The Toledo Public School District has added itself to the ranks of large school districts revisiting their approach to student discipline. The district has implemented a preventive approach. Its plan was to to be more proactive than reactive and have an open dialogue with students about what they did wrong and how they can behave better in the future. If the numbers reflect reality, it appears to be working. Under the new system, the number of suspensions at one school dropped from 260 to 41, and no students have been expelled.
Limiting the amount of time students spend outside the classroom was one of the main goals of the program, but the district also removed its detention and the demerit system. Now, students are