{"id":21259,"date":"2014-01-26T19:34:10","date_gmt":"2014-01-27T00:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=21259"},"modified":"2014-01-29T08:06:22","modified_gmt":"2014-01-29T13:06:22","slug":"interview-rethinking-zero-tolerance-discipline-policies-in-florida-public-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2014\/01\/26\/interview-rethinking-zero-tolerance-discipline-policies-in-florida-public-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Rethinking Zero Tolerance Discipline Policies In Florida Public Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Some<\/a>

Sattva \/ freedigitalphotos.net<\/p>

Some districts are reconsidering zero tolerance.<\/p><\/div>\n

In many schools, zero tolerance discipline policies dictate harsh punishment\u2014expulsion, suspension and arrest\u2014for breaking rules.<\/p>\n

But, as\u00a0StateImpact\u00a0Florida\u00a0has been reporting<\/a>, some districts are reconsidering zero tolerance over concerns about a rise in the number of children arrested on campus.<\/p>\n

One of those districts walking away from zero tolerance is in Broward County, where the schools formed\u00a0a unique coalition<\/a>\u00a0with law enforcement, local and state courts, and the NAACP to re-write the school codes.<\/p>\n

StateImpact\u00a0Florida spoke with one of the members of that partnership\u2014Gordon\u00a0Weekes, chief assistant public defender with Broward County’s juvenile justice division\u2014who has been a critic of zero tolerance in the past.<\/p>\n

You can listen to the conversation here:<\/p>\n

\nhttps:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2014\/01\/GordonWeekes_TW_web.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Gordon<\/a>

courtesy Gordon Weekes<\/p>

Gordon Weekes has been a critic of zero tolerance.<\/p><\/div>\n

As a result of the working group on zero tolerance policies, Broward has developed an initiative called the\u00a0PROMISE Program<\/a>\u00a0(Preventing Recidivism through Opportunities, Mentoring, Interventions, Supports and Education). Children who have committed minor, nonviolent misconduct\u2014that might have gotten them suspended or arrested under zero tolerance rules\u2014will be diverted into counseling and support services through PROMISE.<\/p>\n

The new school code of conduct now contains a detailed discipline matrix that is designed to help educators and school resource officers decide how a misbehaving child should be handled.<\/p>\n

You can see the matrix in detail here:<\/p>\n

\"CLICK<\/a>

Broward Collaborative Agreement on School Discipline \/ browardprevention.org<\/p>

CLICK TO ENLARGE: Broward County Public Schools have created a discipline flow chart to help educators and law enforcement handle children who misbehave<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In many schools, zero tolerance discipline policies dictate harsh punishment\u2014expulsion, suspension and arrest\u2014for breaking rules. But, as\u00a0StateImpact\u00a0Florida\u00a0has been reporting, some districts are reconsidering zero tolerance over concerns about a rise in the number of children arrested on campus. One of those districts walking away from zero tolerance is in Broward County, where the schools formed\u00a0a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":21263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[1122,50],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21259"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/147"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21259"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21294,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21259\/revisions\/21294"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}