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Coalition Says Out-Of-School Suspensions Do More Harm Than Good

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A coalition of advocates wants the Philadelphia School District to stop out-of-school suspensions in the lower grades.

The school district last August adopted a policy halting the suspensions of kindergarten students, unless they commit a violent offense. A group of advocates is calling on the district to go beyond that -- by ending out-of-school suspensions for students up to fifth grade.

Alex Dutton, an attorney at the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania, says research shows suspending students does more harm than good.

"When students are suspended, they are excluded from the learning environment and excluded from opportunities to progress academically and socially and functionally in the classroom."

And he says African-American students are nearly three times more likely to be suspended than their white classmates.

The groups say out-of-school suspensions increase the risk for truancy and dropping out, and they don't benefit other students in the classroom. The coalition sent a letter to Superintendent Hite this week, requesting the policy change.

District spokesman Lee Whack, in a statement, said "In the past five years the School District had eliminated suspension as an option for various subjective offenses; improved the climate in our schools, given students greater options for resolving differences; and, last year, took an important step of eliminating suspensions for kindergarteners except in extreme cases of bodily harm.

"The District's annual student suspension data continues to decline and demonstrates our commitment to reducing suspensions while improving the environment and safety in our schools. We said last year we are considering ending suspensions in additional early grades and we continue to look at that possibility. Our goal is to increase the time a student spends in school, because the more time a student spends in school the greater the likelihood they will read on grade level, graduate, and be prepared for college, career, and life."

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