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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It certainly doesn't help that almost all behavior that is merely 'disruptive' and not actually violent gets a pass under the Fair Access to Schools Act:
[quote]Beginning in school year 2019-2020, no student in grades kindergarten through 8 may be subject to an out-of-school suspension or disciplinary unenrollment, unless a school administrator determines, consistent with school policy, that the student has willfully caused, attempted to cause, or threatened to cause bodily injury or emotional distress to another person, including behavior that happens off school grounds;[/quote]

Schools are short-staffed as-is and it becomes challenging to enforce in-school suspension, especially when behavior such as smoking involves even 10, 15 students. That may only be 1% of the student body at Deal but when no punishment is possible because they can't staff in school suspension for 15 students at a time, others see that they can get away with these behaviors and things snowball.

Steps towards restorative justice are great, but schools still need to set expectations with clear and enforceable consequences.[/quote]

The issue seems to be that they are not actually enforcing the law as written, if students who are violent are not suspended. Focusing on that rather than “lifestyle” infractions like smoking seems like the critical step.[/quote]

The law as written is terrible.  The inclusion of the word "willfully" makes it virtually impossible to suspend anyone for anything short of a school shooting with a videotaped manifesto and named victims.

Besides the lack of punishment for anything, the biggest problem in DCPS that I see is a complete lack of transparency.  Everything gets swept under the rug and then causes a bigger problem down the line.[/quote]

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