Stay in school or die…
by Lori Barrett | May 9, 2008 at 5:58 am
Posted in baltimore crime, education
That’s basically the message being sent by Andres Alonso, the head of the Baltimore City school system.
Data were released yesterday reporting that the Baltimore City students who were murdered or shot didn’t spend much time in school. Between 2003 and 2007, a total of 115 students were murdered and another 405 were the recipients of nonfatal gunshot wounds. They missed an average of 46 days of school each year and the majority had been suspended or expelled at some point.
Commenting on the report, the police commissioner said: “When these kids are suspended or expelled, they don’t volunteer their time in a soup kitchen.”
The report comes amid a push for principals to give more in-school suspensions rather than sending students home, with the hope of keeping suspended students out of trouble (and apparently alive). Considering all the in-school violence lately, I’m wondering if it will simply change their roles from victims to aggressors.
Alonso referred to the situation as a “a dereliction of duty” by the community. What do you think?
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May 9th, 2008 at 12:30 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
It's a sobering message, but Alonso could have phrased it better. Last night I saw a clip of him citing a specific percentage of students who were "suspended or expelled before they were killed."
So now I'm curious to know how many of them were suspended AFTER their deaths.
The Examiner has a pretty good article on the psychological effect this whole thing is having on teachers and students. It also mentions Alonso's urging of principals to use their discretionary funds to set up in-school suspension programs, which are a great idea but they do come at a financial cost. It's also important to note that (depending on how they're set up) these programs may have to be staffed with special education teachers to ensure that any SpEd students who are suspended into that program do not have their services interrupted.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:56 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
Man! What's gonna happen next month when all of these little dynamos are released into general population? It'll be like Escape From New York.