March 9, 2004 - Committee on Long Term Suspension (LTS) Students
Linda S. Suggs, Legislative Director
State Board of Education
North Carolina Dept. of Public Instruction
Gene Causby
Speaking on behalf of the School Counselors Association of North Carolina,
Gene Causby observed that there are three inter-related complex issues:
dropouts, long-term suspensions (LTS), and testing. Evidence has shown
a direct link between academic failure and dropping out of school; he believes
a similar link exists between LTS and dropping out. Add to these issues
that schools do not have enough guidance counselors and that counselors
are being called upon increasingly to serve as testing coordinators. Their
tasks are ever-expanding.
There is little evidence that LTS helps the child who has been suspended;
however, this does help those students who remain in the classroom. Therefore,
prevention is the key to solving the problem of LTS.
When he was in school 3 out of 4 students dropped out. This was not
a problem because there were plenty of low-skill jobs available for them.
Today 3 out of 4 graduate, and this is commendable. But for those who drop
out, the jobs that were once available have become mechanized or have been
sent overseas. LTS kids will have a hard time making it in today’s economy.
As a concluding thought, it is bad if we can’t help a child, but it
is worse if we let that child keep us from helping the others.
Joann Lamm
Joann Lamm, program administrator for Family Support & Child Welfare
Services, DHHS, then spoke about how Social Services fits into this issue.
They recognize that for children to do well in school they need a good
home environment. In trying to assure the well-being of children, her agency
has become much more involved with school systems. The primary means of
help is the Work First program, which provides temporary assistance for
needy families. That program seeks to enable families to achieve economic
self-sufficiency while it also provides support for other family issues.
One requirement for participation is that the children must be enrolled
in school that is, the parents are not keeping the child out of school.
A suspension from school does not impact the family’s participation. In
addition to Work First, other programs such as community-based programs,
child protective services, foster care, and adoptions impact the needs
of children who are often at risk of suspension from school. Her agency’s
goal through each of these programs is to achieve safety and permanence
for the children.
Committee members asked a variety of questions that centered on the
qualifications for Work First and anecdotal concerns about foster care.
Lou Fabrizio & Brad McMillen
Lou Fabrizio presented a look at accountability issues for alternative
schools before and after enactment of NCLB. He pointed out that as we might
expect, academic performance of alternative schools has fluctuated from
year to year. The SBE developed an alternative schools accountability model
that it later adjusted to require that at least one of the three local
option components be based on student achievement. Lou explained that all
schools must be evaluated for AYP, but that few alternative schools will
meet the AYP threshold of having 40 or more students in a subgroup. Students
in these schools generally do not perform well on State tests. This raises
the issue of where the scores are counted the alternative school
or the student’s “home” school. Some members expressed concern over schools
that may send students to alternative schools shortly before test administration
in order to “wash their hands” of them.
Dr. Brad McMillen addressed the matter of accountability and LTS students. One member expressed concern that schools may be easing out students who will not perform well on tests through the use of policies that deny course credit based on days absent from school. The implication was that by suspending students or by sending them to alternative schools, they could not possibly pass for the year and so they would quit school. Brad stated that suspended students in fact tend to be lower-performing students. Interestingly, data show there are two peaks in their placement into alternative schools. About 30% are placed during August and the next highest month is January, when 15% come into the alternative schools. In fact, new enrollments drop off steadily after January. This indicates that there are few alternative school placements being made just prior to state testing. Of those LTS who were tested, about half met the proficiency standard. The problem, though, is that most LTS students simply are not in school.
Brad next turned to the 2002-03 Suspension/Expulsion Report. The data show that as compared to the previous school year, short-term suspensions increased by 7%, long-term by 14%, and expulsions by 49%. While suspensions and expulsions are increasing for all subgroups, some subgroups are over represented black males, exceptional students, and middle school students.
Committee members expressed concern that there seem to be few educational
options available for suspended students. One member asked if there might
be a sexual bias in suspensions since most teachers are female and white.
We do not have information to answer that question, however. To the concern
that there seems to be a great degree of unfairness in how students are
suspended, Brad responded that is very difficult for the state agency to
police this issue.
Jim Causby
Dr. James Causby, North Carolina Association of School Administrators, assured the committee that school administrators do not want to put any child out of school if they can help it, but that they are under tremendous pressure to provide safe schools. In this regard, community members expect the schools to deal with students who create safety concerns. The vast majority of school administrators want to do what is best for the child; the question is how to do that. Schools are making tremendous efforts to help students before they ever reach LTS. Much of the information that the committee has received has been anecdotal, rather than factual. The fact is that there are competing demands being made on the schools. When the school violence reports are issued they are asked why they aren’t being tougher. Then when the suspension/expulsion report is released they are asked why they are putting so many kids out of school. At some point we must determine what the schools’ mission is. Most kids are good kids, and the few who are not must be dealt with. He used data from his last year in Johnston County to show how LTS was used as a last resort and only after numerous other options had been tried. Even so, his system worked to limit LTS to those cases where there was no other option.
David Burleson, Superintendent, Burke County
David Burleson discussed the Burke Alternative to Suspension program,
which is geared toward short-term suspensions but impacts long-term suspensions.
His administration decided to look for a way not to make suspended students
someone else’s problem, because when a student is suspended, that student
becomes a community problem. The result is a program that involves 26 community
agencies through which short-term suspended students can perform community
service during their one to ten days of suspension. While at these agencies
they also receive their school work. Of the 232 students who went through
this program last year, only one was a repeater.
Eddie Davis
The morning’s final presentation was made by Eddie Davis of the NCAE.
He stated that teachers do not mind working with children from a variety
of backgrounds and with a variety of needs, but they do object to having
to deal with those who only want to disrupt school. He suggested that we
employ a hospital or house of worship model for our schools. No one is
allowed to come into a hospital and disrupt the healing process, or into
a house of worship and disrupt the worship service. Schools need the same
standard. Those who want to disrupt need to be sent elsewhere so we can
provide a sanctuary for those who want to learn. Early intervention is
a key to dealing effectively with behavior issues. We must have high standards
not only for academic achievement, but for student behavior as well.
Dr. Larry Price, Superintendent of Wilson County Schools
Dr. Price provided an overview of suspensions in Wilson Co, always
a difficult thing for an administrator to deal with certainly not
something that educators like to have to do and something they do only
as a last resort. He told the committee that schools can’t do it all
the student must do part. Also, he observed that NCLB has forced schools
to focus on that last group of students, the ones not turned on to school.
Last year, the number of short term suspensions in Wilson Co. was down
about 20%. Long term suspension, on the other hand, were up slightly
77, while 50-55/year is more typical. He thinks this will improve as new
standards become more established.
Only 17 short-term suspended students appealed the suspension last year, and only 2 long-term suspended students an indication, he said, that students knew what they did. He emphasized that 99.3% of Wilson County’s students did NOT get suspended last year. Wilson County has 3 categories of prohibited behavior, and each category has clearly defined consequences, which they communicate to students especially at the beginning of the year, but also throughout the school year, emphasizing to students that they have choices and that their choices have consequences. He talked about the various interventions Wilson County employs before making the decision to suspend, and noted that their alternative learning center serves 115 students in grades 6-12. Wilson Co spends over $900,000 a year on those 115 students (an average of $14,000/year per student more than 2 times what they spend on students who are behaving). He noted that 43% of their long-term suspensions come from the Alternative Learning Center, and that’s after spending over $14,000 per student. He said that when they get to the point of LTS, they really don’t need that student in their schools. They’ve tried everything they know and spent everything they can afford by that time. He said, “We don’t have the people, the space, the environment, to deal with students at that level.” He said they are now dealing with problems in schools that he couldn’t even imagine when he was in school, or even several years ago, or in fact even a few days ago, citing a recent situation just brought to his attention by an assistant superintendent in Wilson County.
He urged the committee to give schools money to employ more guidance counselors, psychologists, and social workers in elementary schools, if necessary diverting money now used for JCPC and Governor’s Crime Commission grants to the schools for this purpose. He stressed that early intervention is the solution to the problem, that when we address these problems at the end, we’re addressing symptoms, and warned the committee that money must be provided and that a lot of it will be needed. He said that schools do not have enough money now to fully meet the educational needs of all children, let alone the myriad of issues children bring to school. He implored the committee not to burden schools with the assessments and meetings outlined in HB 1135. Logistically, he said, we just can’t make it all happen. He urged the committee not to forget the students who are stepping up to the plate, and stressed the need to hold fast to standards for behavior and for academic performance.
Dr. Price had several questions. Rep. Bonner asked if they had many 1 day suspensions and asked if there were other options that could be explored. Rep. Bell noted that zero-tolerance policies cause us to write down and count things that used to be dealt with more quickly and informally. The result is incidents look so much greater. Rep. Warner stressed that the committee does not want to undermine what superintendents and administrators are trying to do. Rep. Preston asked if it is true that community colleges will not accept long-term suspended students (yes, according to Dr. Price).
Dr. John Morris, superintendent of New Hanover County Schools was next. He said he had heard what all the other superintendents said and that he agreed with 95% of what he heard. He gave the committee a copy of New Hanover’s discipline policy 25 pages, and it grows every year. He said he wanted to spend his time on some issues that hadn’t been addressed yet.
* The racial divide. Current focus is on what to do when we kick them out. Focus should be on the other end. He said they had to fight day care operators and others in New Hanover when they opened pre-K centers. They have tracked students eligible, and their data show that 96-97% of the eligible students who participated are now at levels 3 and 4. The percentage is almost the same of students at levels 1 and 2 who were eligible, but didn’t participate for lack of space.
* He also thinks the committee should look at teacher preparation. Most teachers are white, middle-class females. They may not understand the reasons behind some of the behavior they deal with. He said we need to look at the data, disaggregate by race and sex and by the race of the teacher to see if there are sensitivity issues we need to deal with that we aren’t addressing. Kids don’t drop out in 10 grade, he said; that’s just when they leave school. They drop out in 3rd and 4th grade.
* He said we’ve lost common sense with respect to zero-tolerance, and cited several examples 2 from New Hanover as well as the Sports Illustrated swimsuit episode in Ohio that got a 6th grade student suspended. He said it has become very easy to turn everything over to the police officers now on campuses.
* He cited Ron Edmonds, who said we already know everything we need to know to educate every kid whose education is of interest to us. He has 22,000 students in New Hanover, and 7,000 of them live in abject poverty. What are we doing, he asked, to make school warm and inviting to them? They have a church in New Hanover that takes over when a student is suspended for 3 days. The student is not allowed to go home either they have to go to classes at the church.
* He asked the committee if they planned to invite any students to
address the committee.
Several legislators had questions or comments for Dr. Morris. Rep.
Womble agreed with his remarks about sensitivity training for teachers,
and also enthusiastically supported the suggestion to invite students to
address the committee. Rep. Preston wanted him to comment on the earlier
comment that students have to want to learn. Dr. Morris said his take
is that students already want to learn, but sometimes just don’t know HOW
to learn.
Cory Satterfield, Principal of Ellerbe Jr. High in Richmond County,
told the committee about some of the things they are doing that have resulted
in low numbers of suspended students.
* They are a very, very low wealth county, he said. Three years ago, they started requiring students to wear uniforms. They have since had a decline of 100 students in ISS. The uniform policy will go county-wide next year.
* A guidance counselor meets with every student suspended on the first day back in school.
* After a total of 7 days in ISS or OSS (out of school suspension), a behavior plan for the student is mandatory.
* They meet every week to review PEP’s.
* They have a homework hotline that parents can call at night to check homework assignments.
* Every child is required to keep a daily grade sheet in every class.
* They have a variety of incentive programs Wildcat of the Week,
Top Cats who get to go to a special dance every 6 weeks, ice cream and
popcorn as rewards for improved behavior.
* They have 16 surveillance cameras in school that help them get accurate
facts about problem incidents.
* They have a plan for controlled movement in the halls so all students
are never in the hall at the same time. Fewer students and less congestion
in the halls means fewer problems.
As a parent of a 1st grader and a 5th grader, he said we need to find something for the kids who act up. He told the committee, “I don’t want my hands tied for a kid I have done everything I can for.” 99.5% of our kids are wonderful. He reminded the committee that we are talking about a very small percent of kids, and also noted that Columbine has “made us all very nervous.”
Gary McDonald, principal of Forbush High School in Yadkin County, was
the final speaker of the day.
* He talked about the problem of recruiting minority teachers. He
has none on his staff this year, despite working hard to hire minority
teachers. We need your help here, he told the committee.
* He said they try to use a common sense approach to discipline at Forbush. Students make bad decisions, but they try to give them a safety net. Students are social animals and want to be in school, and they try to take advantage of that.
* They have zero tolerance for SELLING drugs and USING weapons. Other than that, he said they try to take a common sense approach.
* He noted they have the same problems as others with respect to drugs, gangs, and weapons, but they just try to take a different approach. For example, any student who participates in any extra curricular activity or drives a car on campus or parks on campus must agree to submit to random drug testing, which is handled by an outside agency for the system.
* They have an automatic 10-day suspension for using drugs, but will reduce it as soon as they have a student-parent agreement to participate in assessment with a drug counselor.
* They do random searches of cars in the parking lot and of lockers. They rarely find anything, which he said suggests 2 things: (1) the hard core students are smarter than we think and know where to hide stuff; and (2) the “average” kids are deterred.
* Students help develop their discipline policy.
* They have a phone master that calls every parent every day a student is absent from school.
* Homeroom teachers stay with the same cohort of students all four years.
* They release students who have earned enough credits to graduate in December. They can go to work or start classes in higher ed and come back for graduation in June. This has reduced discipline problems, he said.
* The biggest thing they are doing right now, he said, is staff development. They’re helping teachers learn what they can do to control problems in the classroom.
* Finally, he said, the biggest thing we can to is communicate with stakeholders, parents, etc involve them in development of policies & procedures.
At the conclusion of the presentations, Rep. Preston passed out a summary of a study done at Indiana University that concluded that there is zero evidence that zero tolerance policies have made schools safer, but found substantial data showing that school suspension and expulsion are associated with a number of negative outcomes for schools and students. Rep. Warner, who chaired the committee today, observed that in many cases, schools are dealing with children in grown bodies.
The committee meets again tomorrow, when it will begin discussing legislation to propose for consideration by the 2004 General Assembly.