Kick ‘em out’: A flawed approach to addressing students’ behavioral challenges

Senate Bill SB 614 would mandate the removal and suspension of elementary school children for certain behaviors. (Getty Images)

At a time when West Virginia is facing an education landscape fraught with challenges, including a dire teacher shortage, low attendance rates, significant learning loss, and steep mental health needs, Senate Bill 614 — a bill that mandates the removal and suspension of elementary school children for certain behaviors and may result in the involvement of law enforcement officers — misses the mark.

Sen. Amy Grady, the bill’s sponsor, herself has acknowledged that kicking kids out of school is not the solution, telling WV MetroNews in an interview in early January that often the problems seen in the classroom are the result of emotional trauma at home.  In her interview, she emphasized the need for students to have behavioral supports so that if they are suspended, they return to the classroom with the tools they need to succeed. She also noted that teachers feel ill-prepared to address these more aggressive behaviors because they have not been properly trained to do so.

Sadly, her proposed legislation fails to provide funding for behavior supports or teacher training, and instead resorts to exclusionary discipline — i.e., kicking children as young as kindergarten out of school for days, weeks or months. There is no evidence that suspensions deter misbehavior.  In fact, if a student’s goal is to get out of a classroom, then exclusionary discipline actually reinforces misbehavior.

Recent data provided by the West Virginia Department of Education revealed stark discrepancies in suspension rates among different groups of children. Black children are suspended at nearly twice the rate of white children, and children with disabilities at 1.5 times the rate of white children. The children with the highest rates of suspension are those in foster care. Suspensions have far-reaching impacts on children: the data from WVDE revealed that nearly 42% of students with one day of suspension were chronically absent compared to 31% for the overall student population. The more days a student is suspended, the higher the rate of chronic absenteeism. Academic achievement rates were also directly tied to the number of suspensions a student had, with each day of suspension correlating with a drop in proficiency rates.

The proposed legislation will only exacerbate these disparities in both suspension rates and discrepancies in academic achievement. While the bill includes the possibility of referring students to a district’s intensive behavior program, it provides no funding for districts to set up this sort of resource intensive program. Nor does it include money for school psychologists needed to conduct the newly mandated risk assessments required by the bill. Nothing in this bill addresses or provides funding for meeting the mental health needs of these students or providing evidence-based interventions and support to help these children succeed.

This legislation places significant burdens on districts who are already under resourced and short-staffed. It mandates suspensions of 1-3 days and takes away the teachers’ and administrators’ discretion to craft other, less punitive solutions. It does not allow school personnel to consider a child’s circumstances, the reasons for the behavior, or any other individualized determination as to what could effectively address the student’s needs. Instead, it promotes suspension as a one-size fits all solution.

Moreover, the legislation’s suggestion that administrators notify law enforcement when a child cannot be picked up from school adds another layer of concern. Placing children in direct contact with the criminal law system for behaviors that could be symptomatic of unmet educational or emotional needs or an undiagnosed disability is a disproportionate and harmful response. It will also fall most heavily on those children whose guardians cannot leave work to pick them up in the middle of the school day or lack reliable transportation.

The proposed legislation represents a shortsighted attempt to tackle the complex issue of challenging behaviors in elementary schools. Teachers deserve to feel safe in their classrooms and students deserve a nurturing and supportive educational environment that fosters growth and development. I implore lawmakers to reconsider their approach, prioritizing comprehensive solutions that support both teachers and students by addressing the root causes of behaviors and result in a better educational environment for all.

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