Students rally to confront harsh school discipline
by Melissa Corker, published on October 5, 2011 at 9:55 PM
Students and advisers from five Sacramento area high schools joined in a virtual rally Wednesday – with kids from Los Angeles, Fresno and Oakland schools – as part of the National Week of Action to raise awareness about the overuse of extreme school discipline.
The rally connected more than 100 students, parents and community activists via live video feed to discuss recent trends in suspensions, expulsions and other harsh punishments in California schools.
According to data from the California Department of Education, there were 235,033 students enrolled in public schools in Sacramento county in the 2010-11 school year.
There were 47,678 suspensions and expulsions issued that same year – a 20.2 percent suspension/expulsion rate by enrollment, which is about a third