Kansas City Public Schools' anti-suspension policy takes stand for equity, prosperity

Photos by Allison Shelley for American Education: Images of Teachers and Students in Action

The Kansas City Public Schools took a stand against historical injustice and the school-to-prison pipeline when its board voted to end discretionary suspensions of elementary school children Wednesday night.

The district’s revised code of conduct ends the practice of putting any children pre-K through fifth grade out of school except in situations where a child is a danger to themselves or others.

“From the bottom of my heart, thank you,” Superintendent Mark Bedell said to the district staff and community advocates who have been working for two years to revise the policy. “We may be the first district in the region — maybe the state — to take this action.”

It was not a simple revision. The district had to build supports for trauma-sensitive care, carve out funding for more counselors and make sure classroom teachers, families and the community were equipped to go forward with what was described as just the start of a long journey — that includes LINC, as the district’s partner providing before- and after-school programming and community services at all of KCPS’s elementary schools.

There were trauma teams, equity audits and a lot of work with community groups — particularly the social justice organization MORE2 — to build a sustainable new policy, said Lateshia Woodley, the district’s executive director of student support.

The district worked with teams of teachers, counselors and other staff and contributors.

“Everyone is informed,” Woodley said, “and we’re here to support them in this journey.”

School board member Marvia Jones, who is the violence prevention and policy manager for the City of Kansas City Health Department, was recognized by Board President Nate Hogan as the member who “kicked it off,” pushing for a new approach to suspensions.

Jones praised the district and community’s work, saying, “This is how we’ll get to academic achievement.”

Throughout the process, advocates for ending suspensions noted the inequities nationally and locally where students who are Black and Hispanic are as much as four times more likely to be suspended.

A Kansas City Star report noted that the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the Civil Rights Project at UCLA in 2015 showed Missouri had the highest suspension rate of Black elementary students in the country in 2011-2012.

Children who are dealt suspensions in elementary school are more likely to be suspended throughout their school experience, more likely to drop out and more likely to be incarcerated as adults.

Suspending students historically has done little to change student behavior. That’s why Bedell has been pushing for changes, and Woodley and staff have been building stronger emphasis on restorative practices, interventions and alternatives.

MORE2 praised the commitment the district has made to support this expansive change, noting that the district is emphasizing cultural competency skills for teachers, developing “trauma-sensitive” schools with early screenings and supports such as early childhood mental health consultation and referral systems for families as well as teachers.

It’s a great achievement, agreed many staff, community members and the board members at the meeting, but they also recognized there is a lot of work to do.

“Let’s talk it through. Let’s work it through,” said school board member Jennifer Woolfsie. “This is the beginning of a longer journey,”

By Joe Robertson/LINC Writer