An Ohio lawmaker said that she was stunned to learn that thousands of elementary school students are suspended for disobedience or disruptions each school year and plans to introduce legislation that would ban suspending of young students in cases where the student threatens to harm.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that, the State Sen. Peggy Lehner, a Kettering Republican who leads the education committee said that a better alternative is training for teachers on how to de-escalate misbehavior.
According to the state database, there were more than 17,000 suspensions or expulsions in the preschool through third grade for disobedient or disruptive behavior during the Ohio's 2015-16 school year. More than 2,000 kindergartners were suspended for the fighting or violence.
Lehner is seeking input from the teachers and school officials before advancing her proposal. While the local education officials agree early grade suspensions and expulsions should be rare, most oppose the state-imposed ban and prefer that discipline policies be left up to school districts.
Mt. Healthy Superintendent Reva Cosby said that, "students do need to be in school. We should not be pushing them out of school, particularly at those young grades. But I do not think that we should take that option away. I think we are knowledgeable, and we should know when it rises to that level."
Mt. Healthy City Schools had more than 600 suspensions and expulsions for the kindergarten through third grade in the 2015-16 school year.
Greg Landsman, a Cincinnati City Council candidate who ran an education nonprofit said that a student who is repeatedly suspended will "inevitably come to the conclusion that he or she does not belong there."
Landsman said that the schools should attack the root of the problem rather than symptoms of the misbehavior by making therapists and counselors available to unruly children.
By Mrudula Duddempudi.
