NPR's Scott Simon talks to Washington, D.C., city council member David Grosso about his proposal to ban out-of-school suspensions in the District's public and charter schools.
GROSSO: Well, studies have shown us that over the past number of years, as people have looked at suspensions - that once you've been suspended once, you're more likely to be suspended again and again and again and again. There have been schools now in D.C. that have chosen to not do suspensions at all already, and those schools have seen an increase in academic performance. They've seen a decrease in incidences in the school that lead to less safety. And it just shows us that it's time to look at a new way of doing this.
SIMON: The chancellor of the D.C. schools, Antwan Wilson, and Scott Pearson who is director of the public charter school board, as you know, have argued that these decisions should be made to educators, principals for example. Do you worry that taking away the threat of suspension would make disruptive students feel that they just have more license to create problems?
GROSSO: I'm not worried about the change in the way that we approach accountability in schools. So when a student acts out, there needs to be accountability, but it needs to be done in a different way. So rather than push her out onto the street or out on her own out in the community for a ten-day period, for example, give her something more constructive to do. And what we've done instead in the District of Columbia is fund more restorative justice practices, more trauma-informed approaches to schools - programs that actually give students the opportunity to make amends when they do act out but also get help when they need help.
To read more of Scott Simon's interview with David Grosso, please click here.
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