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This Legal Guide covers the topic of suspension. I chose to focus suspension because the district that I work for was recently ranked in the top five on a list for highest number of school suspensions in the state of Texas. In my current position as the behavior specialist, this is a list that I am familiar with, however, want to play a role in the reduction of suspensions by implementing positive responses to behavior and trauma-informed care practices. I am working towards a degree to become a school counselor for grades K-12 and want to target the audience of other school counselors or aspiring school counselors to understand the weight of school suspension but also to work to deviate from traditional discipline and move towards positive behavior replacement.

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There is a growing body of research that indicates a correlation between life-course outcomes to school experiences, typically this is known as the school-to-prison pipeline. This process can be explained as, students who experience “punitive punishment” in schools are increasingly involved within the criminal justice system (Hernez, Brent, & Mowen, 2020). As K-12 school counselors, this should be a point of interest for us, according to the ACSA Ethical Standards for School Counselors (2016) part of our responsibility to our students is that we are concerned with their academic, career and social/emotional needs and encourage each student’s maximum development (A.1.e). We must engage with our multidisciplinary administrative team to work on reducing the number of suspensions, amidst reducing student behaviors that break student code of conduct.

A state statute that will soon be emerging in your District Improvement Plans, is the Trauma-Informed Care Policy from the Texas Education Code. Pay close attention to your upcoming professional development trainings and the language around our interactions with students. The idea around this policy, is our educators will become more equipped to deal with students who have experienced grief or trauma, which will in turn, ideally mitigate some behaviors (Tex. Educ. Code § 38.036).

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Discipline in the classroom can be linked to suspension; many teachers complain about chronic discipline issues; however, my belief is that these issues are chronic because they are not being handled appropriately. Teachers have the authority to manage their classroom and the ability to send a student to see campus behavioral staff, and appropriate discipline action will be taken—sometimes that action is suspension (Texas State Teachers Association, 2011).

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Students Move Further Down School-to-Prison Pipeline with Every School Suspension (2019).

·      Every school suspension weakens the student’s connection to school, regardless of past behaviors.

·      In a longitudinal study done on 6,800 middle and high schoolers, even after considering prior discipline and previous behavior, the study still showed, the link between suspensions and future crimes got stronger, and a student’s risk of criminal behavior worsened with each subsequent suspension.

·      The younger the student at the first time of suspension, the worst the effect.

·      Getting suspended can harm the relationship the student has to the school in addition to repeated suspensions may get them treated differently and labeled, not only by teachers, but also peers.

·      Prior studies have shown that hours from missed school due to suspensions can have tremendous effects.

·      American public schools have relied heavily on exclusionary sanctions, zero-tolerance policies, and criminal justice appendages to maintain control and safety on school campuses.

·      This study concluded, the ‘criminalized’ strategies listed above have become a natural part of school’s code of conduct without evidence of their effectiveness.

(Sparks, 2010).

*Link to full article found in references

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DC Elementary School Transforms Culture with Alternative Discipline (2019).

·      Title I school in Washington, D.C. implemented Conscious Discipline (CD) as an alternative to traditional punitive discipline.

·      Conscious Discipline significantly improved the elementary school culture and the number of school suspensions dropped.

·      This reform took a “top-to-bottom” approach and took roughly three years to show positive results.

·      Instead of punitive punishment, the school used pieces of CD and practiced trauma-informed care that gave students a feeling of safety in the classrooms.

·      The CD training, includes the explanation of the three “brain states,” noting that the goal is to keep students in the “executive state” where the student feels secure, rather than survival mode where the student is unable to learn.

·      There are other restorative approaches to discipline beyond CD, however the main goal of them all is improve the learning environment so all students can succeed.

(De La Rosa, 2019)

*Link to full article found in references

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Suspension in the Texas Education Code (State Statutory Law).

This law states that a principal or other administration can suspend a student breaks the standard listed in the student code of conduct (above). However, suspension may not exceed three days, students below third grade may not be suspended, if a student is coded as homeless the school may not suspend that child and material must be provided to student for each day of the suspension (Tex. Educ. Code § 37.005).

Suspension, Tex. Educ. Code § 37.005

https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/ED/htm/ED.37.htm#37.005

Student Code of Conduct in the Texas Education Code (State Statutory Law).

This law designates the board of trustees and district-level committee to adopt a student code of conduct. This code of conduct must be posted and displayed at each campus in the district or be made available to review. There are several things the student code of conduct must include, such as, instances when the child may be removed from the classroom or campus, when the child can be sent to an alternative school, outline conditions for suspension or expulsion, what considerations will be given concerning suspension, guidelines for determining length of suspension, how parents will be notified to list a few (Tex. Educ. Code § 37.001).

Student Code of Conduct, Tex. Educ. Code § 37.001

https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/ED/htm/ED.37.htm#37.001

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Dear Colleague Letter (Federal Administrative Law).

This letter was written as a guide to elementary and secondary public schools to ensure student discipline is given without discrimination of race, color, or national origin and the commitment to provide excellent education is strong. This was a result of data that represented students of certain races or ethnic groups tend to be disciplined more than others. “The Departments [Education & Justice] believe that guidance on how to identify, avoid, and remedy discriminatory discipline will assist schools in providing all students with equal educational opportunities” (Lhamon & Samuels, 2014, para 1).

Read this article for more information: https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/student-civil-rights-school-discipline-report

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Goss v. Lopez U.S. Supreme Court Case (Federal Judicial Law).

Class action was brought by Ohio public schools to review suspensions given without a hearing. The ruling was that students were denied due process, therefore students facing suspension from public schools are entitled to protection under the due process clause and that due process is required. Students should be given notice and an opportunity to present his/her version to authority prior to removal from school (Goss. v. Lopez, 1975). This court hearing still defines the way that suspensions as well as Disciplinary Alternative Education Program (DEAP) placements are made.

Goss v. Lopez, 419 U.S. 565 (1975)

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Trauma-Informed Care Policy in the Texas Education Code (State Statutory Law).

This statue indicates that each school district in the state will implement the integration of trauma-informed practices on each campus, this must be indicated in the campus improvement plan. The policy requires increased staff and parent awareness and the implementation of trauma-informed practices and care by campus. This will be maintained by the required annual training that must be provided to each employee followed by documentation of who has received the training. In addition, if the district does not have the appropriate resources to do what is required, the district may seek partnership with local mental health provider in the community to provide appropriate training with no cost to the district (Tex. Educ. Code § 38.036).

Trauma-Informed Care Policy, Tex. Educ. Code § 38.036

https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/ED/htm/ED.38.htm#38.036

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Out of School Suspension (OSS) in the Waco Independent School District Student Code of Conduct (Local Administrative Law).

Students may be suspended for any conduct/behavior in the General Conduct Violations, DAEP Placement or the Expulsion section of the Waco ISD Student Code of Conduct. While there is a limit of days you can suspended for, there is not a limit on the number of times a student can be suspended in a semester or school year. In addition, before a student is suspended there will be an informal conference with campus behavior coordinator, in which time the student will be informed of the incident in which he/she is being accused, and then given an opportunity to explain his/her version of the incident. Campus behavior coordinator will determine the number of days of suspension and the district will ensure a coursework is provided to student (Waco Independent School District, 2019).

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ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors (2016).

In section A. Responsibility to Students, “School Counselors: Provide effective, responsive interventions to address student needs” (A.1.h, p. 2).

It is our responsibility and our ethical duty to provide interventions that help our students be successful in and out of the classroom, this includes behavioral success. Our students need to be in school, therefore we need to be providing appropriate coping skills, self-regulation skills, and behavior replacement interventions to help aid in the reduction of school suspensions.

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Exploring the School-to-Prison Pipeline: How School Suspensions Influence Incarceration During Young Adulthood (2019).

If you want more information on school-to-prison pipeline and its effects, this is a great article. The article discusses the number of students who are experiencing suspension, the immediate and long-term effects of suspension and breaks down the school-to-prison pipeline metaphor (Hemez, et al, 2019).

*full link to article can be found in the references.

Restorative Practices at School: An Educator’s Guided Workbook to Nurture Professional Wellness, Support Student Growth, and Build Engaged Classroom Communities (2020).

This book provides practical ways to build a schoolwide restorative culture, pointing out that restorative practices increase classroom time and engagement while decreasing the number of suspensions. Educators and their daily practices are the key to creating meaningful change (McCammon, 2020).

Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/Restorative-Practices-School-Professional-Communities/dp/1646040007/ref=asc_df_1646040007/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=431080777109&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=5815962720383670610&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9027502&hvtargid=pla-901806992102&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=100114716437&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=431080777109&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=5815962720383670610&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9027502&hvtargid=pla-901806992102

Being educated about our student’s needs and ways that we can combat these issues, is one of the best things we can do for our students.

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Recommendations for best practices:
·      Create a multidisciplinary team to discuss behavior and consequences, this will facilitate conversations around discipline and help avoid biases as well as discrimination when giving consequences.

·      Adopt & implement trauma-informed care practices on your campus.

·      Consider adopting and implementing a restorative discipline approach (i.e. Restorative Justice, Conscious Discipline, aspects of Trust-Based Relational Intervention) on your campus using the top-down approach, beginning with leadership. Be prepared for this to be a long process, prepare your staff—results will not happen overnight, stick with it.

·      Reflect on the whole child & their individual needs when discussing behaviors.

·      Deliberate the function of the behavior, every behavior has a function & the behavior will not change until the motivation behind the behavior is addressed.

·      To facilitate conversations around the whole child and functions of behavior, consider Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

·      Create a community partnership with a local agency that can help bridge the gap between addressing behaviors at school and home.

·      Communicate expectations to staff, students and parents clearly and numerous times throughout the year using multiple forms of communication.

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American School Counselor Association. (2016). ASCA Ethical Standards for School

Counselors. Retrieved from

https://www.schoolcounselor.org/asca/media/asca/Ethics/EthicalStandards2016.pdf

De La Rosa, S.  (2019, October 16). DC elementary school transforms culture with alternative

discipline [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.educationdive.com/news/dc-elementary-school-transforms-culture-with-alternative-discipline/565103/

Goss v. Lopez, 419 U.S. 565 (1975)

https://1-next-westlaw-com.easydb.angelo.edu/Document/Ic1d0d1749c1e11d991d0cc6b54f12d4d/View/FullText.html?navigationPath=Search%2Fv1%2Fresults%2Fnavigation%2Fi0ad74013000001733f8debdcd2dac33d%3FNav%3DCASE%26fragmentIdentifier%3DIc1d0d1749c1e11d991d0cc6b54f12d4d%26parentRank%3D0%26startIndex%3D1%26contextData%3D%2528sc.Search%2529%26transitionType%3DSearchItem&listSource=Search&listPageSource=8716aba95648fca22bbbe9cdd5ce855a&list=ALL&rank=1&sessionScopeId=9acc5947ac37bd329d455f38321735f7629b9ee4124af65c1f51ebc8381dc8e1&originationContext=Search%20Result&transitionType=SearchItem&contextData=%28sc.Search%29

Hernez, P., Brent, J. J., & Mowen, T. J. (2020). Exploring the school-to-prison pipeline: How

school suspensions influence incarceration during young adulthood. Youth Violence and

Juvenile Justice, 18(3), 235-255. https://doi-org.easydb.angelo.edu/10.1177/154124019880945

Lhamon, C. & Samuels, J. (2014). Dear Colleague Letter. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of

Education & U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Civil Rights. Retrieved from

https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201401-title-vi.html

McCammon, B. (2020). Restorative practices at school: An educator’s guided workbook to

nurture professional wellness, support student growth, and build engaged classroom

communities. Berkeley, CA: Ulysses Press.

Sparks, S. (2019, July 12). Students move further down school-to-prison pipeline with every

school suspension [Web log post]. Retrieved from

https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/2019/07/suspension_moves_students_school_to_prison_pipeline.html

Student Code of Conduct, Tex. Educ. Code § 37.001

https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/ED/htm/ED.37.htm#37.001

Suspension, Tex. Educ. Code § 37.005

https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/ED/htm/ED.37.htm#37.005

Texas State Teachers Association, (2011, July 11). Chapter 37: Your right to a safe school

environment [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.tsta.org/for_members/chapter-37-your-right-to-a-safe-school-environment/

Trauma-Informed Care Policy, Tex. Educ. Code § 38.036

https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/ED/htm/ED.38.htm#38.036