Dozens of 4 and 5 year old children have been suspended in New York City schools causing a lot of concern. We know kids can be hard to deal with but they should always be manageable, but when they are being suspended in large numbers somebody has to do something about it. Hit the jump for more.
PaulDaPro
They’re just out of preschool, but that doesn’t stop some city schools from bringing down the hammer.
Nine city elementary schools doled out at least 10 suspensions to 4- and 5-year-olds last school year, data released Friday shows.
Among them was Public School 189 in Manhattan, which handed out a stunning 19 suspensions to 4-year-olds.
“That is so unfair for those kids,” said Josephine Aspha, mother of PS 189 second-grader, noting she wished the school had a proper way of intervening to correct kids’ behavior.
“I witnessed teachers and staff yelling at other kids [on a recent day]. I understand kids can be kids, but it was kind of chaotic.”
Discipline problems at the school last year included a possible incident involving kindergartners exposing themselves to classmates, Aspha said.
“It’s hard to fathom any reason why nineteen 4-year-olds would be suspended from school by a competent educational system,” New York Civil Liberties Union executive director Donna Lieberman said, noting the city’s suspension policies hit minority and special education students hardest.
“These are statistics that have failure written all over them.”
