Fairer school discipline for LA?

The Los Angeles Unified School District just unanimously passed a new, districtwide student discipline policy based on “positive behavior support,” that would allow suspension and expulsion as options only for the most serious offenses like possession of a gun or causing serious injury.
For more routine problems, the policy calls for things like positive reinforcement of good behavior, mentoring, discussions with parents and/or students or, at the most, in-school suspension. The policy also emphasizes greater parent involvement in resolving discipline problems.
The development of a system-wide, less punitive discipline policy is a victory for CADRE, a community-based parent organization in South L.A., and other community groups that have been campaigning for a comprehensive student discipline policy based on prevention, alternatives to school removals, strong parent participation, and monitoring and evaluation of school discipline practices.
In a survey of parents, CADRE found that schools often use suspension as the first step rather than a last resort. The group has also shown a connection between high rates of suspension and high dropout rates. All these issues affect disproportionate numbers of African American and Latino students, who some say are “pushed out” of school with punishments that emphasize getting kids out of the class or the school rather than working to change their behavior.
You can read an LA Times article about the new discipline policy at http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-discipline12feb12,1,1567250.story
We'll have an article about this in the May issue of the Children's Advocate, in our Grassroots Snapshot department, so be sure to check that out for more details.
You can contact CADRE at 323-752-9997.