School Zone

The latest suspension figures from the Buffalo Public Schools (those for 2011-12, through Nov. 30, 2011) show short-term suspensions district-wide about the same as they were the previous year -- and show a 71 percent increase in long-term suspensions, year to date.

Short-term suspensions are one to five days long and are assigned by a building administrator. Long-term suspensions are more than five days long and can be assigned only by the superintendent or a designee.

Associate Superintendent Will Keresztes attributes much of the increase in long-term suspensions to increased vigilance by principals in reporting cases of bullying and intimidation.

"Principals are reporting them to me instead of handling pretty intense cases of bullying under their own jurisdiction," he said. "As principals they are following my advice: have a superintendent’s hearing. This is one consequence of being a lot more vigilant about that type of behavior."

He also said he asked principals this year to report incidents that occur off campus, at bus stops and subway stations and so on.

"And we’re holding hearings on [off-campus incidents] because for the most part we believe they’re school-related," he said. "I think this year will reflect a little more robust reporting. It also gives us motivation to do as much as possible to reduce suspensions."

Keresztes noted that the 2011-12 data began tracking suspensions in July -- as opposed to September, when the 2010-11 data began tracking them. That accounts for an additional 30 to 40 suspensions in the current year's data, he said.

(Note: The district will be holding three public hearings to gather input regarding suspensions. They are at: noon Jan. 9 at Merriweather Library, 1324 Jefferson Ave.; 5 p.m. Jan. 9 at Waterfront School, 95 Fourth St.; and 6 p.m. Jan. 12 at Waterfront School.)

Want to know how your school fared?

Here are the details, school by school. Listed first are short-term suspensions, followed by a list of long-term suspensions.

Short-term suspensions more than doubled from the same period last year at eight of 56 schools for which information was provided. The biggest increase was at Hillery Park, where there were 38 short-term suspensions through the end of November 2011 -- compared to seven the year before during the same period.

Long-term suspensions more than doubled, as compared to last year during the same period, at 21 schools. The biggest increase was at Lafayette, where there had been two long-term suspensions in the first three months of last school year, compared to 27 during that period in 2011-12.

- Mary Pasciak

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