Despite Law, Many Young Children Still Suspended
Kathleen Megan, Hartford Courant, July 17, 2016
A year after a new law designed to clamp down on the use of out-of-school suspension, a preliminary review of four of the state's biggest cities shows suspension is down, but continues at an alarmingly high rate . . .
Kathryn Meyer, a lawyer with the Center for Children's Advocacy, who assists students who are being suspended in the Fairfield County area, said that since the new law took effect, "I don't see a lot of change. I think teachers don't feel supported in terms of alternatives to suspensions. … They are taking something away that they saw as a tool and they don't know what to replace it with."
Meyer said the real suspension numbers are even higher because often schools ask parents or grandparents to pick up a misbehaving child early, but don't record the incident as a suspension.
Bonnie Berk
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Hartford – Bridgeport – New Haven
