Alternatives to Suspension

By: Eunicia Baker/Eyewitness News 9 | WNCT
Published: April 07, 2008

School officials in the east are trying to solve a discipline dilemma. Their effort comes after a state report said Carteret County's students spent more that 15-hundred days on suspension last year, because of behavior like fighting, and disrupting classes. But now school officials are coming up with a plan to lower that number.

Carteret County’s Croatan High School ranks high in the state for academic achievement, and Principal Mat Bottoms says good discipline is the key. That’s why he works to make sure disruptive students don't interfere with others. He says, "We’re going to start with in school suspension or after school detention…indoor suspension is great, and their being denied the social part of high school."

Bottoms also say it’s great because it’s an alternative to outdoor suspension which causes students to miss class. He says that punishment becomes an option only if other methods fail.

County officials agree. They formed a committee to tackle the issue, after a recent state report showed Carteret County’s students spent 1,539 days suspended from school last year.

Assistant Superintendent Ralph Lewis says the committee’s purpose is to find ways to continue the learning process even through disciplinary action based on effective methods in other parts of the state.

The Department of Public Instruction's report says last year, Carteret’s schools suspended 185 per one thousand students. That may sound like a lot but its better than most: thirty one fewer than the state average.

Lewis says, "We would like to have good discipline in our schools without having to use suspension as much as we are now. So we would like to find some alternatives that are affective and would work for us."

At next month's committee meeting plans to carry out this goal will be discussed.