Philadelphia School District cuts back suspensions for kindergarteners

PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) There's a big change to the Philadelphia School District's Code of Conduct. Kindergarteners can no longer be suspended from school for discipline problems.

FOX 29's Bill Anderson has the story.

At Thursday night's School Reform Commission meeting, after years of activists pleas, Philadelphia schools decided the suspension policy for kindergarten students needed to changed.

The new code of conduct will only allow kindergarten students to be suspended in extreme situations, which is a policy Superintendent Dr. Hite says he's supported for some time.

The new policy will be in place in a couple weeks when the youngest students return and hopefully the results will support what most feel is simply common sense policy.

An attorney for the nonprofit Education Law Center says 448 kindergarteners were suspended last year in Philadelphia.