Arne Duncan, federal government tell local schools how to handle discipline

(The federal government is now telling local schools how to handle student discipline. The following remarks were made by U. S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today at the release of the joint Department of Justice/Department of Education School Discpline Guidance Package.)

My thanks to CEO Edwards and President Dukes for their comments, and for that gracious introduction.

I thank you for your unwavering commitment to equal opportunity for all students and your leadership in rethinking school discipline in Maryland. And I’m so pleased to be joined here today by my good friend and colleague, Attorney General Holder.

The Attorney General and his team have been great partners in our work together to improve school climate and keep schools safe. I know this is a very personal issue for him--as it has been for me, and for the students we talked to just minutes ago at a roundtable here at Frederick Douglass.

We’re gathered here today to talk about school discipline---which, far too often, is not applied equitably or as effectively as it could be in our nation’s schools.