Sept 27, 2018, My Kawartha (Ontario): Public school suspensions and expulsions rise for second year https://www.mykawartha.com/news-story/8929705-public-school-suspensions-and-expulsions-rise-for-second-year/ Local public school board suspension and expulsion rates are back on the rise, but it has more to do with acting, than actions. Trillium Lakelands District School Board superintendent of learning Katherine MacIver presented trustees with information on suspensions and expulsions during the board’s regular meeting in Lindsay on Tuesday, Sept. 26. She stated that the school board works collaboratively with all staff, students, partners and stakeholders in a concerted effort to maintain an environment of safe and accepting schools. MacIver noted that the majority of the 1,433 suspension and expulsion occurrences from the 2017 to 2018 school year — 315 more than the previous year and 379 more than in 2015 to 2016 — involved incidents that either related to violating the board’s code of conduct or exhibiting behaviour "injurious to others." Of the 922 students suspended or expelled one or more times, 417 were elementary and 505 were secondary. The majority of incidents involved male students, with about one third of suspensions being only for one day. MacIver said the “significant increase” in part relates to the board’s progressive discipline and formal action initiatives. “We have an added piece around mediation that would help reduce the need for an expulsion. It will always be a consideration ... but in some cases, mediation just isn’t applicable,” said MacIver. Of the 922 students that served one or more suspensions or expulsions, 181 (19 per cent) have been identified by the board’s identification, placement and review committee as having special education needs or an exceptionality. A further 562, or 60 per cent, have an individual education plan (IEP), describing the programming and/or services required, based on a thorough assessment of a student’s strengths and needs that affect their ability to learn. …
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Childhood Lost
Children today are noticeably different from previous generations, and the proof is in the news coverage we see every day. This site shows you what’s happening in schools around the world. Children are increasingly disabled and chronically ill, and the education system has to accommodate them. Things we've long associated with autism, like sensory issues, repetitive behaviors, anxiety and lack of social skills, are now problems affecting mainstream students. Blame is predictably placed on bad parenting (otherwise known as trauma from home).
Addressing mental health needs is as important as academics for modern educators. This is an unrecognized disaster. The stories here are about children who can’t learn or behave like children have always been expected to. What childhood has become is a chilling portent for the future of mankind.
Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
What will happen in another 4 years? How can we go on like this? This is a national (and international) problem of monumental proportions. We have an entire new class of children who cannot be accommodated by the system: many are manifestly neurologically impaired. Meanwhile, the government and the medical profession sleep on regardless.
John Stone,
UK media editor, Age of Autism
The generation of American children born after 1990 are arguably the sickest generation in the history of our country.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
It seemed to me that with rising autism prevalence, you’d also see rising autism costs to society, and it turns out, the costs are catastrophic.
They calculated that in 2015 autism cost the United States $268 billion and they projected that if autism continues at its current rate, we’re looking at one trillion dollars a year in autism costs by 2025, so within five years.
Toby Rogers, PhD, Political economist
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