By Jenny Schulz, Cedar Rapids; Kids First Law Center executive director
My dad was a high school teacher. Once, school kids threw a rock through our living room window. The “Party Crew of 1982” spraypainted our house and car. My dad took it in stride and said, “Kids will be kids.” He understood kids misbehave and learn to make better choices.
Unfortunately, pending Iowa legislation lacks this understanding. It adultifies children who misbehave and requires punitive responses against kids who are even mildly disruptive.
Why do kids misbehave? Decades of neuroscience research shows kids do well when they can. When kids don’t do well, it’s a matter of skill, not will. Kids who struggle academically get overwhelmed by a task. Some lack impulse control or frustration tolerance. Some have untreated mental illness. Some have experienced trauma and their brains are in a constantly heightened state — easily triggered to sudden upset. Some can’t focus because basic needs for food or sleep have not been met. None of these problems can be solved by punishing kids.
Removing kids from learning leaves them behind and feeling disconnected, making misbehavior worse. When a 9th grader is suspended just once, they are twice as likely to drop out of school. It’s not the child’s behavior that increases risk of educational failure — it’s adults’ decision to remove kids from class.
And what happens to kids who drop out? They remain here in our community. They are more likely to rely on welfare and commit crimes. On average, every person who drops out costs the community $292,000. And it makes our community less safe.
School discipline should teach, not punish. When a child misbehaves (and all do), schools should teach what to do differently next time. It may take repeated attempts to learn frustration tolerance or impulse control. Peace facilitators or social workers in schools can resolve conflict to repair harm and restore relationships. Then kids can get back to learning.
Years ago, when a child had dyslexia and struggled with reading, we didn’t ask what obstacle was in their way. We thought they weren’t trying hard enough. Ironically, the child struggling to read was working harder than anyone else. Decades of neuroscience show misbehavior works the same way. The child acting out may be trying harder than the well-behaved.
SF 2428 and HF 2538 are both punitive bills that would punish kids for disruptions — defined so broadly to include a child with autism who makes occasional noises, an anxious student repeatedly tapping a pencil, or a student who mutters a comment under their breath.
HF 2538 says after 5th grade, even removal for a mild disruption keeps a student out the rest of the day. Three disruptions in a month requires suspension or placement at an alternative school. The legislation grants school employees criminal and civil immunity for assaulting students and incentivizes schools to call police on students, even for non-criminal disruptions.
SF 2428 bars a principal from returning a student to class unless a special committee — with no designated timeline — approves. If a student is removed from class more than once in a year, the student’s parent must attend a meeting and establish a behavioral plan.
Schools should be encouraged to teach, not punish. Kids learn in class, not during suspensions. At a time when the state is forcing public schools to cut teachers, close programs, and gut the very resources students depend on, this legislation does further harm.
If you remove a 7-year-old from school, what then? Legislating removal from class is not the answer. Giving schools resources to offer kids the support they need is the real solution.
