Tyrone N. Butts
APE Reporter
16
Schools cut suspensions by half
DURHAM -- The Durham school system handed out far fewer suspensions to fewer students during the first half of the school year, a report released Monday shows.
The number of students suspended for 10 days or less fell 49 percent compared with the same period the year before. There were 2,157 short-term suspensions, compared with 4,192 during the first semester of 2003.
At the same time, the number of individual students being suspended fell. Schools suspended 1,488 students in grades 6 through 12, down from 2,337 students during the first semester of 2003.
The total number of suspensions is higher than the number of individual students suspended because some students were suspended more than once. <
br>
Several factors cut the number of suspensions, school officia
ls said. They included emphasizing respect in the classroom, identifying at-risk students before their behavior became a problem and shortening students' unsupervised time.
"Teachers, students, parents, the administration and the school board are working together to solve this problem," said Durham school board member Minnie Forte. "We are making inroads to a solution. We have made decreasing suspensions our No. 1 priority."
Still, school officials say more work is needed, especially in reducing suspensions handed out to black male students.
Slightly more than four out of five suspended students, or just over 80 percent, were black, according to the report. Black students make up just under 60 percent of the system's enrollment.
During last summer's school board elections, citizens repeatedly called for a reduction in short-term suspensions
and criticized what they viewed as the school system's zero-tolerance discipline policy.
School board member Heidi Cart
er said she was asked about the high suspension rate at every public forum she attended.
"It's important we have kids in school and keep them in school to the extent that we can, so we all campaigned on that issue," Carter said. "I hope the community will be pleased with these results and will feel encouraged that the school system has responded in a way that's led to a positive change."
In response to last year's outcry, Superintendent Ann Denlinger and Carl Harris, associate superintendent of instructional services, began meeting monthly with school principals to review each school's suspension numbers.
Harris said school administrators and teachers participated in training sessions where alternatives to suspension and classroom techniques were discussed.
"It's very clear that the superintendent wanted
every school to focus on innovative ways to reduce suspensions without compromising the integrity of teaching and learning in the classroom," he said. "Our goal is to have classrooms th
at are conducive to teaching and learning, and we will never sacrifice that to have low suspension rates."
Some middle schools, in particular, saw significant drops in suspensions.
They fell 87 percent at Lowe's Grove Middle School, from 443 during the first semester last year to 58 this year. After noticing that most of the school's suspensions last year resulted from infractions committed in the hallways between classes, Principal Marsha Person changed the timing of the school's bells.
Now, Lowe's Grove core subject teachers walk students to their elective classes, and students have one fewer class change per day.
"We had one way to go, and that was to reduce these numbers and do a better job," Person said. "We now have a massive increase in superv
ision and structure within our school, and we obviously needed it."
At Githens Middle School, the number of short-term suspensions plunged from 669 to 172. Principal Emmett Tilley, in his first year at the helm there, said teachers have a
made a point to intervene and try to help students before resorting to out-of-school suspensions.
Tilley said teachers at Githens now try to build relationships with students, while still setting high standards for behavior.
"We want to work to keep kids in school but without sacrificing our expectations," he said. "I can only assume we didn't have enough strategies in place last year to go through certain steps before getting to the suspension stage. The first thing I like to say to kids is to tell them that we are here to work with you and help you. This is a partnership, this is not an us-versus-you thing."
Despite the progress, Forte said the high number of black student suspensions shows more improvements a
re needed.
Of the 1,488 students suspended, 1,215 were black, according to Monday's report.
Forte said the school board hopes to get civic and faith-based organizations involved in reaching out to black male students, and possibly develop a ment
oring program.
"African-American males are overwhelmingly suspended more readily than anyone else," Forte said. "We can't sit back and start celebrating just yet. We still have work to do, and we won't rest on our laurels."
************
Did it ever dawn on you bozos that niggers get suspened in skewl more than anybody else because niggers don't want to be in skewl to begin with?
T.N.B.
Schools cut suspensions by half
DURHAM -- The Durham school system handed out far fewer suspensions to fewer students during the first half of the school year, a report released Monday shows.
The number of students suspended for 10 days or less fell 49 percent compared with the same period the year before. There were 2,157 short-term suspensions, compared with 4,192 during the first semester of 2003.
At the same time, the number of individual students being suspended fell. Schools suspended 1,488 students in grades 6 through 12, down from 2,337 students during the first semester of 2003.
The total number of suspensions is higher than the number of individual students suspended because some students were suspended more than once. <
br>
Several factors cut the number of suspensions, school officia
ls said. They included emphasizing respect in the classroom, identifying at-risk students before their behavior became a problem and shortening students' unsupervised time.
"Teachers, students, parents, the administration and the school board are working together to solve this problem," said Durham school board member Minnie Forte. "We are making inroads to a solution. We have made decreasing suspensions our No. 1 priority."
Still, school officials say more work is needed, especially in reducing suspensions handed out to black male students.
Slightly more than four out of five suspended students, or just over 80 percent, were black, according to the report. Black students make up just under 60 percent of the system's enrollment.
During last summer's school board elections, citizens repeatedly called for a reduction in short-term suspensions
and criticized what they viewed as the school system's zero-tolerance discipline policy.
School board member Heidi Cart
er said she was asked about the high suspension rate at every public forum she attended.
"It's important we have kids in school and keep them in school to the extent that we can, so we all campaigned on that issue," Carter said. "I hope the community will be pleased with these results and will feel encouraged that the school system has responded in a way that's led to a positive change."
In response to last year's outcry, Superintendent Ann Denlinger and Carl Harris, associate superintendent of instructional services, began meeting monthly with school principals to review each school's suspension numbers.
Harris said school administrators and teachers participated in training sessions where alternatives to suspension and classroom techniques were discussed.
"It's very clear that the superintendent wanted
every school to focus on innovative ways to reduce suspensions without compromising the integrity of teaching and learning in the classroom," he said. "Our goal is to have classrooms th
at are conducive to teaching and learning, and we will never sacrifice that to have low suspension rates."
Some middle schools, in particular, saw significant drops in suspensions.
They fell 87 percent at Lowe's Grove Middle School, from 443 during the first semester last year to 58 this year. After noticing that most of the school's suspensions last year resulted from infractions committed in the hallways between classes, Principal Marsha Person changed the timing of the school's bells.
Now, Lowe's Grove core subject teachers walk students to their elective classes, and students have one fewer class change per day.
"We had one way to go, and that was to reduce these numbers and do a better job," Person said. "We now have a massive increase in superv
ision and structure within our school, and we obviously needed it."
At Githens Middle School, the number of short-term suspensions plunged from 669 to 172. Principal Emmett Tilley, in his first year at the helm there, said teachers have a
made a point to intervene and try to help students before resorting to out-of-school suspensions.
Tilley said teachers at Githens now try to build relationships with students, while still setting high standards for behavior.
"We want to work to keep kids in school but without sacrificing our expectations," he said. "I can only assume we didn't have enough strategies in place last year to go through certain steps before getting to the suspension stage. The first thing I like to say to kids is to tell them that we are here to work with you and help you. This is a partnership, this is not an us-versus-you thing."
Despite the progress, Forte said the high number of black student suspensions shows more improvements a
re needed.
Of the 1,488 students suspended, 1,215 were black, according to Monday's report.
Forte said the school board hopes to get civic and faith-based organizations involved in reaching out to black male students, and possibly develop a ment
oring program.
"African-American males are overwhelmingly suspended more readily than anyone else," Forte said. "We can't sit back and start celebrating just yet. We still have work to do, and we won't rest on our laurels."
************
Did it ever dawn on you bozos that niggers get suspened in skewl more than anybody else because niggers don't want to be in skewl to begin with?
T.N.B.
