A group of Gwinnett County parents and community activists urged school board members Thursday evening to change some student disciplinary policies they say unduly punish students.
The Gwinnett Parent Coalition to Dismantle the School to Prison Pipeline said, for example, Gwinnett’s fighting policy is too broadly defined, complaining it includes verbal abuse, gestures and profanity. The coalition, better known as Gwinnett STOPP, wants fighting to be limited to physical contact.
Gwinnett STOPP wants schools to adopt ways to allow students to resolve potential conflicts, citing some changes made in 2013 by Florida’s Broward County that news accounts say resulted in 90 percent of students who’ve been disciplined not committing a second offense. Five members spoke about the issue during Thursday’s meeting.
“Time and experience has taught us that dealing with human beings from only a punitive nature will not yield the results we want,” Marlyn Tillman, the coalition’s co-founder, told board members.
School board member Louise Radloff told coalition members that the board should carefully review the group’s proposal.
Disciplinary hearings for Gwinnett students are slightly up, from 3.2 out of every 1,000 students at this point of the 2014-15 school year to 3.4 hearings out of every 1,000 students so far this school year, according to school district data released at Thursday’s meeting.
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