New School Super Candidates (transplants, home, middle school)

[Barli]

Admittedly I don't have an opinion on any of the candidates, having only been here since February. Something they just said on the channel 11 news struck me though. One of the hot topics at tonight's meeting was, "the possible overuse of suspension as a punishment." Any transplants to the area have an opinion on this?

In the short time that we have been here, my honor roll student who has NEVER had a problem before, has been suspended twice. Both times for a verbal altercation with a kid who was bullying another student and both times I have called bullsh*t. No threats were made, no fists flew, my son dropped an F-bomb while telling the bully to shut up and was given 2 and 5 days of OUT OF SCHOOL suspension. Do I think suspension is over used as a form of punishment here? Um, YES!!! There are MUCH worse things a child can do then curse! I would MUCH rather he curse than, oh say, do drugs or yield weapons!!! Sheesh!

[lamishra]

2 kids through WCPSS and zero suspensions. So no, I'd say it's not overused. Verbal altercations and extreme cursing shouldn't be tolerated at school. Bullying should always be reported to the closest adults in charge. Infractions for drugs and weapons are generally expulsions. Sure, cursing is better than using drugs, but neither should be tolerated at school.
As for the new super, I'm still reading up on the candidates.

[twingles]

Yes, based on the call we got from our m.s. yesterday that they have seen an increase in out of school suspension this past week - anything deserving OSS is something I would expect to be so egregious that my two middle schoolers would come running home saying "you'll never believe what happened..."

To me OSS loses its punch if it is handed out like candy. Middle school was over 30 years ago for me but I still remember some kids being perfectly happy being suspended. It was RARE though.

I do think it's funny your child was suspended for cursing and you call "bullsh*t" on it. I'm sorry, that really made me laugh. ANd I'll be honest after the suspension for cursing my kid would have a mouthful of Dial if he hadn't learned his lesson and got OSS a second time - honor student or not!

[goodbyesnow]

This is m first year teaching in Wake: I have been hit, scratched, kicked, and more and offending students were NOT suspended.

[twingles]

Originally Posted by goodbyesnow

This is m first year teaching in Wake: I have been hit, scratched, kicked, and more and offending students were NOT suspended.

In a regular classroom? That is unbelievable.

[RedZin]

3 kids in/through WCPSS. One made it through with only a single after school detention for repeated tardies.

My middle kid actually has had an OSS, but while he liked being home, he was terrified of what he accidentally did to get it, and I know he would not go back for a second round. (He forgot his miniature multi-tool in a pocket, and discovered halfway through the day that he had it at school. Another kid saw it, etc. his teachers felt bad for suspending him, but rules are rules.). This kid is super quiet and very well behaved.

My youngest kid is a girl, and I honestly think OSS for girls is just rarer than for boys.

I went through WCPSS myself and never got OSS.

Soooo. No. I do not think it is overused.

Your kid committed the same infraction twice, Barli. What did he expect?

Not saying I even think cursing is a big deal among students, but since it violates the rules...

[boocake]

OP - did he ever get warnings prior to the suspensions? It would be more reasonable to me if they had warned him 3 times or something and he ignored them. Consequences will always be worse for repeat offenders. If a school gives clear expectations of behavior and he knew that OSS was a potential consequence of continuing to curse, then it may not be as severe a punishment as it sounds. It is important for every child to learn that actions have consequences, and better for them to learn in school than out in the real world. So while I understand you are frustrated, it's not a bad lesson in the long run. It's just a fact of life that sometimes we just have to do what we are told even though we may think something is silly. I have to do it every day at work!

ETA: speaking of work, if I dropped the F-bomb repeatedly I would almost certainly be fired...so...

[evaofnc]

I would be interested in seeing some actual numbers on OSS in Wake County.

[CHTransplant]

Although a couple of years old, the Great Schools in Wake coalition cites the following statistics:

During the 2010-11 school year, the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) had:

• 17,339 short-term suspensions (lasting one to ten school days), 577 long-term suspensions (lasting the rest of the school year) and two expusions
• 54 law enforcement officers, six security investigators, and dozens of private security guards assigned full-time to public schools
• Huge racial disparities—the long-term suspension rate for Black students was 5.3 times greater than the rate for White students; the rate for Hispanic and American Indian students was approximately 3.8 times greater than for White students

[Barli]

Hang on a second. We are talking about an upper classman in HS here...not a middle schooler. I have spent a limited amount of time in the school and in that short time heard things that I considered to be pretty normal and somewhat expected coming out of teenagers mouths. Things like, "What the f--- dude?" and "Oh S---!" and "Shut the f--- up". Polite and courteous? No. To be expected? However unfortunate, yes. You can say there is a time and a place for everything, but lets face it, kids are kids and teenagers will curse.

What I struggle with is two fold.
1. Like I said, I've heard these words in the halls of the schools before. So why did my son get suspended?
2. To my knowledge, NOTHING has happened to the bully.

In a day and age of teen suicides resulting from bullying being on the raise, I think there is a far bigger problem than my kid cursing.