Arlington County considers reducing school suspensions

ARLINGTON COUNTY, Va. - Arlington County is considering making a major change to its suspension policy. 

The proposed policy change would affect all the schools in the district. The goal is to reduce suspensions by 25%.

According to the plan, the focus is on restorative discipline, which asks students to reflect on their actions rather than simply punishing them. Although critics are concerned about the safety of schools, those in support argue that alternative forms of discipline are more effective in dealing with behavioral issues. 

The timeline to reduce suspensions is by 2030. They also want to reduce over representation of student groups based on race and ethnicity, students with disabilities, and English learners to no more than 5% based on the groups enrollment. 

The focus is on incidents that do not pose a safety risk to the student or to others, so attendance or specific disruptive behaviors, for example. 

The superintendent is presenting the strategic plan recommendations on Thursday night at a school board meeting. This is the last item on the agenda and will likely be discussed closer to 11 p.m.

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