Helping Parents Understand

John Stevens has a great proposal for our wonderfully diverse school system, provide interpreters for parents in major discipline cases.

Discipline cases involving suspensions and expulsions are very difficult for parents. Apart from the obvious parental challenges, it can be confusing and intimidating for any of us to sit before review panels of authoritative figures who we don't know. Those who are likely to have the most difficult time are those who don't fully understand the many letters and policies provided to them and the implications of their response to all that paperwork.

As a result, I have made a proposla to provide interpreter services to parents whose children face long term suspensions (greater than 10 days) and expulsion. - John Stevens

This seems to me to be a "no brainer" kind of policy. An objective of school discipline is to help the kids get back into gear and reduce the interruptions and lost teaching time incurred by needing to deal with an unruly kid. These problems have a real cost for every other kid in our crowded classrooms, and there is no hope for effective discipline if the parents are not fully involved. Providing interpreters in major cases will insure that parents are given every tool to help address the problems their kids are having.

Some will, doubtless, complain about the "cost." The reality is that this kind of policy will save money by engaging parents in controlling a significant source of classroom disruption and unproductive teacher and administrator time - major discipline problems. The less time dealing with these issues, the more time available for education, the more productive our schools are, the better they can educate with less in this harsh budget climate.

Well done Mr. Stevens.