More Western Washington schools are dealing with misbehaving students in school rather than suspending them.
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Bellevue Public Schools just approved such a policy, and Seattle Public Schools did a year ago after finding minority students were disproportionately suspended.
One of the first districts to implement such a policy, Highline Schools, is in the spotlight after a former teacher blasted the concept in a recent blog.
Highline Schools are about to start a third year under a policy that emphasizes in-school suspension and consequences that don't involve the student out of the building.
“We know when we suspended students for long periods of time it didn't help them at all,” said Highline High School principal Vicki Fisher.
The policy is designed to have teachers, administrators, and the misbehaving student get to the root of the problem -- and let the student keep learning. And superintendent Dr. Susan Enfield was quick to point out it's not a zero-suspension policy.
“Last year still had about 450 suspensions and expulsions at Highline because when it is critical to the safety of our students and our staff,” said Enfield.
Former Highline High School teacher Jasmine Kettler wrote this blog highly critical of the discipline policy. She called it "absolute chaos" and said "teachers are afraid to speak up.
Kettler is taking the year off from teaching and on Monday she talked via Skype from Thailand to KIRO 7 morning anchor John Knicely.
“I think the policy is creating more of a problem than it's helping our students,” said Kettler, who added that the policy is a major part of why she needed a break from teaching.
Kettler told KIRO 7 of frustration when two students were sent back to class after she caught them smoking marijuana and told security and administrators.
“A joint in school, two kids who I know personally,” said Kettler. “The joint was still in the trash can.”
When KIRO 7 brought Kettler's concerns to Fisher, she said a breakdown in communication could be to blame for some issues.
“I can see where a student might end up back in the classroom or back in and the teacher feeling nothing was done,” said Fisher. “It's also very likely the student did have some consequences, be it in school suspension or out of school or whatever and the teacher didn't find out.”
After the blog was posted Enfield sent an email to all Highline staff touting the success of the policy, but admitting it’s a work in progress.
In the email, she admitted in some schools the suspension policy “had not been implemented well.” But she wrote, “That does not mean we go back to an old system that was putting too many students on a road to failure.”
Highline has added a licensed counselor in each school to work with students instead of suspending them.
“So have we made mistakes along the way, absolutely,” Enfield told KIRO 7. “But we own our mistakes and learn from our mistakes and move on.”
Kettler said she and her fellow teachers care deeply for the troubled students, but said the suspension policy she dealt with was good in theory, but didn't work.
“So, 95 percent of students are not getting the learning environment they deserve in order to appease the 5 percent that we want to hold their hands and help them along,” said Kettler.
She emphasized she loves Highline schools, and might try to teach there again. But it's clear Highline is pushing forward with and working to improve its suspension policy.