Alonso has told principals to reduce suspensions for the subjective, less serious infractions.
Anne Arundel has rewritten its discipline code to emphasize giving students more chances to learn good behavior before they are punished.
"We wanted to change the culture," said Leon Washington, director of safe and orderly schools in Anne Arundel. "I talked to [principals] about the importance of providing extra support for those students and keeping them in the building rather than having them ... on suspension."
Early reports suggest, he said, that there has been a decrease in the number of suspensions.
Anne Arundel is also running a similar experiment in four schools. The county assigned a teacher to each of the schools and gave them the job of keeping track of 10 to 15 of the students most likely to misbehave.
When a student at Wiley H. Bates Middle School begins acting out, the classroom teacher can call Tracey Bockmiller on her cell phone. She quickly slides into the classroom and sits by the offender, trying to get the student back on track. If that doesn't work, she said, she will pull the student into the hall or take him to her office.
Her cell phone is always on. It's filled with the numbers of parents of children she watches over. She calls them often, reporting the bad and the good news.
Bockmiller's students have spent 75 percent fewer days on suspension this year, compared with last year. Office referrals are down 72 percent. "The office isn't like the Ellis Island waiting room anymore," she said. "They are in class learning."
liz.bowie@baltsun.com
Gender and race
Suspension rates vary widely by gender and race. This chart shows the percentage of each group suspended in school year 2006-2007.
Boys: 12 percent
Girls: 6 percent
African-Americans: 14 percent
Whites: 6 percent
Hispanics: 6 percent [Source: State Education Department data]
