Reply to Out of school suspension in MCPS

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have read the MCPS code of conduct and discipline policy and it  seems to be saying that out of school suspensions should not be used unless efforts to keep the kid in school really are not working.   The document talks about things like restorative opportunities, opportunities for apologizing, peer justice, etc.  These all sound like great things but our middle school keeps suspending my kid for nonviolent offenses such as  talking back with inappropriate  language  and disobeying requests from staff.  They’ve never given them a behavioral plan, they’ve tried to work with him but today I had to ask if he could even talk to a counselor before he was booted out the door on his suspension. They don’t seem to offer anything but out the door you go. Come pick him up.  Has anyone found that MCPS handles suspensions a little more lightly than I am experiencing?  Have you ever complained or fought the suspension and how do you do that in MCPS?  In my opinion suspension is just stupid unless the kid is a physical threat to someone at school. Sending him home for a few days does nothing to help him change his behavior and I thought MCPS was getting that point. [/quote]

If your child is white or Asian, he is out of luck.  MCPS trys to reduce the suspension rate for blacks and hispanics now.  They can neither keep the troubled bl and hispanic  students in the classroom or suspend more white or Asian students so the rate of bl and hispanic students being disciplined will go lower.  You need either find a lawyer to navigate the system or find a private school for your ds. [/quote]
Or maybe her kid can start behaving himself.
Black and Hispanic kids get suspended from our school, so stop the trolling.[/quote]

She’s not trolling. I work for MCPS, and the county is carefully tracking these numbers.[/quote]

Yes, that is why sometimes my principal unofficially suspends kids. Basically when it goes too far to be ignored but they don’t want the data to show they suspended an AA or HI male. I am in a position at my school where I am able to see suspension data and the kids who most deserve it (most egregious behavior over multiple instances) aren’t on there as having received suspensions. I know my principal unofficially suspends them but doesn’t want the data to reflect that because then they’d have to hear it from their boss and Central Office. This shouldn’t be allowed at all but it happens. If a kid’s behavior is egregious enough for a suspension then it should be properly documented for the student’s sake as well. Sometimes an alternative placement is the best environment for the student and there needs to be documentation to help make that argument. [/quote]

+1 on the scam of using unofficial suspensions to keep it off the books.  Any parent who is asked to pick up a child early or to keep that at home should be asking for paperwork - documentation of the incident an a form indicating reason for suspension, lesser alternative solutions tried and failed, term of suspension and rights of appeal.

Schools do this unofficial suspension crap also all the time to kids with IEPs and 504s  to cover up failure to provide FAPE. [/quote]

What schools are doing this unofficial thing? That really bothers me. They should fix the underlying reason principals feel they need to fly under the radar, but in the meantime scamming isn’t the answer—it just obscures the problem and makes it difficult for troubled kids to get appropriate help or an IEP or whatever they need because they haven’t accrued evidence.[/quote]

Our school does this.  It is very well known.  Parents and teachers have been incredibly frustrated and some parents have gone to the Cluster Super.  But I’m guessing ALL the admin are in the same situation and under the same pressures.

Agree that it obscures the problem.  And IMO, it’s confusing to the kids who need solid limits.  Especially in ES.  [/quote]

Our school kept my child in the office all day one day and took away several days of lunch and recess for something really minor.  It was bizarre as all the kids were doing it.  I had no idea they were holding him hostage all day in the office or I would have gone to the school and taken him.  I believe in holding kids accountable but he copied another child, they knew it, scape coated him and then when the other kids kept doing it, he kept getting blamed when he didn't continue to do it.  All the kids act similar at our school, except some with high SN and that's a different situation.  However, they are much more severe on the white kids than other races and hold some kids, like mine to a different standard (including telling us how he should dress and wear his hair - neat, clean nothing remarkable).  Schools are very inconsistent with how they handle things.  It sounds like he should have also had protection under his IEP and clearly did not.  So those wanting to make it a race issue, you'll be happy to know my white kid is bullied by other kids and nothing is done and he is severely punished for something minor he didn't even fully understand.

I truly wish this county had more affordable privates beyond the catholic schools.[/quote]

Think Catholic schools are too much discipline for your DS? Or is it anti-Catholic bias keeping you in MCPS? [/quote]

My child did something minor and it was a one time incident which was copying other kids.  He's been at highly structured schools and had no problems. They choose to make an example out of him, which didn't work as the class behavior only got worse according to my child.   I don't know what was fully going on as the teacher refused to talk to me about it.

The Catholic piece is what keeps us away.  I looked at several schools and there were very few non-Christians and teachers at all schools referred to the kids as Catholic or non-Catholic with a clear distinction.  At two schools on their social media, they encouraged the kids to go to pro-life marches and they heavily pushed religion. Kids were forced to say Catholic prayers multiple times a day.  If they were more accepting of other religions and tolerant, I'd move my child in a heartbeat.  [/quote]

This isn’t true if all Catholic schools. Most parochial ones have huge percentages of non-Catholic and even non-Christian students. [/quote]

Which ones would you recommend?  I assumed that which is why I looked but the numbers were very few.  I am more concerned about non-Christian and how they handle that.  There is a big difference between non-Catholic and non-Christian in terms of beliefs.[/quote]

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