Thursday, April 17, 2014

Another Reason To Hate Big Government

From the Chicago Tribune:
In the midst of national efforts to promote disciplinary policies that keep children in the classroom, legislation that would limit the length of suspensions for all but the most serious infractions and put an end to disciplinary fines is under consideration in the state General Assembly.
The bills, which would limit out-of-school suspensions to no more than three days for infractions that do not threaten the safety or disrupt the education of other students, have the support of a group of student activists in Chicago who gathered for a rally downtown on Wednesday.
“We’re not asking for no discipline; we’re asking for common sense discipline,” Mariama Bangura, 16, a junior at Roosevelt High School in Albany Park, said at a news conference at Chicago Public Schools headquarters.
CPS and some of its privately run charter schools have come under scrutiny for strict discipline policies of the sort that some education advocates say create a “school to prison pipeline” by pushing kids out of school for minor violations.
Charter schools especially have drawn fire after state and district data was released showing those schools have far higher expulsion and suspension rates than district run-schools.
The Noble Network of Charter Schools, which has been criticized for collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines associated with discipline, said Friday they would be dropping the $5 fine issued against students facing detention.  http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-school-discipline-illinois-20140416,0,2981363.story
The punishment of students should be determined at the local level, not at the State and certainly not at the Federal level.
I don't agree with fines for student misbehavior but the parents sign an agreement before they enter the school because these are charter schools and the students and parents are subject to their rules.
Just another reason why to hate big government.

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