School Suspensions Down Across the Board

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Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Logo

New state laws and a different approach to discipline have led to fewer student suspensions in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District and across the state, according to a recent report from the California Department of Education. 

The total number of suspensions at the high school level dropped to 369 in 2012-13 from 476 the school year prior. That’s a 22.4 percent drop from one year to the next. The total number of suspensions, in-school or out, across all schools in the state dropped 14.1 percent in that time. 

A recent state law prohibits administrators from suspending students on certain first offenses, said Mark Kelly, director of Student Services for the SMMUSD. 

“But I think the big reason is that we’ve really started a conversation with our site administrators looking at suspensions,” he said. 

Board of Education Member Laurie Lieberman said she remembers discussing the issue during her first year on the board four years ago. 

“I think it’s fair to say we’ve made considerable progress when it comes to lowering suspension rates and looking at alternative ways to deal with problems with students,” she said. “It’s understandable why suspensions occur. It appeared there was a kind of one-size-fits-all approach.” 

One of the keys, Kelly said, is finding ways to improve student behavior without taking students out of school and causing them to get behind on their work. 

Suspensions resulting from drug offenses and violence that caused an injury were significantly down at the high school level in the district. Most suspensions occur at the high school level. 

When a student acts out, Kelly said, administrators use it as an opportunity to figure out what the root of the issue is but, he said, that’s nothing new. 

“They’ve always done that,” Kelly said. “I think that administrators utilize that as an opportunity to figure out what’s causing the behavior. People think they are just suspending people. They are not.” 

This story originally appeared in the Santa Monica Daily Press.