Suspend Negative Behaviors, Not Students Who Perform Them
By Kris Carrillo New Mexico School Mental Health Initiative
A recent Albuquerque Journal headline ("APS Suspends More Hispanics") confirms that minority students attending school in Albuquerque are facing the same bleak circumstance that has become the trend throughout the nation. The fact, as reported by the Journal, is that more Hispanic students have been suspended from Albuquerque schools than students of all other ethnic backgrounds combined.
Nationally, the number of students suspended or expelled from schools is shockingly high. In a study conducted by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, it was reported that in 1998, more than 3.1 million children in America were suspended, and another 87,000 were expelled. The authors of this study found that, when all socioeconomic indicators are held constant, Hispanic and African-American children are suspended and expelled at much higher rates than other students at the same schools. Albuquerque numbers reflect this trend.
Racial disparities in the application of school discipline policies have been documented at the national level for years. While experiencing a higher number of disciplinary actions for serious offenses, students of color are also more likely than their white counterparts to be disciplined for minor acts of misconduct, and to receive punishments disproportionate to their conduct. In Albuquerque schools, of the 6,191 suspensions, one-third of them were automatic (for weapons violations or assaults). More than half of the total suspensions involving Hispanic students were doled out at the discretion of APS personnel. This statistic parallels national data which shows that the discipline of students of color peaks in the most subjective of categories (such as defiance or disrespect of authority), where a school official's decision that an infraction occurred might be influenced by bias or stereotypes.
The overall number of suspended and expelled students, not surprisingly, has risen dramatically with the rise in popularity of zero tolerance policies. Created in response to school safety concerns, these policies, when rigidly enforced beyond their original scope, can result in youth getting kicked out of school or unfairly suspended for incidents that might have been handled using alternative methods. There has been frequent press coverage of the more absurd examples of zero tolerance resulting in student suspensions: possession of nail clippers, tiny key chain penknives, cough drops, Midol, white-out or dry-erase markers; forgetting a belt (dress code violation); or betting on a basketball game. What has commanded much less press attention, however, is the tremendous toll that suspension takes on high-risk students.
The liberal use of suspension as punishment for students who are already at risk of school failure is troubling. A history of suspension is a strong predictor that the affected student will eventually drop out of school. In fact, suspension/expulsion ranks among the top three school-related reasons for dropping out. Given that the dropout rate among New Mexican Hispanic students is reaching 30 percent, could it hurt to examine the use and impact of discretionary suspensions on this population? School districts have done much work to impact high dropout rates by looking at school structure and academic organization. By including an examination of a school's social support system, such as relationships between students and teachers, and the application of discipline policies, some new light might be shed on the dropout situation.
What are the negative effects of suspension on a student? A suspension of any length by definition results in the loss of that student's educational opportunities, however briefly, with the resultant negative consequences on academic performance. For many students, this is a one-way ticket out of school. Students who are shut out from the educational system are more likely to engage in conduct detrimental to their safety, and the safety of others.
Suspension can accelerate the course of delinquency by providing a troubled youth with little supervision, and with opportunities to socialize with similarly troubled peers. When relied upon for punishment or as a means of control, a suspension does little in the way of helping a student solve a problem, develop inner controls, or learn better ways of expressing negative feelings. When applied unfairly, or without taking into consideration extenuating circumstances, a suspension can assault a student's developing sense of justice, trust and fair play. Exclusionary punishments, with a strong message of alienation and rejection, can also act to intensify the types of behaviors they are intended to eradicate.
Most compelling, however, is the research showing the negative impact of school suspensions on student "connectedness" to school, this connection being the one factor that is most consistently associated with healthy adolescent behavior.
The president of the Albuquerque school board is on the right track in looking at ways to keep problem kids in school, rather than banishing them from the protective environment of a school campus. There are model schools throughout the country that have successfully transformed their school culture from one that pushes out, to one that reaches out. In every case, this daunting work is accomplished by the commitment of school professionals, by the implementation of a wide range of programs, by strategies to develop strong bonds between adults and students, by improving access to student mental health services, and by increased training opportunities for staff.
We need teachers, administrators, parents and school board members to reclaim schools as safe places of learning for all students, including those who demonstrate, through their behavior, that they would rather not be there. By transforming a zero tolerance environment into one which implements principles of fair consequences, repairing the harm, and developing assets, schools will make great strides in the direction of eliminating negative and unsafe behaviors, rather than eliminating the students who perform them.
For more information about the School Mental Health Initiative's School Behavioral Health Training Institute, visit the website at: www.nmsmhi.org.
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