This discussion will focus on school suspensions and student discipline, and Civil Beat reporter Suevon Lee wants to hear from you.
About this Event
Civil Beat is trying something different. Join us for a new type of collaborative engagement event: Civil Beat Brainstorm. Instead of hosting a panel around a specific story or issue that we’ve already written about, we want you to come to us with your ideas and share your knowledge on a topic we feel deserves a stronger media spotlight.
This Civil Beat Brainstorm will focus on school suspensions and student discipline, and Civil Beat education reporter Suevon Lee wants to hear from you to gather ideas for future stories.
Maybe you’re an educator who sees a need for more mental health counseling at schools; a parent who has seen a child go through the disciplinary process; or someone who knows of a school that is a “bright spot”: trying something new in the area of restorative justice.
Help guide our reporting as we seek to answer some essential questions:
Do you feel the discipline system at your school works?
Do you see student discipline having an impact beyond the classroom?
Are you clear on what kinds of alternative education opportunities exist for disciplined kids?
What questions or concerns do you have about disciplines/suspensions at your school?
We plan to kick off the event with brief introductory remarks from ACLU Hawaii around the questions, how does Hawaii fare amid the national lens and what is the current landscape around student suspensions in the state? Then, we plan to break up those in attendance into smaller groups organized by themes, such as racial disparities, the challenges of data collection or bright spots and solutions.
Then, we will meet back as a larger group to talk over some of the things discussed in your small groups to get a broader discussion going.
We’re asking you to become a part of our journalism. The more input we receive from the community, the stronger our reporting becomes.
We hope you’ll join us on Thursday, September 26, from 6 - 7:30 p.m. at Entrepreneurs Sandbox, a co-working space in Kaka'ako.