The Costs of Student Discipline Recommendations

            This past weekend while waiting in the line at the grocery store, I overheard two older women talking about “they heard Obama told the schools to stop calling the police on the kids for stupid stuff.”  One of the woman stated “it’s about time, but how much is it going to cost?”

            Cost?  Why did the two women believe that monetary costs would be attached to the Obama Administrations recommendations to schools on student discipline?  Did the two older women understand what the recommendations were trying to accomplish?

            When you consider the “cost” of the recommendations to schools by the Obama Administration, the question becomes, can you put a monetary amount on equity and fairness in student discipline? 

            The recommendations to schools called for changes in policy and the culture of criminalizing behaviors.   When reading the article on the recommendation to schools, I viewed the “cost” not in a monetary sense, but a cost of change in systemic, cultural and personal processes.  Schools are being told to remove bias, stereotypes and intolerance when it comes to student discipline and students of color.  Teachers and administrators are challenged to be student centered and work on alternatives to suspension, expulsion and involvement of law enforcement.  Lastly, school police are asked to become more involved with students on a personal level while they are in the building. 

If more students are able to graduate and not have their futures ruined by a student discipline process that involved law enforcement, then the changes schools are asked to do by the Obama Administration will give students of color opportunities to become productive citizens, which in turn benefits the economy.  Therefore, the costs of the recommendation to schools would be neutral in monetary sense; the cost of systemic change in schools is time.

If cost of instilling equity, fairness and student centeredness in student discipline is time, I think that is a cost everyone can live with.