Aug 19, 2016
Philly school district limits suspensions for Kindergarten students
By Harold Jordan, Senior Policy Advocate, ACLU of Pennsylvania
The new policy is an important first step; but it doesn’t go far enough,” says the ACLU of PA’s Harold Jordan, who proposed that the policy extend to 1st and 2nd graders. “Last year, the district meted out 1,900 suspensions to 2nd graders, 1,500 to 1st graders, and 450 to Kindergarteners.”
The quote below appears in both the Notebook and Newsworks stories.
“To me it’s as important, if not more important, to try to do something about what’s going on in first and second grade,” Jordan said. “Those kids get labeled. They get labeled as bad kids and that label follows them and it affects their interaction with their peers and with teachers in the elementary grades and their opportunities while they’re in the school district.”
