Some educators say his directive has been misinterpreted, with principals discouraging all suspensions. Alonso has said he will fire any administrator who does not honestly report school violence.
Reginald F. Lewis High is one of the smaller schools created by the breakup of the large, chaotic Northern High School in 2002. Last summer, the state put Lewis on probation for its high number of suspensions for violent incidents. If the rate of suspensions keeps up this year, the school will be labeled persistently dangerous.
Another school located in the same complex, W.E.B DuBois High School, already has the persistently dangerous designation, meaning it must offer students the option to transfer elsewhere.
At a school board meeting last month, English complained to Alonso and the board about teacher assaults. "You will not have good test scores ... as long as these students are allowed to run the halls, come back to the classroom and continue to act in a violent way," she said.
She asked for a meeting to discuss "strategies to help students who need some kind of support because obviously they're crying out for help," a request that led to the formation of the task force.
Alonso responded that night that he'd be happy to meet with English and anyone else about school violence, but he said he wanted specifics about incidents that are not being reported, not generalized allegations.
"The message that I have made very clear to principals is that ... any student who commits the kind of offense that leads to persistently dangerous status by law has to be part of a process which takes them out of a school.
"If that is not happening, then the law is not being followed in the school, and I need to intervene. ... If you have specifics, bring them to my attention. I will respond immediately. I would rather deal with specifics than with the notion that the kids are running wild, because that's not helpful."
sara.neufeld@baltsun.com
Sun reporter John Fritze contributed to this article.
