PITTSBURGH — Summary citations could once again be issued against students at Pittsburgh Public Schools after a revised policy on student conduct was introduced.
The school district placed a temporary pause on citations in July over concerns about the practice and later extended it twice.
The main changes center around better communication between school leaders and how citations should be used. Some opponents, however, said there are still holes in the revised policy that could negatively impact students.
“Summary citations should be issued when the law is broken,” said Allderdice High School senior Pavel Marin.
Marin believes PPS students who break the law on school grounds should face consequences.
“Breaking the code of conduct in the school and breaking the law, they’re two different things, right,” Marin said.
Marin is in favor of lifting the pause on summary citations requiring those issued one, typically by a school police officer, to go before a judge.
Board President Gene Walker said the disciplinary practice is meant for students accused of serious crimes, including assault, or using and dealing drugs.
While Walker admits it’s been misused in the past for nonviolent offenses, he believes a revised code of conduct policy will help keep everyone safe.
“We’re in the tough position of trying to thread that needle of creating a policy that can be implemented fairly and equitably and protecting our students,” Walker said.
It’s been a hot button topic for months.
Monday night, local education advocacy groups spoke out against the revised policy during a PPS public hearing.
“The policy around citations is poor. It needs more work,” said Angel Gober, the executive director of 412 Justice. “You need to try again. The problem that we have around criminalizing students is horrific in this city.”
The revised policy requires school principals to be notified before a citation is filed. Monthly reports are also required through the board outlining how many citations were written and the rationale behind them.
Opponents argue summary citations are ineffective and disproportionately impact Black students.
“Discretion has resulted in 80-90% of citations being issued to Black students for the last decade,” said Ghadah Makoshi, a PPS Parent & policy strategist with the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “There is no improvement in behavior in issuing them. If anything, it has the opposite effect.”
Marin believes as long as the misinformation and confusion can be ironed out, the policy could work as it’s meant to.
“The restorative practice element to this is important,” Marin said. “If you have a plan that’s implemented right, that people are trained on, people know about it...you wont have issues like this.”
The board will vote on the proposal during its regular legislative meeting starting at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 28.
Board President Walker told Channel 11, he thinks the board might be split on the decision and he’s not opposed to extending the moratorium.
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