Charles County Public Schools recently released information that the number of suspensions assigned for punishment decreased during the 2006-07 school year.  According to their recent report to the Maryland State Department of Education, suspensions dropped slightly from 5,866 the year before to 5,662 last year despite an increase in student population and the opening of a new school.

CCPS credits this drop to the effectiveness of its special programs to promote positive behavior and use of alternatives to out-of-school suspensions.  

Keith Grier, director of student services, said the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) program, which was introduced in 1999, has grown in the county and is working.  PBIS is a voluntary state program to help schools create better internal climates, spend less time on discipline and more time on teaching and learning.  Thirty schools in Charles County currently participate in the program.  Many of them have been given Exemplar awards by the Maryland State Department of Education. 

According to Grier, some schools also use a suspension diversion program coordinated through the Department of Juvenile Justice.  This program allows students found in violation of less serious rules to work at the school over the weekend (cleaning stadiums after football games, for instance) rather than face suspension.  

Several high schools offer Saturday detention in lieu of suspension.  Many schools use in-school suspension, allowing students to remain in school completing assigned work, but away from the classroom.  Grier said CCPS is also looking to develop a mediation program as another way to reduce suspensions and time out of school.

Charles County continues to broaden alternative programs in conjunction with the Robert D. Stethem Educational Center.  These programs are for students whose behavior makes it difficult for them to remain in traditional classrooms.  The Stethem Center staff are conducting a pilot program at Theodore Davis, Matthew Henson and John Hanson middle schools.  The program works with students to help them change disruptive habits so they can avoid behavior that leads to suspension.

“The goal is not to reduce suspensions, but to use data to put in place programs that help students change behaviors that lead to suspension,” said Deputy Superintendent Ronald Cunningham in a statement from the CCPS media relations office.

But, according to Cunningham, some offenses will always result in suspension, such as possession of weapon or illegal drugs or participating in gang activity at school.  He said CCPS distributes its Student Code of Conduct at the beginning of the year to all students and parents with the expectation that it will be read and the rules will be re-enforced at home.  

CCPS has come under fire recently for inconsistent application of suspensions for serious offenses like those mentioned by Cunningham.  In one instance a student used a needle as a weapon against another student, but taunted her victim in class on the second day after the offense.  In another instance, two students brutally beat and threatened the life of two younger boys and again faced their victims in school shortly thereafter.  Both of these incidents occurred at La Plata High School. 

Charles County Public Schools posts its suspension data as part of efforts to address and monitor suspension rates in schools.  The information currently posted on the website includes 2005-06 and 2006-07 end-of-year suspension figures by category as well as category definitions.  Suspension information prior to 2006-07 is available on the Maryland State Department of Education’s website.

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