On December 17, 2018, the Trump administration released the report of the Federal Commission on School Safety, created following the Parkland High School tragedy. Under Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, the Commission’s recommendations would undermine the progress made by school districts around the country in reforming harsh school disciplinary policies. The Commission’s chief recommendations call for:
- Rescinding current federal civil rights guidance on school discipline (Dear Colleague Letter, January 8, 2014),
- Arming school staff, and
- “Hardening” schools with military personnel, police, metal detectors, and surveillance equipment.
The report ignores a body of research that shows that harsh school discipline policies do not make schools safer. It dismisses research showing that suspensions disproportionately affect students of color, LBGTQ youth and students with disabilities. These marginalized students are more likely to be suspended for minor disciplinary infractions than their white counterparts. Moreover, harsh school disciplinary policies and practices push students into the pipeline to prison-either directly, through school-based arrests or indirectly, by pushing youth out of school. Research has shown that African American young men who do not graduate high school have a 60 percent chance of spending time in jail or prison.
CCA strongly rejects the conclusions in the Commission’s report. Our own experience working with the Syracuse City School District (SCSD) demonstrates that suspensions can be reduced without compromising school safety and without turning schools into prison-like environments.
Between 2012 and 2018, using practices such as those recommended in the “Dear Colleague” guidance letter, the SCSD reduced out-of-school suspensions by 52 percent. Over the same time period, the graduation rate for the District rose 27 percent-from 48 percent in 2012 to 61 percent in 2017.
While more work needs to be done, these results show that discipline practices such as restorative justice, clear guidelines that limit the use of suspension to serious misbehavior, and teacher training can create safe and fair learning environments for all students. For more information about what happened in the SCSD using positive school discipline approaches click here.
