Pittsburgh Public Schools board examines suspension practices

The Pittsburgh Public Schools board took steps Wednesday night toward discouraging teachers and principals from suspending the district's youngest students without banning the consequence outright.

In coming weeks, the district will convene a new working group dedicated to studying how to solve a persisting problem: Starting as young as preschool, black students are getting suspended at rates disproportionately higher than their white peers — oftentimes for relatively minor infractions such as talking during class or being tardy.

The advisory team will be made up of educators, students, community members and administrators to “bring together all of those whose lives are impacted by suspensions of our youngest learners,” Superintendent Anthony Hamlet said during a legislative board meeting at the PPS central office in Oakland.

“As a district, we recognize that we must right the wrongs of systemic inequities that have plagued Pittsburgh Public Schools for many years,” Hamlet said. “Any disproportionality in discipline will contribute to achievement gaps for students that we are working to eliminate.”

The board also updated its student codes of conduct to clarify types of K-5 infractions that should not lead to suspensions, including tardies or truancy, and to downgrade the severity of offenses described as a “disruption of class.”

Activists say the moves don't go far enough.

Last year, PPS students in grades K-5 missed a collective 3,160 days of school because of suspensions — more than half of which were for minor, nonviolent infractions and 65 percent of which were for the “disruption of school,” according to a report by the Education Rights Network, an advocacy initiative of One Pennsylvania.

Facing increased pressure from such activists in recent weeks, the nine-member PPS board had contemplated enacting a complete ban on out-of-school suspensions for all students in preschool through second grade starting in January, then expanding the ban up to fifth grade by the 2018-19 school year.

“I'm scared to put this off any longer than we already have. The systemic racism and inequities in this district have been persistent and disgusting for far too long,” board member Moira Kaleida said during Wednesday's meeting.

“We complain about achievement gaps and test scores and not reading by third grade,” Kaleida said, “but if the students aren't there, they can't learn.”

Research shows that high numbers of missed school days translate to higher likelihoods of students struggling academically, dropping out of school and being referred to the juvenile justice system.

Board members all seemed to agree that the district's disciplinary practices need overhauling.

“There are certain things that the administration just has to say, ‘Stop. Just stop. You can't do that,' ” said board president Regina Holley, referring to instances when students have been suspended for not wearing the proper clothing or uniform. “Children have to be in school.”

But the board clashed over how quickly to advance drastic changes.

Board member Kevin Carter said he was worried that a proposal to set specific dates for broader suspension bans felt “almost as if you're pulling the cart before the horse, because we haven't fully examined the impact of what that will have.” Carter said doing so Wednesday night would have been unrealistic, burdensome and “almost disrespectful” to principals and teachers who haven't had a chance to voice their input.

The Education Rights Network — which led a protest of about 60 people outside the district office Monday — issued a statement saying the group was pleased by the formation of a working group but disappointed that the board stopped there.

The group interrupted a board workshop earlier this month to present a petition of more than 600 signatures from people calling for a complete ban on out-of-school suspensions for students in preschool through fifth grade.

“We look forward to our continued work with the board to advance solutions that repair the harm of inequitable zero-tolerance discipline policies and keep our children in the classroom,” the advocacy group said.

Several board members said they wanted to give the soon-to-be-formed working group time to identify additional support and funding that schools may need to implement the changes.

Teachers and administrators “have to be at the table to make these decisions because they are the persons that are responsible for sending the children home, not the board members and not the people who sit in central office,” Holley said. “I do not think it should be the nine of us making that decision alone.”

Board member Sylvia Wilson pointed out that reducing suspensions already is part of a long-term strategic plan designed by Hamlet, who took the district's helm last spring .

“This is not saying we are not going to do anything and it's going to go under the rug again,” Wilson said. “The point is doing it right.”

Holley noted that the working group — set to be formed by July 15 — will not be led by a district official. The advisory team will be charged with reporting recommendations to the board in November and again in April.

PPS joins districts nationwide examining how to improve disciplinary practices. Schools are increasing mental health services, expanding alternative education programs, updating their student conduct policies and exploring the effects of “restorative practices,” which focus on building relationships with students in an effort to come up with a resolution other than being removed from school.

A 2013 study conducted on behalf of the ACLU listed the Sto-Rox, Woodland Hills, Wilkinsburg, Pittsburgh Public Schools, Aliquippa and Penn Hills school districts among the top 10 in the state with the highest suspension rates. It found that black students in Pennsylvania were five times more likely than white students to be suspended.

State data show that the number of out-of-school suspensions in Allegheny County school districts dropped from more than 25,000 in 2008-09 to 3,700 during the 2014-15 school year. Suspensions in Westmoreland County districts dropped from about 900 to 430 during the same time period.

Natasha Lindstrom is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 412-380-8514, nlindstrom@tribweb.com or via Twitter @NewsNatasha.