BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Buffalo Common Council Member Zeneta Everhart is the new chair of the council’s Education Committee, and with new leadership comes change.
The committee will now hold monthly evening meetings, with the first of the year taking place on Tuesday. Tuesday’s discussion centered around school suspensions and what’s being done to eliminate them.
“If they did something in the school system, they must be punished for that. But the punishment shouldn’t be not educating them,” Everhart said.
“Taking them out of school is not going to help them. Not going to help them feel better or like it’s not going to fix the problem. It’s only just pushing it away,” added one high school student.
“How are we eliminating suspensions and how are we looking at underlying issues that are causing behavior, thereby resourcing for them and addressing no suspensions,” continued Executive Director of the Erie County Restorative Justice Coalition Dina Thompson.
So how will Buffalo eliminate the word suspension altogether? Parents, students, and teachers at Tuesday’s meeting got the answer to that question.