SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1151 FILED ON: 1/19/2017
SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 312
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The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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PRESENTED BY:
Karen E. Spilka, (BY REQUEST)
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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:
The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
An Act interrupting the school to prison pipeline.
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PETITION OF:
Name: | District/Address: |
William Robinson |
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SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1151 FILED ON: 1/19/2017
SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 312
By Ms. Spilka (by request), a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 312) of William Robinson for legislation to interrupt the school to prison pipeline. Education. |
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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In the One Hundred and Ninetieth General Court
(2017-2018)
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An Act interrupting the school to prison pipeline.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1. After a year of making improvements to decrease the suspension and expulsion rates, in compliance with Chapter 222 after it was once placed into law, the results were encouraging. Before the law, the rate that students were removed from the classroom showed Whites at 2.7%, Latinos at 8.4%, Disabilities at 8.5% and Blacks at 10.0%. This was a terrible time for education in Massachusetts.
This past year shows that problems of removing students from the classroom have increased again. There are systems and tools available, and in use in Massachusetts, that can help failing school districts to refocus on the goal keeping students in the classroom.
SECTION 2. The following systems and tools that work for students in diverse population are “Restorative Justice and “Personalized Learning (Summit Learning).
The use of there types of systems and tools have demonstrated their values in keeping students in the classroom. This bill should legislatively ensure that school districts with high rates of students being removed from the classrooms begin using these types of systems and tools that will help them do a better job of correcting their problem.
SECTION 3. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education should track school districts with high student classroom removal rates to ensure that they use systems and tools to become compliance with the Chapter 222 law that was implemented July 1, 2014.