34 students permanently expelled from Baltimore City Public Schools

May 19, 4:52 PMBaltimore Special Education ExaminerJennifer Wagaman

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Severe infractions including arson and setting off explosives will earn Baltimore students a permanent expulsion from the Baltimore public school system. So far this year there are 34 students who have been expelled from the school system. While the law requires parents to have their children enrolled in a school until they are 16, public school is no longer an option for these parents. This leaves homeschooling and private schools as the only remaining options.

On the one hand, it seems unreasonable for a school system to say, "sorry, you're too bad for us to handle, you don't deserve to be educated in our schools." On the other hand, the zero-tolerance position that the schools have taken on violence has reduced the total number of school expulsions as well as the total number of violent acts.

Parents need to realize that one violent act is not a surprise or out of the blue occurrence for any child. Providing boundaries and appropriate discipline for children who step out of line on minor things will help prevent them from moving on to bigger infractions that will land them in jail or worse.

Special education students are not exempt from this policy either. According to the Baltimore City Public School website, "Students with disabilities may be suspended or expelled according to the procedures established in The Rules of the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners."

Schools need to work together with the community to come up with parent education and resources so that students are not putting themselves or other students and teachers at risk with their behavior. This will allow every student the opportunity to learn and make something of their lives without permanent expulsions being an issue.

 Learn how preventative discipline starts at home and how teachers can help.