Within the last six weeks our office has experienced a perceptible increase in the number of parents asking for information and assistance with long term school suspension and expulsion cases. This phenomenon is echoed by school administrators and teachers who sometimes seem overwhelmed by the stress of final exams and the increase in discipline referrals as the school year winds down. I don’t have a table of statistics to point to, but the reasons may include a number of common observations.
By May and June, many teachers and students are just plain tired and see a long summer break just around the corner. Students who have struggled in school all year are tempted to just give up because “there is no way I can pass this course anyway”. Parents can get frustrated with their children’s’ evident lack of enthusiasm for the last weeks of school. Finally, I have always believed that the arrival of nice weather can be a factor.
Except when necessary for the most serious offenses, imposing long term suspension and expulsion decisions at the end of a school year rarely teaches any positive lesson. Whatever useful corrective measures are possible often get lost in the “just get them out of the school” mentality. For the discouraged student it can be a dysfunctional affirmation that they really couldn’t make it anyway. For meaningful school discipline there is always a need to balance realistic consequences with positive reintegration to school. This is not easy and requires the best from educators and parents working together. It is particularly difficult when everyone is tired.
