Parents are calling NHCS board members to end all suspensions; the board believes it could put staff in danger
"I am not going to have our principals feel like what they can't do to make their building feel safer."
NEW HANOVER COUNTY (WWAY) –Many of these parents are calling for ending out-of-school suspensions for younger students. But Superintendent Christopher Barnes says this could put teachers and other students in danger. Even though Tuesday night was just a budget meeting, it appears, the school district will be asking county commissioners for funding to cover additional safety measures.
“We’re now asking for the school board to end all suspensions for five, six, seven-year-olds — even for the serious offenses,” said Peter Rawitsch.
Co-founders of Love Our Children (LOC) Peter Rawitsch and others are trying to get the school board to end suspensions for young students.
“Our goal is to help our youngest children get off to a great start in school and not have them enter the school-to-prison pipeline,” Rawitsch said.
He says two years ago, the LOC successfully pushed the district to implement a policy allowing younger students to get suspended only if they commit serious offenses like threats to safety.
In Tuesday night’s New Hanover County School Board budget meeting, parents spoke about the issue of disproportionate suspensions. The board gathered to come up with a budget to give to county commissioners for what they want for the next school year.
Safety was one of the main asks. When we brought the idea of no suspensions to Superintendent Christopher Barnes, this is what he had to say.
“I am not going to have our principals feel like what they can’t do to make their building feel safer,” Barnes explained.
New Hanover County Schools just came from under a federal sanction for an unbalanced number of suspensions of Black students and Black students with disabilities. Barnes says he monitors suspension rates quarterly to make sure they are being minimized. Although numbers have improved, Barnes says they can still be better.
“There is still a disproportionality in the number of students who identify as special ed, but we have reduced the disparities in suspensions,” Barnes explained.
Rawitsch is advising the board to take a page from Maryland’s law book, which states that K-2 students can not be suspended or expelled from school unless it causes a serious safety threat.
“For a principal to decide a consultation with a mental health professional that it is within the interest of the child and the school community to remove the child,” Rawitsch explained.
Recently, the school board shut down the idea of using an artificial intelligence security pilot program. As an alternative, we asked Dr. Barnes if New Hanover County schools would ever see metal detectors. Simply put, no, but they are looking for a more mobile deterrent.
