Safe Schools Act Increases Suspensions by 40 Percent

Schools Suspend Scores of Students
Safe Schools Act Increases Suspensions by 40 Percent

Tara Brautigam
CANADIAN PRESS

July 22, 2002

A year after the Ontario government created a new law designed to curb misbehaviour in schools, the province is seeing a spike in the number of students being suspended.

But while some administrators say the increase is proof that the Safe Schools Act is working, others fear that what was once a last resort is becoming a common punishment for a range of offences, some as minor as swearing.

"I know a lot of children who have dropped out of school totally because of suspensions and because they feel totally inadequate," said Dr. Otto Weininger, a psychologist who specializes in youth behaviour.

Schools in Toronto handed out 17,371 suspensions in the 2000-01 school year. In 2001-02 that figure rose to 24,238, a 40 per cent increase.

School boards in Waterloo, Thunder Bay and Hamilton, while still finalizing their statistics, are also expecting an increase in suspensions.

The over-all increase comes after the Safe Schools Act took effect last September.

Under the act, students face mandatory suspension for infractions such as swearing at a teacher or being in possession or under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs.

"Students have a much more clear idea that there's a no-nonsense approach," said Toronto District School Board principal Walter Freel, who oversees safe-school policy for the city. He said more than 14,000 of the Toronto suspensions, handed out to students from junior kindergarten to high school, were the result of swearing at teachers.

But Weininger said a suspension for swearing is unnecessary.

"That's a ridiculous thing. You walk down the street and you're going to hear these words," he said.

He's particularly alarmed by the trend of suspending younger children.

"Often the children hear these words and don't know what they mean, other than they know you say them when you're angry," he said. "When we expel or suspend (children), we are saying to the child `You have the personal resources to get yourself out of this problem.' I don't think children have that capacity. They need adult support."

Thanks for visiting
I can be reached at gpieters@oise.utoronto.ca