Maryland education board gives preliminary approval to student-discipline reforms - The Washington Post: Maryland education leaders voted to overhaul student-discipline practices Tuesday, approving regulations that they hope will cut back on suspensions, keep students in class and create a less-punitive culture in the state’s public schools.
The changes place Maryland among states and school systems at the forefront of a national movement to rethink how students in trouble are punished and whether too many are suspended and expelled for offenses that could be handled in other ways.
But the action by the Maryland State Board of Education goes a step further than most, requiring that its 24 school systems track racial disparities in discipline and come up with plans to resolve them. Problems must be reduced within a year and eliminated in three years under the changes.
After a 10 to 0 vote, with two members absent, Board President James H. DeGraffenreidt Jr. said the main accomplishment was redirecting the conversation around student discipline. Students need to be in class to learn he said.
