Photo by cstein96

Local blogger DC Teacher Chic reported today on her blog that D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee will host Q&A sessions for teachers this afternoon (Wednesday, January 28) and tomorrow (Thursday, January 29), from 4-6 p.m. at 825 North Capitol Street, NE, in the 5th Floor Board Room. An open teacher Q&A sounds like a great idea, but good luck to the teachers scrambling to get from their classrooms to DCPS, in this weather, only 45 minutes after school lets out.

Also tonight, the final community forum on proposed changes to the student discipline policy will be held from 6-8 p.m. at Sousa Middle School, 3650 Ely Pl SE. The changes would move discipline away from measures like suspension toward counseling and in-school options. Bill Turque writes:

Rhee’s proposal, culled from what officials consider best practices in other school systems, divides student misconduct into five tiers, reserving suspensions and expulsions for the most serious incidents. In the first and second tier, for example, profanity, dress code violations or pushing and shoving would mean temporary removal from class or a parent-teacher conference. Persistent low-level violations would be met with stronger measures, but still short of suspension. Offenses in the third tier — including racial or sexual slurs, bullying or fighting without a weapon — could trigger either in-school or out-of-school suspensions of up to 11 days. Fourth- and fifth-tier offenses, such as assault with a weapon, sexual misconduct, drug sales or arson, would result in off-site suspensions of up to 90 days or expulsion.

The Post also reported earlier this week that “suspensions grew 72 percent between the 2006-07 and 2007-08 school years, from 1,303 to 2,245,” close to 4.5 percent of total enrollment. Out of school suspension never made much sense to us; they seems to reward students who act out by sending them home to watch TV as they simultaneously fall behind in their classes. Yet with a number of violent fights and incidents on campus already reported this year, at what point should students be out of there?

Schools Notes: Does DCPS even need an ombudsman?… Check out the entries for City Desk’s “Michelle Rhee Caption Contest”… Former D.C. School Board president Robert Bobb appointed finance chief for Detroit public schools.