Do any of these agencies expect anyone to accept these statistics at face value?

When the first response to such is attempts to parse the actual truth from the stilted statements the root political problems of have a long way to go.

Actually, what I have noticed in Harford County is that children are not getting reprimanded for things that should be.. Like young boys assaulting young girls both verbally and physically and nothing being done about it. Yes I am speaking firsthand and am quite frustrated about the course of action and representation that was set for a particular individual and believe that we should be even more strict with the youth.

Oh, goody! All of our students are behaving better. Please--cut the bull! Students are worse if anything because they know they can't be sent home for misbehaving. I agree that some students were being suspended for stupid things but fighting, cursing at teachers, assaulting fellow students and staff now requires that the school counsel, put interventions in place and other things. Great but not for repeat offenders. How about the young woman who told her mother that "this school can't make me do **** and neither can you." She then proceeded to tell a staff member that he was a pedophile and that she was leaving school to go smoke. Which she did! She has been referred for counseling which she refuses to attend and positive reinforcement doesn't work either. Now what good does it do to keep her in a class where she disrupts the learning of everyone else? And people wonder why teachers are burning out faster than ever.

I don't understand why we don't bring back in-school suspension and academic consequences.

In Baltimore County, when a student is suspended, the teacher has to provide the work AND grade it as on time, at least in my school. So basically, we are giving the kids a day off with absolutely no academic consequences to boot. What's the point of suspension?

While Baltimore County may still "buck the trend," the "consequences" that are provided are not really consequences. Administrators would rather not have to confront parents in fear of legal action from parents, an expenditure the school system would rather avoid, not to mention the fact that it adds to their plate of things to do. I've seen some administrators take offenses that are hand book - suspension offenses and provide a slap on the wrist, even when the child has a series of such bad behaviors.

Ultimately, parent accountability and involvement is what we need, not to mention a few more administrators in each school to help lighten the load of the ones we have. And we need to abandon the fear of litigation as the rest of the students and their teachers are the ones who feel the effects of such litigious society.

Does anybody believe this crap? Suspensions are down because principals and asst principals are under intense scrutiny and suspension stats happen to be a HUGE topic of discussion during evaluation conferences. Do we really believe that despite numerous observations and comments by teachers that we all have it wrong and the student behavior has improved? Students, particularly african american males are simply not being held responsible for behaviors in order to keep suspension data looking good. Overwhelmed and Area Superintendent-fearing administrators are sending kids back to class rather than dealing with the paperwork or the politics. Equity and Assurance mouthpieces like B Dezmon (of Dezmon LLC AIM software company and BCPS) claim that we teachers don't "understand" our students and actually incite misbehavior in the classroom.

As always - my suggestion is stop reading the paper and take an unannounced walk down the halls of your local school - with a visitor's pass of course! Then - you be the judge!

I agree that in-school suspensions are often more effective than sending students home. I have known students to look forward to suspensions because their parents are at work, and they spend the day playing video games or chatting online.

Sexual harassment, on the other hand, which was mentioned above, I think calls for more serious measures than in-school suspension. Students need to receive a strong message that sexual harassment is absolutely not tolerated.

I can make the crime rates go down to by making all crimes now legal. Give me a break.

Suspension and referral data is down at our school. But from my observation, this is not because behavior is improving. With the inception of programs like PBIS, more negative and disruptive behaviors are ignored and teachers are asked not to send students to the office unless in extreme cases.

So suspension data may be down, but disruptive behavior is increasing.

First off the numbers of suspensions for our Baltimore City schools are fudged. Schools that have a lot of suspensions are being told to take them out of SMS. Teachers are being threatened and harmed and they are told to not report it especially to the police. Our children need help both in and out of school for their lack of respect, unfortunately as I have stated before; if a child is being yelled and cursed at home then they come to school, and the staff is yelling, how do you expect these students to respond.
Counseling a child is all well and fine, but too many of our schools have counselors on a part time if at all basis. Too many parents do not show up to speak with counselors or principals about the real issues. There are good and bad children but if we continue to assume that all the children are bad they will continue this path.
As for the suspensions, Dr. Alonso needs to get his hands a little bit dirty and be at these schools that have these problems and as I have stated before...DO NOT LET THE SCHOOL KNOW YOU ARE COMING. Something that was promised 2 yrs ago, but of course they are notified so that the problems students are not in school on the day of his arrival. We are all guilty of not taking full responsibility and since most of our hands are tied because the system will continue to not listen to those who complain about what is happening in the schools, suspensions, truancy and violence will continue.

School is for learning. Teachers are paid to teach our children. Parents SHOULD be responsible for raising their children to respect classmates, teachers, elders, etc. Parents should be held responsible for THEIR children's behavior. I would recommend zero tolerance for excessive misbehavior...2 - 3 Strikes...They're OUT! Let the parents then home school their own children for one year before being considered for re-admittance. Yes. I am a strict single/widower dad and practice what I preach.

@ Calamity

You're so spot on my heart is soaring like an eagle.

Doesn't it seem like he doesn't show up without warning the school because he doesn't want to be embarrassed? Someday he will have to answer to his conscience and not unlawful laws.

@ Calamity

Agree, 100% in fact We were just having this discussion in the hallway this morning...Where has AAA been? Seems like a pretty big joke! That guy is all bark and no bite. He has still never been to most of the zone schools and were 3 years in..The only thing I can guess is that he might be out of here after this year, off to tote his data to another suitor....

This is ridiculous! School administrations are being "instructed" not to suspend for things that should be suspendable offences (i.e. fighting). This "new trend" is the most ridiculous claim I've seen in a long time. Putting value in these kinds of statistics is dangerous. We are teaching our children that their are no consequences. Can't wait to see what life is like in a few years.

Is it just me, or is the tone of the original post incredibly sarcastic? Clearly, from the comments nobody is willing to agree that this is good news. Seems like a great post to allow venting and complaining as opposed to celebration.

Well, I'll go out on a limb here. As a citizen of Baltimore I don't think giving up on a sizable minority of kids is a good idea. Pushing these kids out onto the street is a recipe for more crime. Alternative classrooms (ala "The Wire") or alternative schools or alternative settings (trade apprentices maybe) seem like better answers. Maybe, just maybe, there are positive things happening that are bring down suspensions.

All these AAA stinks posts are just plain depressing. I've posted before that in the eleven plus years I've been sending my kids to City Schools these last few years have been the best as far as overall system improvements go. I'm not going to re-post the list of specifics because repeating myself is tedious.

Is this blog a place for constructive discussion on what's working and what's not in education or is it a place to moan about how much City School teachers' jobs stink? I'm not a teacher and more and more I feel that this board has no interest in non-teachers or even teachers that aren't complaining.

OTOH InsideEd is the only game in town for any sort of discussion. I’m just about burned out on all the negativity.

@ a parent

Your being "bummed out" is another form of negativity.

I agree with you that alternative classrooms are a good idea. But current policies make having such rooms all but impossible. "Full inclusion" has become compulsory.

InsideEd is the only game in town for any sort of discussion? If that's true, why complain about it? Try out this kind of theme of your next cocktail party and see who lasts past 9 pm. This kind of thing isn't what my friends want to talk about, especially my teacher friends. Like everyone else, we prefer talking about baseball. But like a foul ball launched into the stands, disingenuously lowered in-school crime statistics makes other topics, even educational topics, a bit irrelevant.

@ a teacher -

Cocktail party? I've got three kids, one with a significant disability. I used to go to bars before kids, but a cocktail party? Never in my life. These days, most of the adults that I see (outside of work where I stay away from politically charged issues) are parents or teachers or staff at the schools that my kids attend. We do actually spend a fair amount of time talking about City Schools. Sometimes North Ave, but more often about the specific school. This blog is different because it's more about systemic issues and I'm not worried about personal repercussions towards my kids if I say something that offends someone.

Your question of why complain is a good one, even if it is a little like the pot calling the kettle black. I will strive to complain less in the future. Sounds like a New Years Resolution!

@ a parent

You and I have more in common than we may think. I mentioned cocktail parties with some irony, though you're right to suggest that I should have something positive to say. I've been a teacher only a handful of years, and so you might say my relative youth is at the heart of my anger.

I imagine that you have seen how much some city students put up with, and how much they learn in spite of it. And every teacher at my school is doing admirable work. This is not to say that all teachers in this city are to be cut some slack. But I have never seen such vocational grace under pressure. I don't plan to forget it.

I agree with many of these statements that other teachers have said. Suspensions are down precisely because administrators are afraid to enforce consequences. Students at my school "run" the school because they know that there will be no repercussions for their actions. Threatening teachers, selling drugs in school, harassing other students, fighting in school, and bringing in weapons is unacceptable. If my administration were actually following the "Code of Conduct," more than a quarter of our students would be expelled by this point.