What ever happened to tough love?
City Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña announced Saturday that violent and unruly students would be suspended less often during her tenure, as officials are urged to turn to “alternative” methods of discipline — such as making “social emotional connections.”
“Our schools are learning places. They’re not suspension places,” the chancellor told a gathering of 600 principals and other educators at Brooklyn Technical HS. “There’s a lot to be said about respecting adults, but good leaders understand clearly that part of respect does venture down.”
Restorative justice — a program that pushes students to make amends with those they’ve hurt — is one option Fariña said she and her deputies are examining as a possible alternative to suspension.
Parents were skeptical.
“I don’t think the schools are strict enough as it is,” said Kim Leggitt, 34, who lives in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and has two children in public school.
“If a kid does something wrong, they need punished for it.”
Under current rules, students who are suspended aren’t forced to stay home but to attend in-school suspension centers or serve out their suspensions at other schools.
Restorative justice is already employed in a handful of city schools and focuses less on punishment, instead emphasizing that students, along with teachers, tailor-make plans of action to resolve conflicts.
“There has to be some social emotional connection,” Fariña said.
“This is the opportunity for kids to talk to a mentor, to open up personally to an adult.”
Suspensions have fallen in the last three years. As of May 5, there have been 44,026 suspensions in city public schools. During the 2011-12 school year, students were suspended 69,643 times. Last school year, it dipped to 53,465.