No more banishment for chronically absent students in Washington
Historically, there are legitimate reasons why principals in Washington’s K-12 system suspend or expel students from school. Usually, they center on a child posing a physical danger or an incorrigible disruption in the classroom.
But kicking a student out of school due to chronic absence or tardiness is the wrong way to wield this blunt instrument. A young person’s best chance at a successful life is to be enrolled in school, where there are standards to meet and role models to emulate.
Fortunately, starting this fall, Washington public schools will no longer be allowed to suspend or expel kids simply because they don’t show up. It’s part of a new set of rules, adopted by the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), that will replace heavy-handed student discipline practices, many of which have been on the books since the 1970s.
“Every day students are suspended or expelled is a day their education is disrupted,” said OSPI Superintendent Chris Reykdal in a statement.
He’ll get no argument from us. Still, OSPI is wise to phase in the changes over the next two school years, rather than all at once. Minimizing the use of suspension and expulsion is a noble goal, but school districts must balance it with the overriding priority of providing orderly, safe classrooms. This will take time, staff training and engagement with families.
They’re starting the transition this year by rolling out a less punitive, more inclusive approach with AWOL students – and that’s a no brainer.
Chronic absence haunts many school districts, including Tacoma, where the rate of students missing 18 or more days of school has grown from 26 percent in 2014 to 28 percent last year. The numbers are worse for low-income students and children of color, and the gaps widen in the high school years.
For schools to respond to a student’s absence with a punishment of more absence makes as much sense as putting an anorexic patient on a diet. (Tacoma, to its credit, takes a whole-child approach to truancy and works hard to keep kids in class.)
Students miss school for a myriad reasons, many of them no fault of their own. Some are responsible for caring for siblings when parents can’t. Some have unmet needs for food, clothing and transportation. Some have recurring illnesses, or ongoing problems with bullies.
Thank goodness Washington has decided to stop treating them like they brought a gun on campus.