Fix School Discipline Toolkit for Educators | Page 72

2. To search LEA reports, select the county and type
the main name of the district you want
3. Click on the name of the report you would like to
view, which will download a PDF document to your
computer.

2.

You want to collect real stories about who
discipline impacts from current and/or
former students, their families, and, if
possible, teachers in your district. These stories
will help to put a real face on how suspension and
expulsion have negatively affected the district.
Here are summaries of real stories that students and
families have shared in hearings around the state on
this issue or in meetings with key leaders:
1. A parent of an Oakland Unified high school
student explained how racial bias and cultural
insensitivity led to her son’s frequent office
referrals and lots of missed class time:
“My son is an African American boy in the tenth
grade and he is 6’5” and about 250 pounds.
He’s bigger than most of his teachers. When he
disagrees with something one of his teachers says
he says so. This might be scary for some of those
teachers but he’s just speaking his mind and he
gets sent to the office for defiance.”
2. A student in LAUSD talked about his in-school
and out-of-school suspension history:
“I was sent to the office a lot for talking to the
person next to me, drawing, not doing my work
alone, coming to class tardy and sometimes I
was sent to the office for a more personal reason.
The teacher would exaggerate about the cause
of my referral. I was suspended 12 or 13 times for
different reasons like coming to school or class
late, having insufficient work incentive, and
making fun of my teacher’s hair in class.”

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How we can fix school discipline

3.

Finally, as the school leaders in Vallejo City
Unified School District did, it is important
to organize the data and stories in a way
that is clear and concise and helps to explain
the issues that are present and also focus in on
the potential solutions. Whether you collect the
information in a fact sheet, report, or PowerPoint,
having a very clear understanding of the baseline
data will help ensure that everyone in the school
community can track and analyze whether the
alternatives put in place are working and where
additional changes need to be made.
Community organizations, like SUCCESS in Fresno,
highlighted on the next page may also be reviewing
data and requesting data from your school district
to help understand why children are dropping out
and why students with disabilities and students of
color, in particular, are disproportionately dropping
out, getting suspended, and being pushed into the
juvenile justice system! As school leaders, you
can work hand in hand with these organizations
by sharing data with them, helping create mutual
accountability systems, and developing district-wide
solutions that take into account the concerns raised.
As almost every one of the school leaders
highlighted in this Toolkit will tell you, having strong
community and parent support and engagement
when making these reforms helps ensure that
everyone stays focused, accountable, and provides
support for making change that lasts any changes in
school leadership.