PRIVATIZED Recovery School District grapples with discipline policies | NOLA.com

Recovery School District grapples with discipline policies | NOLA.com:

Recovery School District grapples with discipline policies

Published: Monday, May 14, 2012, 7:30 AM     Updated: Monday, May 14, 2012, 8:31 AM

 By Sarah Carr, The Times-Picayune 
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It started to feel like a routine: Every few weeks, the New Orleans schools would suspend Gwendolyn Lawson's niece, who is now in the ninth grade. Sometimes the offenses were serious, including physical fights the teen had instigated. But other times -- such as when the girl stormed out of class in frustration -- Lawson wondered whether a suspension was the most appropriate punishment. "There were times when every other week this little girl was getting suspended," Lawson said, adding that suspensions were a problem "at all the schools, every single one."

Kerry Maloney, The Times-PicayuneRecovery School District Superintendent Patrick Dobard this month announced plans to centralize some parts of the school discipline process for the district's growing number of charter schools.

Since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Lawson's niece has attended three schools operated directly by theRecovery School District and a newcharter school on the West Bank. Partly in an effort to curb the amount of time students like Lawson's niece spend out of school unnecessarily, Recovery School District