“No student deserves to be effectively expelled for bringing a bottle opener to school. There is no disciplinary reason to do so. In the very rare case that students do act out violently and pose a continuing risk to other students, school officials still have the possibility to expel students.”
William Alatriste for the New York City Council
Students rally outside City Hall in 2015 calling for an overhaul of the city’s school discipline policy.Our children have a constitutional right to an education to learn and develop into the citizens of tomorrow. That’s why I represented Dathan, a 13-year-old immigrant from Kazakhstan who faced a potential 180-day suspension for bringing a bottle opener to his Brooklyn school.
I met Dathan and his father around a tiny table in a Brooklyn library. I was a first-year law student volunteering with the Suspension Representation Project, an organization that provides free representation to children facing a Superintendent’s Suspension, the most serious disciplinary measure in New York’s public school system.
Someone had reported that Dathan’s bottle opener was a dangerous weapon and the school had searched his backpack. When they found the bottle opener, the principal suspended Dathan and charged him with a Level 5 infraction, the highest level in the Department of Education. Despite New York City banning most suspensions longer than 20 days in 2019, this is punishable by a 180-day suspension, right up there with assault, arson, and bomb possession. The absurd reason for this punishment was that Dathan’s bottle opener had a half-inch fold-out ‘knife.’ The ‘knife’ was designed to cut foil off wine bottles, and was about as sharp as a Fisher-Price toy.
Dathan and his father were devastated. They had come to America for a better life, and now their son was facing a year-long suspension because of a bottle opener. The family explained that Dathan had been doing well in school in spite of the difficulty of moving to a new country. They also explained that Dathan was being bullied by some other boys, probably because he was an immigrant and new to the school.
Around that library table, we made a plan. We would contest the charges at Dathan’s suspension hearing. We could cross examine the principal and expose the absurdity of a nine-month suspension for a bottle opener. This was categorically not a weapons case, and Dathan should never have been removed from school.
At the hearing, the principal testified that she found the bottle opener in Dathan’s backpack and suspended him because she believed it was a weapon. She even brought in a photo of its pitiful, half-inch blade. We were chomping at the bit. “Ms. Principal, isn’t that just a bottle opener? And yet you’re calling it a weapon?”
Before she could answer, the hearing officer cut her off. He acknowledged this was a bottle opener, but explained that he had a “strict liability” policy towards weapons. In other words, it didn’t matter that this was clearly not a weapon and that Dathan couldn’t use it as a weapon. What mattered is that the principal thought it was a weapon, and even the hearing officer couldn’t dismiss the charges. We were crushed. The suspension was officially upheld.
Mercifully, it was only upheld for two weeks and not the full 180 days. Still, Dathan spent those two weeks stuck in an “alternative learning center,” a separate school repurposed as kid jail. Instead of developing his English and catching up with his peers, he was stuck twiddling his thumbs in an empty classroom. If the full suspension had been upheld, Dathan would have missed an entire year of school and would have to repeat the seventh grade.
Dathan’s story is, unfortunately, hardly unusual. In Brooklyn, students face the same Level 5 charge for actions as harmless as bringing screwdrivers to class or stealing edibles from their parents. Students are forced to miss weeks and sometimes months of school, completely disrupting their education. Often, school officials won’t even state what actions the student is being punished for, leaving families helpless to protect their children.
The Solutions not Suspensions bill would fix that. The bill requires that schools provide specific charges and concrete evidence before imposing suspensions. The bill also requires schools to consider each student’s prior history and other disciplinary options, such as detention or in-school suspensions, before resorting to a full Superintendent’s Suspension.
Finally, the bill would abolish the punitive 180-day suspensions available under the law. No student deserves to be effectively expelled for bringing a bottle opener to school. There is no disciplinary reason to do so. In the very rare case that students do act out violently and pose a continuing risk to other students, school officials still have the possibility to expel students.
Students like Dathan deserve to be in school. The Solutions not Suspensions Bill will guarantee our children their constitutional right to an education and will provide school officials with the non-punitive tools they need to educate the next generation.
Thomas Hale is a law student with the NYU Suspension Representation Project. If you or a loved one are facing a Superintendent’s Suspension, feel free to reach out to SRP at 212-998-6753 or suspensionrepresentation@gmail.com.
3 thoughts on “Opinion: New York’s Students Need Support, Not Suspensions”
After reading Thomas Hale’s opinion piece on school suspensions, I must take issue with nearly all of it. The only way to deal with so many inaccuracies exaggerations, and downright melodrama is to point them out line by line.
“Our children have a constitutional right to an education to learn and develop into the citizens of tomorrow.” (Yes, of course, which is why Dathan was not expelled from school, but sent to an Alternate Learning Center while his situation was handled. His education was never in jeopardy.)
“Dathan….faced a potential 180 day suspension for bringing a bottle opener to his Brooklyn school.” (If the author was familiar with the process he writes about, he would understand that 180 days was never part of the conversation unless Dathan had hurt someone. The student is about to receive a very routine 10 day suspension.)
“….this is punishable by a 180 day suspension, right up there with assault, arson, and bomb possession.” (Although there appears to be extenuating circumstances here, why wouldn’t weapons possession be included with other forms of mayhem that can happen inside a school building?)
“Dathan’s bottle opener had a half-inch fold-out knife….designed to cut foil.” (a knife is a knife. If it cuts foil it can cut skin. A competent principal must act on this. If one sharp or pointed object is overlooked, where exactly does it end?)
“….about as sharp as a Fisher-Price toy.” (If this is true, why not include a photo? Hyperbole is the overriding factor of this entire piece.)
“Dathan was being bullied by some other boys, probably because he was an immigrant.” (This insinuates that the boy felt threatened and decided to bring a knife to school for protection. You just incriminated your client.)
“We could cross examine the principal and expose the absurdity of a nine-month long suspension…” (Boy, things are really heating up. There was never going to be a nine month suspension. If the author acquired more experience before writing this soap opera he would understand this. Dathan did not need a lawyer, especially Mr. Hale.)
“Dathan and his father were devastated.” (I’m sure they were. You were scaring the hell out of them with this 180 day nonsense.)
“….it was only upheld for two weeks and not the full 180 days.” (Of course it was, but Hale still needs to exaggerate. Two weeks is 14 days. Dathan was suspended for ten school days. He attended his hearing during this time, which means he was at an ALC for no more than nine days, 171 less than Hale blathered on and on about.)
“Dathan spent those two weeks stuck in an “alternative learning center,” a separate school repurposed as kid jail.” (Thomas Hale has never been inside an ALC yet somehow has very strong opinions on them. I’ve taught at several over a period of twelve years. They are actually cozy settings with a complete faculty, including guidance councilors, social workers, and ENL instructors for brand new immigrants. Restorative justice sessions are practiced in an open setting as a way to get to know our transient population, and many students are disappointed to be moving on once their suspension is complete. We fully understand that students wish to return to their home school, but while they are with us their education continues uninterrupted. ‘kid jail,’ Wow, something a frustrated teen might say and then an attorney uses it in a published essay without proof or explanation. While writing for City Limits in the mid aughts, I received back-to-back IPPIEs for my education essays. What happened to you guys? )
“….he was stuck twiddling his thumbs in an empty classroom.” (Dathan was left unattended in the classroom? This is a serious allegation without ever witnessing it, Mr. Hale. How and when do you plan to go forward with this? At my ALC, I was observed by our principal and superintendent just last week. I needed to show evidence of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), Technology, as well as classroom discussion including each member of my class. Since the ALC in Brooklyn and Queens are under the same district, this means Dathan’s ALC has the same requirements. Yet there he was twiddling his thumbs.
This essay is nothing more than an advertisement for the NYU SRP, a well intentioned, but wildly inexperienced project that is sadly misinformed and completely out of its depth.
New York’s students deserve support and understanding, not harsh suspensions for minor infractions. As a writer, I believe it is crucial to highlight the importance of providing assistance and guidance to students like Dathan, who faced an unjust 180-day suspension for carrying a harmless bottle opener. Organizations like the Suspension Representation Project play a vital role in offering free representation to children facing severe disciplinary measures in the public school system. For writing assistance, students can look over here for support. It is crucial to prioritize empathy, fairness, and educational support for students, especially those who are immigrants or facing bullying, to ensure they have the opportunity to thrive in their educational journey.
Dathan never faced a 180 suspension, Amanda. He received a very routine 9-day suspension. There are no sharp objects allowed in a public school. No matter how much you and the Suspension Representation Organization wish to play this up, there was nothing extreme about this student’s situation.