California May Ban Student Suspensions!
Last week my co-host Sarah Deien and I were discussing a story out of California where the California State Senate voted to ban schools and principals from suspending students for “willful defiance” of teachers, staff, and administrators. The bill passed by a vote of 30-8 and now moves onto the California Assembly next.
This is not the first time a bill of this nature has made its way through the California Senate and Assembly as California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a similar bill in the last legislative session.
Under the new version students in grades 4 through 8 wouldn’t be suspended for disrupting school activities or willfully defying school authorities, including teachers and staff. The bill would also ban schools from suspending students in grades 9-12 for the same thing until January 1, 2025. The law would apply to both public and charter schools.
According to KOVR-TV in Sacramento an existing law already prohibits schools from suspending children in grades K-3 for disrupting or willful defiance. Existing law also prevents schools from recommending the expulsion of students in all grades for disrupting or willful defiance.
As part of the new bill, superintendents or principals would be asked to provide alternatives to suspension or expulsion that are “age appropriate and designed to address and correct the pupil’s specific misbehavior.”
Ok teachers and parents of students, what do you think about this California proposal?