Corda Trys Again to Suspend In-School Suspensions

Outgoing Superintendent Sal Corda is asking state legislators to pass a bill that would delay the implementation of a new law which prohibits out-of-school suspensions.

The law, which went into effect on July 1, 2009, requires that students who are disciplined serve their suspension in their school rather than being sent home. The requirement for in-school suspension does not apply to students who are a deemed a threat to safety. The law also extends the number of days a student can be suspended from 5 to 10 days.

In a letter dated July 23, 2009, Dr. Corda writes that the law is a "state mandate without state funding," because school districts, like Norwalk, would have to pay someone to supervise suspended students.

"Failure to delay implementation, therefore, would force just about all districts to take budgets that have already been approved and that are already extremely tight and find in those budgets funds to implement the Act," he writes. "This would result in the further elimination or reduction of programs or services that children need. We cannot handle any further reductions to our already committed budget."

Dr. Corda's letter was contained within the Friday Report distributed to BOE members and the general public.

According to statistics published by the State Dept. of Education there were 1,165 students suspended or expelled in Norwalk during the 2007-2008 school year resulting in an incidence rate of 10.85%. The State of Connecticut's average incident rate was 10.06%.

The requirement for in-school suspension has been controversial. The legislation was passed in 2007 as Connecticut Public Act 07-66 and signed into law by Gov. Jodi Rell. Originally slated to go into effect July 1, 2008 the implementation date was delayed to July 1, 2009 after school superintendents across the state protested that the new law was going to require additional staff and supervision of students in in-school suspension programs in most districts. Bills were put forth before the legislature again this Spring to further postpone the implementation but they did not pass.

Now it seems school officials are protesting again.

Advocates for the law pressed for its passage because the Department of Education's own statistics show that males, children with disabilities and minorities are disproportionately suspended. One educational non-profit organization, Connecticut Appleseed, has even gone so far to suggest that suspensions cause a “schools-to-prison pipeline” because students who are suspended are more likely to break the law.

When she signed the bill into law Gov. Rell said that she supported the measure. “Students should be removed from the school setting only under the most exceptional circumstances,” she said. “Student learning takes place primarily when students are in school. That is why we need policies like this that keep students in school, not at home. Keeping children out of school is a direct line to delinquent behavior. Students get farther behind in their course work. They lose hope of catching up. It’s a recipe for failure.”

The State Dept. of Education has issued guidelines to assist school districts in implementing the new law and suggestions for developing in-school suspension programs.

An analysis done by the law firm Berchem, Moses & Devlin which publishes the Connecticut Education Law Blog says that the department recommends:

"placement of pupils by age or grade in a positive learning environment, supervision and/or instruction as determined by the district using a qualified individual, prompt access to current school work supplied by the pupil's classroom teachers, and guidance on correcting behavior. The guidelines state that if a student is assigned to an in-school suspension location other than the student's usual school, "the pupil may be eligible to receive transportation services pursuant to and in accordance with the transportation policy of the school district", suggesting that districts should have (or develop) policies to address this issue."