BOE to Consider Milder Student Discipline Policy Tuesday
After months of delayed votes on a new student discipline policy that would make suspensions an action of last resort, the BOE considers a scaled-back version.
The Hawaii聽Board of Education is slated to consider a considerably scaled-back on Tuesday, after delaying a vote on the proposal for more than three months while trying to address the concerns of school principals.
The policy, which had been aimed聽at reducing student suspensions and clarifying the role of law enforcement on school campuses, first came before the full board in May. It was pushed back until June and then deferred again in August after complaints from school principals who felt the BOE did not garner enough input from them.
The suggested revisions, compiled by the new BOE chair and vice chair, include stripping the policy of language that would have made student suspensions an action of last resort and only for 鈥渟erious infractions.鈥 The聽new version聽would also delete the聽section addressing聽the presence of law enforcement officers on campuses.
Last year Hawaii suspended less than 4 percent of its students 鈥 well below the national average. But a Civil Beat analysis of suspension data showed disparities in who is getting sent home.
In 2013-14, Tongan, Micronesian and Native Hawaiian students were suspended at four times the rate of their Japanese peers and were twice as likely to be suspended as white and Filipino students.
While more than half of Hawaii鈥檚 schools suspended fewer than five students over the course of the school year, others suspended as many as one in six.
One concern raised at the May board meeting was that there may be a financial burden for schools when it comes to providing educational services for students with in-school instead of out-of-school suspensions.
The original version of the policy called for schools to provide 鈥渕eaningful鈥 instruction to students removed from class. The new version says schools have to provide 鈥渁ppropriate鈥 instruction.
The first version of聽the would have required all campuses to create school climate goals. The new version calls for such a document only when school data indicates “significant concerns regarding school climate and discipline.” It does not specify what the threshold for significant concerns would be.
The new version聽is broader, but still promotes a聽positive school environment while “giving the discretion to principals to discipline according to what they believe is appropriate,” said聽HEE Coalition Director Cheri Nakamura.
The changes will be debated at the Student Discipline Committee meeting starting at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at 1390 Miller St., and again by the full board at 1:30 p.m. Audio of the meeting will be and can be accessed by calling a .
