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Dori: Limiting suspension, expulsion in public schools not fair to high achievers
Aug 22, 2018, 5:01 AM
(AP)
(AP)
One of the challenges in the public schools is the incredibly broad range of attitudes that the kids have. Some of the kids in the public schools are focused, driven, and just fantastic academically.
And then in every public school you have the kids who are disruptive and take up the vast majority of not only the financial, but the emotional resources in the school.
The challenge is that we spend so much more money on the disruptive kids, and we don’t serve — as well as we should — the high achievers.
The state is about to update the suspension rules for the public school system. The policies have been essentially the same for about the last 40 years, but the new rules would make it nearly impossible to suspend and/or expel students. This is bizarre to me.
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The reason for this, they say, is that a disproportionate amount of the kids who are suspended or expelled are black or Latino. Apparently these two minorities are three times more likely to be suspended than their white or Asian peers.
The question I have is, are we treating these kids differently because of their race, or are we treating them all the same, and a disproportionate percentage of certain races do things that merit suspension or expulsion?
That question is not addressed because it is politically incorrect.
Sadly, 70 percent of African-American kids are born out of wedlock. If that is the family structure, there is little doubt that, in general, as a group, there will be attitude problems. I worked with a broad range of kids as a coach, and I had kids from single-parent families who were wonderful, driven citizens, so there are certainly exceptions. But if 70 percent of kids from one race are born out of wedlock, it would follow that maybe a disproportionate number of those kids are going to have the problems that begin with the family structure.
If the state school system wants to make it very difficult to suspend or expel kids, then I have another question for you. What about those other kids, the kids who want to be there, who are sick and tired of the other kids acting up when the teacher is trying to talk? It is not fair to the kids who want to learn. This is a political-correctness-driven agenda by the state schools and I do not think it serves the kids well.
If you have kids in the public schools, I want to hear from you. You can text us at 98973.
