Letters: Ease up on school suspensions

ISSUE | EDUCATION

Easy on suspensions

Thank you for bringing attention to the critical issue of overly harsh punishments in our school system ("Number of ousted students declines," April 11). As a pediatrician at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Care Network South Philadelphia, I work daily with families whose children have been suspended for minor offenses - many for simply having heated arguments or for "getting up in someone's face."

Suspension causes students to fall behind academically and leaves a mark on college transcripts. It does not teach young people how to resolve conflicts peacefully. Students who have been suspended are more likely to be held back a grade, to drop out of school, and to become involved in the juvenile justice system.

We must join advocates such as the Education Law Center in getting schools to dial back zero-tolerance policies and to replace them with increased counseling, conflict resolution, and mediation.

|Dr. Dorothy R. Novick, Philadelphia, novick@email.chop.edu