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U.S. Departments of Education and Justice Release New Federal Guidance on School Discipline

On January 8th, the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice jointly released federal guidance on school discipline. In a joint statement, these Departments stated that this guidance “will assist states, districts and schools in developing practices and strategies to enhance school climate, and ensure those policies and practices comply with federal law.”
 
The release of this guidance comes at a time where our nation’s schools continue to see significant numbers of students missing school due to suspensions, expulsions, truancy or have dropped out.  This federal guidance shows that these numbers are even starker for students of color and with disabilities. In revealing these disproportionate numbers among underrepresented students, this guidance package provides resources for schools to create positive and safe school climates in an effort to avoid discriminatory and unfair disciplinary practices. 
 
This federal guidance directly ties to the Council for Court Excellence’s ongoing School Discipline Project assessing school disciplinary policies and practices in the District’s public school system. Through the assessment of these disciplinary policies and practices, the project will present possible linkages to the juvenile and criminal systems and ways to divert students from going down undesirable paths of disengagement and incarceration.
 
Please click here to download this federal guidance package and access other resource documents related to this guidance.  

 
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