STANDARDIZED SYSTEMS FOR ENFORCING SCHOOL SAFETY

WHEREAS, American schools must have high standards for academic performance and high standards for student behavior; and

WHEREAS, existing school discipline codes are weak and are not consistently enforced by school administrators and are often misunderstood and undermined by parent and community groups resulting in incidents of violence and chronic disruption going unchecked, unresolved, undocumented and underreported; and

WHEREAS, problems outside of schools, such as violence, poverty, gangs, family dysfunction and abuse have negative influences on the lives of students and are often beyond the ability of schools to resolve in isolation; and

WHEREAS, parent and community concerns about unsafe and unruly schools and classrooms increase pressure for vouchers and support for profit-making private firms to manage public schools; and

WHEREAS, urban districts, in particular, are currently suffering from the greatest rise in classroom disruptions, incidents of violence, weapons carrying, verbal abuse and attacks on students and school staff; the number of incidents of school violence has also increased in suburbs and rural areas; and

WHEREAS, AFT locals have requested assistance and support from the national union in developing student discipline procedures that do not tolerate classroom disruptions and acts of violence and that establish appropriate punishments for misbehavior and aggression:

RESOLVED, that AFT call on the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice to initiate a process that establishes common definitions of the variety of violent acts that occur in American schools and that will result in the development of a national standardized system of data collection and reporting of incidents of violence that will serve as a basis for measuring progress toward reaching Goal 6 of Goals 2000: Educate America Act; and

RESOLVED, that AFT call for the development of a review of existing due process requirements in order to more efficiently and expeditiously process decisions on placement for disruptive and violent students who cannot function in regular schools and classrooms; and

RESOLVED, that AFT call for legislation that guarantees to school staff the right to know the histories of students who have exhibited violent and disruptive behaviors.