Long before anyone was paying attention to Baltimore.

…”It will take hard, collective action to dramatically reduce the overuse of exclusionary discipline and to consistently create positive school climates. But we know it can be done. There are amazing examples all across the country of leadership making a difference. And in fact, it’s being done right here in Baltimore, and right here at Frederick Douglass High School”….

[…] I thank you for your unwavering commitment to equal opportunity for all students and your leadership in rethinking school discipline in Maryland. And I’m so pleased to be joined here today [Frederick Douglas School] by my good friend and colleague, Attorney General Holder.

[…] So today, the Departments of Education and Justice are joining together to release a guidance package on school discipline for a broad range of stakeholders–educators, principals, district administrators, school board members, charter school heads, school resource officers, counselors, social workers, parents, community leaders–and, importantly, students themselves.
[…] This is the first Administration to provide guidance to the public on discrimination in school discipline. And we want to continue to provide leadership on this critical problem going forward to ensure equal opportunity for all students.
[…] Racial discrimination in school discipline is a real problem today, and not just an issue from 40 to 50 years ago.
[…] The need to rethink and redesign school discipline practices is long overdue. Too many schools resort too quickly to exclusionary discipline, even for minor misbehaviors

[…] Nationwide, as many as 95 percent of out-of-school suspensions are for nonviolent misbehavior–like being disruptive, acting disrespectfully, tardiness, profanity, and dress code violations.
[…] Schools should remove students from the classroom as a last resort, and only for appropriately serious infractions, like endangering the safety of other students, teachers, or themselves.
[…] Making matters worse, exclusionary discipline is applied disproportionately to children of color and students with disabilities. Educationally, and morally, that status quo is simply unacceptable.
Our department’s Civil Rights Data Collection shows that African-American students without disabilities are more than three times as likely as their white peers to be expelled or suspended.
[…] That will be the core premise of our School Climate Transformation Grants

[…] Suspended students are less likely to graduate on time–and are more likely to repeat a grade, drop out of school, and become involved in the juvenile justice system.
[…] It will take hard, collective action to dramatically reduce the overuse of exclusionary discipline and to consistently create positive school climates. But we know it can be done. There are amazing examples all across the country of leadership making a difference. And in fact, it’s being done right here in Baltimore, and right here at Frederick Douglass High School.
[…] A decade ago, in 2004, principals and educators routinely suspended students for minor infractions in Baltimore City Schools. In a school system with about 88,000 students, school officials handed out more than 26,000 suspensions.
A new CEO for the district, Andres Alonso, said that was unacceptable. He saw to it that the Code of Conduct governing student discipline was changed. […] As a result, the number of suspensions in Baltimore City Schools dropped by about two-thirds, from 26,300 suspensions to 8,600 last year.

[…] And now I’d like to turn this over to my friend, Attorney General Holder.
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