Effective School Discipline in Jackson, Mississippi
A Mississippi high school principal finds alternative measures to suspension and expulsion
In one year, Dr. Willie Killins Jr. reduced Wingfield High School’s suspension rate by 94 percent. How? By shifting the Mississippi high school’s focus from punishment to empowerment through a series of programs that turned troubled students into student leaders, reports Emily Le Coz in the Clarion-Ledger.
To show their support for alternative measures to suspension and expulsion, Hinds County law enforcement leaders and members of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids released a report at the school highlighting how effective school discipline can improve student success and reduce crime, called Classmates, not Cellmates.
We would rather see these kids in the classroom rather than in handcuffs and jumpsuits.
Tyrone Lewis, Hinds County Sheriff