Seattle Student Senate Statement on Discipline Investigation

Regarding the US Department of Educaiton's investigation, the Seattle Student Senate believes in fair treatment for all of Seattle's students.  The Student Senate believes that discipline against students must be taken appropriately and equitably.  As students, we are strongly opposed to any form of discrimination in the public education system that puts any group of students in a situation with a lesser educational opportunity.

 Regarding the Center School instruction, the Student Senate promotes the substantive exploration of social justice in our classrooms.  However, we believe that this must be done in a way that is comfortable for all students.  In a diverse society, with members coming from a variety of racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, we believe that students must be exposed to diversity through candid conversation.  However, we strongly encourage the district to consider teacher and student input in developing guidelines for social discussion.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Actually, the highest rate of disproportionality in discipline is for students with disabilities. That is an overlooked (and seemingly unimportant) issue. This is based on per incidence data. Most measures count per student data. So, if lots of students get discplinary action, then it counts many times. But if you use per incident data, and count each incidident, then we see that special ed students bear the brunt of inappropriate discipline. Further there is overwhelming evidence that many incidents are never recorded at all. Parents are called under the radar to come and pick up their students - and that is never recorded. If students with disabilities are excluded from classes for more than 10 days - the district must hold a "manifestation hearing", and consider the sources of the behavior. It's just so much easier to send the kid home - and not record it, and not hold the pesky manifestation hearing, and, at the end of the day, not educate the child. Isn't that just a lot easier?

-sped parent
3/6/13, 4:41 PM
Anonymous said…
Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

Sue in Zen Field
3/6/13, 8:12 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday Open Thread

The speaker list is up for the Board meeting tomorrow; not as packed as I thought with just four people on the waitlist. The majority of the speakers are speaking on high school boundaries (with several wanting to talk about Ballard High). There are only three of us speaking about the Green Dot resolution asking the City to not grant the zoning departures that Green Dot has requested.  It's me, long-time watchdog, Chris Jackins, and the head of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, Patrick D'Amelio.  (I knew Mr. D'Amelio when he headed the Alliance for Education and Big Brothers and Big Sisters; he's a stand-up guy.)
Read more

Breaking It Down: Where the District Might Close Schools

Update 2: an absolutely fabulous interactive map made by parent Beth Day (@thebethocracy on Twitter - she covers Board meetings and is fun to read).   end of update    Update 1: Mea culpa, I did indeed get Decatur and Thornton Creek mixed up. Thanks to all for the correction. end of update   I suspect some who read this post will be irate. Why do this? Because the district seems very hellbent on this effort with no oversight skid marks from the Board.    To clearly state - I do not believe that closing 20 schools is a good idea. I think they hit on 20 because they thought it might bring in the most savings. But the jury is still out on the savings because the district has not shown its work nor its data. I suspect closing schools and THEN leasing/renting them is the big plan but that means the district really has to keep the buildings up.   But this district, with its happy talk about "well-resourced schools" is NOT acknowledging the pain and yes, gr...
Read more

Education News Roundup

From the ever-amusing Washington Policy Center : Vouchers are Pell Grants for students under 18.  Vouchers are no different than Pell Grants or GI benefits, except the money goes to the families of students younger than age 18.  Except they are. Pell Grants were created to help needy students and that's not really the goal of the voucher program.  The Pell grant website does have a couple of great studies on why low-income students drop out before finishing their higher ed and what makes a difference.
Read more