A local advocacy organization for children is pushing for an end to school suspensions in most cases, especially for younger kids.
The Children’s Agenda has released a report that it said documents over-reliance and disproportionate use of suspensions, even with students as young as those in Pre-K through the 3rd grade.
Eammon Scanlon is Education Policy Director at The Children’s Agenda. He said school suspensions can have an adverse effect for the rest of a child’s life.
“For those youngest students, it can have some of the most negative effects when they’re first forming an attachment to school; first, developing some of their social skills and their early academic skills, and it has huge negative impacts down the road in terms of course failures, graduation of high school,” said Scanlon.
Rochester parent Stephanie Vargas said that when most people hear about suspensions, they think of teenagers. But she said that her son was suspended from child care, “where I had no recourse.” Vargas said that situation could have been avoided if the providers had the training, professional supports and resources they needed.
Scanlon said the data in the new report released by The Children’s Agenda shows an over-reliance on suspensions. The report also said that there is a pattern of disproportionate use of suspensions involving Black and Hispanic students, students with disabilities and students who are economically disadvantaged.
Scanlon said that is not too surprising, saying that the report shows the same structural biases seen in society at large.
“It’s really hard to justify suspending a three year old, a five year old. There just isn’t credible reasons often, why that student is really a safety risk,” said Scanlon. “And so we have to just do what’s age appropriate. And then, in all cases, for all grade levels for all ages, suspensions simply don’t work and so we want to push alternatives.”
The Children’s Agenda, which surveyed data from 15 public school districts, most of them in Monroe County, is backing a bill in the state legislature called Solutions Not Suspensions.
It would advocate for schools using things like restorative justice and better intervention efforts, instead of suspensions.
