," Superintendent Cindy Stevenson said. "It's
probably a combination of those." Denver Post, Alicia Caldwell,
August 11, 2004.
Click Here To Read
This week's issue 8.6.04
-
Zero tolerance doesn't work,
director says
-
State Finds No School
Dangerous
www.thenoblesvilleledger.com
Offering alternative programs to students who are suspended or
expelled from Hamilton County schools -- instead of kicking them out
on the street with no supervision or accountability -- is more
effective in changing their behavior, according to a recent study.
It might also keep them from becoming involved in the juvenile
justice system, says one local youth services leader. The Children
Left Behind project -- a study on zero-tolerance policies in schools
conducted by the Indiana Youth Services Association and the Center
for Evaluation and Education Policy at Indiana University and
released July 15 -- found that zero-tolerance disciplinary practices
do not improve school safety but increase dropout rates and lower
academic achievement. Noblesville Ledger, Diana Lamirand, July 27,
2004.
Click Here To Read
www.ajc.com
If any of Georgia's 2,033 public schools are unsafe, state officials
haven't been able to find them for the second year in a row. On
Thursday, the state Department of Education announced that none of
its schools could be considered "persistently dangerous." Under
federal law, the state is compelled to compile a list of dangerous
schools. However, Georgia's standards go against recent
recommendations on dangerous schools established by the U.S.
Department of Education. School officials admit state standards may
limit the number of schools that appear on the "persistently
dangerous" list, including campuses struck by major crimes. Atlanta
Journal Constitution, D. Aileen Dodd, August 5, 2004.
Click Here To Read
This week's issue 7.23.04
-
Teen poet spared by high court
-
Teen's Poem Not a Threat,
Justices Rule
-
JLC and Legal
Services for Children filed amicus brief
www.sfgate.com
Teen Poet Spared by High Court
A San Jose teenager's poem that talked about bringing guns to
campus, shortly after a shooting at another school, may have
frightened his classmates and concerned his school's administrators,
but it wasn't a crime, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
The unanimous ruling is one of the nation's first to examine the
boundaries between student expression and school safety in the tense
atmosphere that followed the 1999 Columbine High School slaughter
and other campus killings.
The 15-year-old student at Santa Teresa High School, identified only
as George Julius T., spent 90 days in juvenile hall after handing
his poem, "Faces,'' to two classmates in March 2001 and asking if
they shared his feelings. San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko, July
23, 2004.
Click Here To Read
www.latimes.com
Teen's Poem Not a Threat, Justices Rule
Declaring that school safety and free speech are "not
necessarily antagonistic goals," the California Supreme Court on
Thursday unanimously overturned the felony conviction of a high
school student whose violence-laced poem had been deemed a criminal
threat.
The ruling will clear the criminal record of a Santa Clara County
teenager identified by the court as George "Julius" T., who as a
15-year-old sophomore was sentenced to 100 days in juvenile
detention for giving classmates copies of a poem he had written that
mentioned bringing guns to school.
The prosecution of the teenager attracted national attention, and
several prominent writers, including Nobel Prize winner J.M. Coetzee
and Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Chabon, weighed in on behalf of
the young poet. LA Times, Maura Dolan, July 23, 2004
Click Here To Read
www.jlc.org
JLC and Legal Services For Children Filed Amicus Brief
The Juvenile Law Center and Legal Services for Children co-authored
an amicus brief on behalf of George T filed in the California
Supreme Court. The brief examines social science research regarding
adolescent development and analyzes new research on zero tolerance
policies.
Click Here for Brief
This week's issue 7.16.04
-
School Board may issue guide for expelled students
-
Problem
preschoolers
-
Community is pleased unsafe label won't stick
-
Children
Left Behind Policy Briefs on Suspension and Expulsion
-
Innovative School Resource Officer Programs
www.indystar.com
School Board May Issue Guide for Expelled Students
Carmel - Parents of expelled Carmel Schools students soon may get
some written guidance on how to appeal those administrative
decisions.
The School Board is considering a written version of a policy it
has long practiced regarding which expulsions would be eligible
for review and how these review proceedings would be conducted.
Indianapolis Star, July 11, 2004.
Click Here To Read
www.connpost.com
Problem Preschoolers
They are the unlikeliest candidates for expulsion pint-sized kids
barely old enough to tie their own shoes but who have serious
behavioral problems that tax the agencies that care for them.
These are the kids who hit, kick, bite, use obscene language or
have extreme emotional difficulties. Sometimes, their behavior is
directed at their peers. Sometimes, they target adults.
Connecticut Post, July 10, 2004.
Click Here To Read
www.ajc.com
Community is Pleased Unsafe Label Won't Stick
Members of the Dacula community were relieved, but not surprised,
Friday that their neighborhood high school would not be tagged by
the state as one of Georgia's most dangerous schools.
Although Dacula High School has suffered a string of violent
incidents that appeared to meet the definition of "persistently
dangerous," few thought that the campus in western Gwinnett County
was unsafe. Atlanta Journal Constitution, Bridget Gutierrez, July
9, 2004.
Click Here To Read
Children Left Behind Policy
Briefs on Suspension and Expulsion
Dear colleague:
I wanted to alert you to a series of publications we are putting
out this week here in Indiana entitled:
"Children Left Behind." In it we take a look at national and state
data on out-of-school suspension and expulsion and their
alternatives. Although the focus is specifically on the state of
Indiana, I believe you will find the data in the briefing papers
and supplementary material to be interesting.
I wanted to highlight three findings you might find particularly
interesting or helpful:
* A negative relationship between the use of suspension and school
achievement (Policy Brief 2)
* A survey of principals finding that principal attitudes predict
school usage of suspension and expulsion (Policy Brief 2)
* Interviews with a number of principals who have discovered
innovative and creative strategies for maintaining school safety
without resorting to disciplinary exclusions. (Policy Brief 3)
Download the papers |
Read the press release
Read the summary and recommendations paper.
I wish you the best in your efforts,
Russ Skiba
Innovative School Resource Officer Programs
If any member of the End Zero Tolerance list is aware of school
districts with innovative School Resource Officer Programs and/or
is involved in the South Carolina case where the police responded
to a call to the school with guns drawn, please contact either
Vinny Schiraldi at Vinny Schiraldi at
vschiraldi@justicepolicy.org or Samara Marion directly at
kahlomarion@hotmail.com.
This week's issue 7.9.04
-
School safety reports omit many crimes
-
Student's lockout from school eased
www.ajc.com
School Safety Reports Omit Many Crimes
Thousands of crimes are not being considered by the state as it
compiles a federally mandated list of dangerous schools.
Some of the omitted incidents are among the most serious crimes on
school campuses in recent years, including an alleged rape in
Marietta and the poisoning of a Gwinnett teacher, according to data
analyzed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Under the federal No Child Left Behind act, the state is required to
create a list of "persistently dangerous schools" that show a
pattern of serious criminal activity over a three-year period.
Parents are allowed to transfer their children out of schools on the
list. Atlanta Journal Constitution, Aileen Dodd, July 7, 2004.
Click Here To Read
www.sltrib.com
Students Lockout From School Eased
To cut short his suspension, West Jordan Middle School student Tyson
Burningham must complete a weeklong drug-intervention class in
August.
His offense? He gave a prescription cold pill to his cousin -- who
also had a cold.
The incident between the two 13-year-olds occurred this past spring.
School administrators banned Tyson from class for 45 days because he
violated the Jordan School District's so-called "zero-tolerance"
drug policy.
If the school board had not softened Tyson's sentence last week,
Oct. 15 would have been his first day of school. District officials
emphasize, however, that Tyson would have received alternative
education if the original suspension had remained in force. Salt
Lake Tribune, Mike Cronin, July 3, 2004.
This week's issue 7.2.04
-
Danger twelve
crackdown
-
D'Ippolito
labeled 'dangerous'
www.nypost.com
Danger Twelve Crackdown - D'Ippolito labeled 'dangerous'
Serious crime at the city's 12 most dangerous schools plummeted 48
percent following Mayor Bloomberg's "zero tolerance" safety
crackdown instituted earlier this year.
The effort included blitzing these "impact" schools with cops and
additional safety officers, and reassigning troublemakers to
alternative settings.
Overall, criminal incidents were down 10 percent at the "Dirty
Dozen." New York Post, Carl Campanile, June 30, 2004.
Click Here For Article
www.thedailyjournal.com
No Child Left Behind
The state added D'Ippolito Intermediate School to its short list
of "persistently dangerous" schools Tuesday, much to the dismay of
district officials and D'Ippolito staffers.
"D'Ippolito is a safe school," Superintendent Clarence Hoover
said. "I have been to that school 20 times, morning, noon and
night. The students are orderly and the staff functions
appropriately." "I would send my children there," Hoover added.
Daily Journal, Deborah M. Marko, June 30, 2004.
Click Here For Article
This week's issue 6.11.04
-
Dark poetry doesn't equal criminal threat
-
Suspensions, expulsions hit highs
-
No-nonsense attitude drives rise in suspensions
-
School conduct reports improve
- Schools pondering rise in
suspensions
www.dailybruin.ucla.edu
Dark Poetry Doesn't Equal Criminal Threat
Zero tolerance at high schools is meant for guns and knives. But
when schools start punishing students for writing and sharing
literature, I begin to fear for my own safety.
Exhibit A: George T., a boy who you probably have not heard of,
went to Juvenile Hall for 100 days because of poetry he wrote,
according to The Associated Press. I thought it was graffiti
that landed people in trouble with the law, not literary
scrawlings. The Daily Bruin, Jeff Schenck, June 7, 2004.
Click here for article
news.bostonherald.com
Suspensions, Expulsions Hit Highs
During the 2002-2003 academic year, 1,890 students
were excluded from school for 10 or more days, 58 of the
youngsters more than once, bringing the total number of
suspensions and expulsions to 1,949,Department of Education
statistics show. The figures represent a sharp increase over the
1,482 reported in 1995-1996, when the state began tracking
exclusions, said Heidi Perlman, a DOE spokeswoman. Boston
Herald, Marie Szaniszlo, June 4, 2004.
Click Here For Article
www.lowellsun.com
No-Nonsense Attitude Drives Rise in Suspensions
Local school officials say running "a tight ship" in the wake of
the 1999 Columbine High School massacre helps explain a 10-year
high in the number of Massachusetts students being kicked out of
school for disciplinary reasons
Lowell Sun, Rebecca Piro, June 5, 2004.
Click Here For Article
www.boston.com
School Conduct Reports Improve
In an effort to meet a federal mandate and provide students with
a "safe and drug free" learning environment, educators are
cracking down on violent and persistently disruptive students,
often removing them from the classroom for lengthy periods. The
no-nonsense approach to student discipline, adopted by many
districts in accordance with the federal No Child Left Behind
Act of2001, seems to be having the desired effect in the suburbs
north of Boston, with fewer students running into trouble.
Boston Globe, Brenda J. Buote, June 10, 2004.
Click Here For Article
www.boston.com
Schools Pondering Rise In Suspensions
The number of students handed long-term suspensions because they
possessed drugs or weapons or were involved in an assault has
increased in some area school districts. Three local districts
are among 13 statewide that gave such suspensions to at least 20
students during the 2002-2003 academic year, according to
figures released recently by the state Department of
Education. Boston Globe, Sandy Coleman, June 10, 2004.
Click Here For Article
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