The Pittsburgh Public Schools will not reinstate a student discipline policy that allowed schools to impose heightened punishments on students who repeatedly commit minor offenses.
School principals had asked the board to re-establish the policy — which was removed from the student code of conduct in June after months of debate — because of an uptick in disruptive behavior this year.
Board member Terry Kennedy introduced a resolution to reinstate the policy, which gives schools the ability to levy stronger discipline against students with three or more minor, nonviolent offenses such as misbehaving in class. The punitive measures range from detention to short-term out-of-school suspensions.
But the measure failed to pass Tuesday night after the board voted 4-4 during a meeting that at times became heated.
Ms. Kennedy and board members Cynthia Falls, Bill Gallagher and Sylvia Wilson voted in favor of reimplementing the policy; Veronica Edwards, Pam Harbin, Devon Taliaferro and Sala Udin voted against it. Board member Kevin Carter was absent.
Proponents of reinstating the policy said it was needed to help restore safety and order to schools as unruly behavior has become a growing concern among principals and teachers this year.
Ms. Kennedy said she recently toured one school and saw students in the hallway unconcerned with being late or attending classes and using vulgar language. She also said the board this week learned of an incident in which a student lit another student’s backpack on fire while smoking marijuana on a school bus.
“The children know there’s either no consequences or the consequences aren’t severe enough to detract them,” Ms. Kennedy said.
Some board members, however, said the district had not done enough to support students experiencing mental health issues or dealing with other problems that cause them to misbehave. The issues facing schools would not be fixed with a policy change, they said, because disciplinary measures such as detentions and suspensions do not solve the deeper issues students have.
Ms. Harbin said she did not believe the problem was with the policy, but rather the lack of investment in student supports.
“I think we as board members [need to] get out of the way, we demand that the investments be made, and we give those investments to the schools and let the leaders of the schools work with the students, the parents, the staff, and they figure out what they need,” Ms. Harbin said. “But we as a board demand the investment.”
Board members and others in the community who were against reinstating the policy noted that the district suspends Black students and students with disabilities at a significantly higher rate than white students and those without disabilities. They said suspensions and other exclusionary measures also contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline.
Ms. Kennedy said no one wants to suspend children, and that suspension was a last resort after numerous other interventions and punitive measures had been attempted. She argued that the actions of students who repeatedly disrupt class take away from the class time of children who want to learn.
While the board was discussing the policy, Mr. Udin motioned to table the resolution and give the interim superintendent a directive to form a committee that includes a wide range of stakeholders to build consensus on the issue.
The motion at first appeared to pass 5-3, but ultimately failed 4-4 when Ms. Falls said she accidentally voted for tabling the resolution when she meant to vote against it.
In the confusion that followed the initial vote, however, Ms. Wilson, who said schools needed immediate help, had a sharp exchange with Mr. Udin.
“Thank you so much everybody,” Ms. Wilson said. “I just want you board members to be able to go into those schools when all this stuff is going on and see how much you can do.”
“This is out of order,” Mr. Udin interjected. “This is out of order.”
“Yeah, I’m out of order, I’m out of order, and I admit I am out of order,” Ms. Wilson replied. “This is my first time being out of order, but I’m just telling you I know what we’re hearing from our schools.”
The board continued the discussion after it realized the motion to table the resolution had failed.
When the final vote on the resolution occurred, Ms. Wilson said she was going to be out of order again and proceeded to read a message she received from a principal.
“It’s an injustice that we are not preparing students for real life consequences,” the message read. “This is what is setting them up for the [school-to-prison] pipeline.”
School staff contracts
The school board Tuesday also approved new four-year contracts for the district’s paraprofessionals and technical-clerical employees.
The contracts are retroactive to July 1, 2020, and extend to June 30, 2024.
Paraprofessionals and technical-clerical workers had ratified their contracts on Monday.
Andrew Goldstein: agoldstein@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1352.
First Published: November 24, 2021, 3:12 a.m.
