By David L. Kirp, The New York Times, April 25, 2021
The boy I’ll call Jackson is the kind of youngster who drives a preschool teacher around the bend. The 4-year-old bites and hits other children, and curses out his teacher, Mariana Lopez. During circle time, when the class is supposed to cluster around and listen to one another, he is a hellion, and nap time turns into a pitched battle. Preschool teachers rely on parents to relate what’s happening on the home front, but Jackson’s mom refused to meet with Ms. Lopez because she felt her son was being persecuted.
Many early education centers would kick out a child like Jackson. Every year, about 50,000 preschoolers are suspended and 17,000 are expelled, at a rate more than three times higher than for students in K-12.
Those decisions can mark the start of the preschool-to-prison pipeline. Children who are suspended or expelled during preschool or elementary school are 10 times likelier to face jail time than their classmates.
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