Los Angeles Schools to Take Soft Stance on Indiscipline

The adage "Spare the rod and Spoil the child" may work in some cases, but harsh punishments to children often result in them dropping out of school or  ending up in jail. This thinking might have prompted schools in Los Angeles to take a lighter approach to students who indulge in alcohol, tobacco, marijuana or fighting that does not cause grievous injury to others, according to Orlando Sentinel.

The schools have decided not to have the students arrested for such behavior as this will result in them being sent to jails. Instead,  the students will be disciplined by the school management themselves .

A report by the Labor/Community Strategy center  said that community groups found  that the Los Angeles Unified School District took excessive action against colored students and black students were six times more likely than white to be given a violation ticket. The U.S. Department of Education's office of civil rights data too reveals that black students are three times more likely than whites to be suspended and expelled in the United States. 

The present decision has come as a result of work by rights groups to stop the practice of giving harsh punishments to students.  This practice of undue penalties is called as  " school-to-prison pipeline" by the American Civil Liberties Union and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

The students will be given a corrective measure rather than a constraining one for offenses, said LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy.

"When they stumble, we will be by their side in a way that is restorative as opposed to shackling," he said.

Michael Nash, the presiding judge of the Los Angeles Juvenile Courts, who was involved in formulating the new procedures, said that the new changes would ensure that the courts deal with only those students who "really pose the greatest risk to the community."

"There are enough studies that show bringing them into the justice system is really more of a slippery slope that leads to negative outcomes and poor futures,"  Nash said. "The people who are in these schools need to deal with these issues, not use the courts as an outlet. We have to change our attitude and realize that the punitive approach clearly hasn't worked", he added, according to The New York Times.