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Date: 11/9/2022
SOUTHWICK – Fewer students will be suspended in the Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District (STGRSD) under new statewide regulations, the superintendent said Nov. 1.
Superintendent Jennifer Willard told the Regional School Committee that Section 37H¾ of Chapter 71 of state law, which goes into effect Nov. 8, changes how school districts can handle potential suspensions, and requires certain actions to be taken first before a student can be suspended. This change does not apply to situations where there is assault on district staff, possession of weapons, or possession or distribution of controlled substances.
Yet “a lot of things we could suspend students for in the past, we can no longer suspend students for,” said Willard.
This would affect “99 percent” of all suspensions in the district, she said.
The idea behind the new law is that it keeps students in school rather than disrupting their learning further by keeping them out of the classroom for days or weeks at a time. A suspension can still take place, but certain steps must now be followed.
“Before suspending a child, we have to show what alternative remedies have been attempted. They need to show what the outcome was. We need to know if these remedies are unsuitable or counterproductive, and why. Or if they are a serious risk of harm to themselves or others,” said Willard.
The new law also requires districts to create district-wide models to re-engage students who are suspended or face frequent trouble in school. In this case, Willard said the STGRSD is ahead of the curve.
“If you look at school or districtwide models to re-engage students, we are already about 10 steps ahead of them,” said Willard.
The legislation requires districts to use “trauma-sensitive” learning models which should be implemented proactively, rather than in response to a specific incident, which Willard said the regional district has already been doing. Trauma-informed teaching is the idea that a school should take into account how past trauma can impact learning and behavior in a student.
Willard said that she was only just getting the information, and was still exploring answers to how the new law will work overall.