SAFE SCHOOLS ACT DANGEROUS

Suspending a difficult or troubled student ought to be the last, not
the first, resort of an educational system. That's why the Safe
Schools Act is disconcerting.

Introduced four years ago by the provincial Tories, the Safe Schools
Act created automatic suspensions for assault, drug dealing or weapons
offences. It also called for suspensions following threats, swearing,
vandalism or being under the influence of drugs or alcohol. These are
all serious problems, representing not just a disruption to the
learning environment but a genuine security concern for students and
teachers alike.

But so-called zero-tolerance policies, though they are politically
popular, are almost always problematic. It's fine to have zero
tolerance for swearing, say, but what becomes of the suspended youth?
Will he, and society, ultimately be better off if he spends time on
the street? We do not often agree with the NDP, but Ontario party
leader Howard Hampton has a point when he warns that the Safe Schools
Act might backfire and become a "Gang Recruitment Act."

The number of suspensions jumped 40 per cent to 24,238 during the
2001-02 academic year, the same year the act was initiated. No doubt
many of these suspensions were perfectly reasonable, but we suspect
some were not. Our schools are equipped with professional teachers,
guidance councillors and administrators who are trained, or should be,
to deal with difficult students. We need to make use of those
resources. Suspension may be the quick solution but it's not
necessarily the right one.

The instinct to suspend students rather than helping them -- or trying
to help them -- sounds a bit like another shortcut that's become
fashionable in the world of education. We're referring to the
attention-deficit phenomenon, where the impulse, when confronted with
a child who has trouble learning, is to medicate first and ask
questions later.

Instant suspensions are appealing so long as it's someone else's
child. If it were our own children, however, we'd want to take the
time to figure out what was wrong in their lives and causing the
dysfunctional behaviour.

Teachers and principals should take the same interest in all their
students that they would in their own children, but their ability to
do so may be hamstrung by the Safe Schools Act.

The McGuinty government says it wants to keep students in school until
they are 18. The Safe Schools Act appears to work against that goal. A
year ago Mr. McGuinty's Liberals at Queen's Park promised to review
the act. The day can't come soon enough.