[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 172 (Tuesday, December 21, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2210]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




INTRODUCTION OF H. RES. 1777, A RESOLUTION RAISING AWARENESS OF SCHOOL 
                PUSHOUT AND PROMOTING DIGNITY IN SCHOOLS

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                       HON. CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 21, 2010

  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Madam Speaker, I rise today in proud 
support of H. Res. 1777, a resolution raising awareness of school 
pushout and promoting dignity in schools.
   I want to start by thanking my colleagues Representatives Bobby 
Scott and Danny Davis for partnering with me on this effort and for 
their long and esteemed records of standing up for children and civil 
rights.
   I also want to thank the parents, teachers, students, school 
administrators, advocates and academics from across Connecticut whose 
expertise and input were essential in drafting this resolution.
   We are introducing this resolution for the millions of students who 
are pushed out of school each year at the hands of harsh and 
exclusionary zero-tolerance school discipline policies.
   We are introducing it for the 14-year boy with Aspergers syndrome 
from Richardson, Texas who was given a $364 police citation for 
swearing in class.
   We are introducing it for the six-year-old student of Newark, 
Delaware who was so excited about joining the Cub Scouts that he 
brought his camping utensil to school. Because it had a small knife, he 
was suspended and referred to an alternative school for 5 days.
   And we are introducing the resolution for the 16-year-old of New 
York City who broke school policy by using a cell phone. He was 
subsequently detained and beaten by school police officers, rushed to 
the emergency room, and, outrageously, charged with disorderly conduct. 
Fortunately for the boy and his family, those charges were later 
dropped.
   Madam Speaker, unfortunately, those stories are not random acts of 
irresponsible school administration. They are representative of a 
growing trend.
   Now, before I go any further, it is important to recognize that 
there are many cases where the removal of a student from school is 
absolutely necessary. When a student poses a real safety threat to 
teachers or his or her fellow students, suspension or expulsion is 
warranted.
   Yet too often, kids in this country are being excluded from school 
at a growing rate for unjustifiable reasons.
   According to the Department of Education, over 3 million students 
are suspended and over 100,000 are expelled from school each year 
often, for minor offenses. Hundreds of others are arrested or sent to 
alternative schools for incidents historically dealt with within school 
walls.
   Disturbingly, African American, Hispanic and disabled students are 
disproportionately impacted.
   As you can imagine, kicking youth out of the classroom without 
addressing underlying issues for their behavior doesn't help that 
child, and usually doesn't improve the learning climate of the school.
   In fact, the American Psychological Association has found that 
suspension and expulsion negatively impact school-wide achievement and 
increase the risk that excluded students fall behind academically, 
become alienated from school, drop out, and become involved with the 
juvenile and adult criminal justice systems.
   In other words, these harsh practices are pushing kids out of the 
classroom and creating what has been widely dubbed as a ``school-to-
prison pipeline.''
   In 2007 in my own home state of Connecticut, 89% of the 16 and 17-
year olds involved with the criminal justice system had been suspended 
or expelled from school. While this may be attributable to many 
factors, common sense will tell you that when a kid is expelled from 
school, home alone without supervision, he's likely to keep getting 
into trouble.
   Fortunately, there is also great work being done in Connecticut and 
across the country to address school pushout and our resolution 
commends those efforts.
   Counterproductive zero-tolerance policies are being replaced with 
evidenced-based behavior management and discipline practices. Schools 
are partnering with community leaders and services to better support 
at-risk students. Parent engagement is being prioritized and states are 
passing laws limiting the use of exclusionary discipline practices.
   These efforts are producing real results in decreasing behavioral 
incidents and improving school climate and student achievement.
   Yet what I've heard time and time again is that in order to be 
successful, Congress needs to support and help expand these efforts.
   We need to help teachers and administrators who aren't receiving the 
training they want and need to effectively manage a classroom.
   And we must support efforts to adopt evidenced based practices to 
improve student engagement and school safety by providing both 
effective technical assistance and flexibility for our schools.
   Most importantly, we have to acknowledge this rising problem in our 
nation's schools and commit to working together to stop it.
   I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the resolution.

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