Elementary Level

The 2015 UCLA study on suspension rates in the US has initiated debate, especially in Missouri, about how discipline for younger students can be made more consistent, effective and equitable. It has also brought the reality of the disparity in Missouri’s school systems to the forefront of public discussion.

In an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Raheema Wilson, mother of a fourth-grader in the Normandy School District, said that her daughter was suspended for three days for talking back to her teacher.

“She didn’t have any homework to do. She came home, helped me clean the house and wash clothes,” Wilson said.

Similarly, at Riverview Gardens, four students were suspended for bringing toy guns to school; in 2014 alone, Riverview Gardens issued 4,200 elementary-level suspensions.

Although Clayton has a very small suspension rates in comparison to these larger districts, principals in the Clayton district are re-examining their suspension data and looking at how they can improve.

Glenridge Elementary School principal Beth Scott said that over the past two years, Glenridge has been focusing on ways to make sure that its disciplinary system benefits all of its students.

“The way we’ve been working to level a playing field with behaviors is absolutely minimizing our number of race-based office referrals,” Scott said.

According to Scott, in order to reduce the effect of implicit bias on discipline at Glenridge, staff members are encouraged to evaluate their own biases and the ways that these might affect the school environment.

“One of our school improvement goals is just titled ‘equity’. Within that umbrella is the opportunity for staff to examine and process bias, and where unintentional bias creeps into our school day, where we’re possibly not having as high of expectations for one student over another. It could be a race-based response, which is not at all intentional, but awareness brings action, and if you’re aware that you could be offering a biased response, you can think twice before responding,” Scott said.

Additionally, Glenridge offers safe spaces for its staff to discuss current events and social activism, which, Scott said, allows for a heightened sense of self-awareness.

“We [the staff] meet once a month for what Glenridge has called game changers, so it’s been a safe place for teachers to talk about Ferguson, to talk about what’s happening in the media and social justice causes that this district is pretty passionate about. But it also is about identifying how you’ve been raised, differences in climate and cultures in your households, and how biases are formed naturally in all of us, and how we’re responding then to the students that we’re serving. Because we’re here to serve all,” Scott said.

Although these shifts in philosophy have caused substantial change in the way that Glenridge functions, the school has also employed other, more tangible strategies to encourage a disciplinary leveling of the playing field. One of these strategies, Scott explained, is relying more on teaching-oriented solutions to misbehavior rather than purely punitive ones.

“Restorative justice is kind of hitting the airwaves recently, saying, ‘why are schools suspending?’ We need to put in place more restorative practices when a child acts out and is showing us that he or she cannot manage his or her behavior in certain settings. You tend to lean in at elementary school and be teaching oriented, versus punitive … and a suspension is most likely just flat-out punitive,” Scott said.

Restorative justice is the idea that, rather than simply punishing a child for a certain action (or relying on their parents to punish them), the child should be offered resources to understand why that action was wrong, to repair the harm that was done, and to reintegrate the child into the classroom environment as smoothly as possible. For elementary students, this promotion of constant behavioral growth is especially crucial. However, Scott said, punitive practices, including suspension, cannot always be avoided.

“We have different levels of infraction. If a student physically assaults someone else, then that will come to my attention, and we will make a decision about whether it’s a suspendable offense. As my personal philosophy, I realize at times it [suspending a child from school] has to take place, but it’s probably the last resort,” Scott said.