Senate Bill 100 was signed into effect in Aug. 2015 and became effective this September. The bill focuses on keeping more kids in school and limiting out-of-school suspensions. Most of the policies that the bill introduced, DGN has already been utilizing. The main changes made to the policies of DGN are that out-of-school suspensions cannot be longer than three days, with exceptions of ongoing threats, breaking state laws or if all other options have been exhausted.

Forcing a student to stay home for three days isn’t considered a punishment. With this short time-out, it gives schools more time to utilize the option of in-school suspension. In-school suspension can ensure that students won’t be sitting around doing nothing and actually will be working on their classwork. Long out-of-school suspensions can also take a toll on working parents. The new bill can benefit parents who would have had to stay home to watch their kid during the suspension.

The discipline that goes along with out-of-school suspensions can have a small effect on the student’s behavior and sometimes feed their ego and lead them into more trouble. Sitting in a room with no connection to the outside world for a whole school day is something that can actually make an impact on the student’s behavior rather than sitting at home doing nothing or getting into more trouble.  This bill is a good way to keep students active in school, or at least keeping their suspensions short.