Teachers have power to suspend students
Your Dec. 15 article stated, “A petition signed by Bullard High School teachers asks Fresno Unified leaders to implement a consistent discipline policy that lays out clear consequences for offenses. …” The California Department of Education has links to websites to guide implementation of a School-Wide Positive Behavior Intervention System.
The first step requires that, “All classrooms in SWPBIS schools have the same set of common classroom-level rules and positive reinforcement systems that are consistent with the school-wide plan” (from the Fix School Discipline Toolkit provided online by the CDE) – so the Bullard teachers’ expectations are valid. The toolkit stresses that teachers need to have buy-in for the plan to be successful. Fresno Unified isn’t even at step one.
A California teacher can suspend a student from his or her class for the rest of the day and all of the next (EC 48910). If a teacher feels that it would be unwise for the student to return right away, and cannot count on the principal for backup, then he or she should go ahead and suspend to be sure everyone stays safe. Lately, I’ve been doing my own suspensions more often than not.
Marita Dietz, Midpines
This story was originally published January 9, 2016 at 6:32 AM with the headline "Teachers have power to suspend students."