You walk in any school and there's kids walking the halls, no order. Sizemore takes a similar view. If you start with a tight ship, you can always ease up. Critique of suspension As a rule, though, most educators argue against suspension, saying it disrupts education and is often looked upon as a vacation, not a punishment. If they're having a hard time with the school environment, they don't want to be there anyway.
Suspension only works for kids who want to be in school.
Yet problems rarely become that serious, and most can be solved with private talks with students, Smith reports. Even Sizemore, who has a reputation for being no-nonsense, says suspension should be imposed only on students who pose a physical danger to others. Instead, she says, schools should have an in-school suspension room that is staffed with a teacher and an aide who have children's academic records on file and can work with them on subjects they're behind in. Many schools use in-school suspension, but instruction isn't always provided. Clear rules and penalties Tilden High in New City saw a decrease in suspensions after the faculty, working under Sizemore, got together and wrote a set of rules and punishments, says Hazel Steward, former Tilden principal and now Region 3 education officer.