It only took one hour for the State Board of Education to swear in Bill Harrison as the new CEO of North Carolina’s public schools. They also paid tribute to Harrison, honored outgoing Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction J.B. Buxton, and gave two special awards to outgoing chair of the State Board of Education, Howard Lee.
Anyway, based on figures released today, school crime is up, although the number of students caught trying to burn down a school building has decreased from 20 to 18 (seriously).
Short-term suspensions are down slightly (0.8 percent), but there was a substantial increase (10.3 percent) in long-term suspensions. Expulsions are on the rise, as well. Last year, 116 students were booted from school, compared to 102 from the year before.
I suspect that much of the decrease in last year’s dropout rate is a product of the increase in the long-term suspension rate. Students who are punished with a long-term suspension cannot be counted as dropouts but are often de facto dropouts.
