Oakland to halt school suspensions for willful defiance (xpost from GD)

[KamaAina]

Mouthing off in class or failing to follow a teacher’s instructions will no longer lead to suspension in Oakland schools, a ban that will be phased in and be fully in effect just over a year from now, the school board unanimously decided Wednesday night.

Oakland Unified will become one of a handful of California school districts that restrict suspensions to more serious offenses and eliminate the punishment for willful defiance — a broad category of misbehavior that includes minor offenses such as refusing to take a hat off or ignoring teacher requests to stop texting and more severe incidents like swearing at a teacher or storming out of class. San Francisco and Los Angeles are also among those districts.

The state already bans suspension for willful defiance from kindergarten through third grade, and Oakland’s decision extends it through high school. The new policy, which goes into full effect July 1, 2016, also bans expulsions and the practice of involuntary transfers — moving students from one school to another — for willful defiance infractions.

Student Dan’enicole Williams, a McClymonds High School sophomore, said the ban will force educators and administrators to focus on why students are behaving a certain way rather than just suspending them.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Oakland-to-halt-school-suspensions-for-willful-6262461.php


Good move Oakland. Throwing problem students on the street doesn't fix the problem. It just causes problem adults.

h/t philosslayer

[msongs]

1. a handful of "problem students" ruin the school experience for everyone. nt

[Lordquinton]

2. Are they following this up with more funding to do that?

if not they are just showing the kids they can disrespect and ignore the teacher without repercussion and are now encouraging the behavior.

[LeftyMom]

3. I think people aren't getting the context here:

While suspensions and expulsions for clear and identifiable behaviors like fighting or smoking tend to be similar across racial and ethnic groups, vague or debatable offenses like "willful defiance" are applied to black kids in a degree which defies reasonable explanation.

Many school districts are tightening up the rules for conduct offenses of those sorts precisely because they've been used as a tool to punish black kids for things like moodiness that aren't generally seen as worthy of punishment in other kids.

[KamaAina]

4. Mahalo (thank you)!