The New Hanover County Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday to end suspensions out of school for four-, five-, six- and seven-year-old students after more than a year of community pressure.
The board will eliminate out-of-school suspensions for the district's youngest learners starting in the 2022-23 school year, except in a few instances, such as weapons, drugs or violent assaults.
The board got a standing ovation from the crowd of the people present even after the question mark came up on voting around 9:30 pm. Many of them wore white Love Our Children T-shirts, representing the organization that pushed for policy change.
"That you did. You did that," board member Judy Justice called out to the members of Love Our Children as they applauded.
As the meeting ended, Love Our Children's advocates celebrated with a hug as they left the board room.
The school board failed to pass the resolution in 4-3 votes during the March meeting. To begin the April meeting, board member Hugh McManus requested that the issue be put on the agenda once again.
As the meeting ended, Love Our Children's advocates celebrated with a hug as they left the board room.
The school board failed to pass the resolution in 4-3 votes during the March meeting. To begin the April meeting, board member Hugh McManus requested that the issue be put on the agenda once again.
But after hearing presentations from a number of elementary schools that were already using the new behavioral leadership foundation training in place of out-of-school suspension, the board turned away from the initial three-year plan.
The vote directs the board's policy committee to amend the policy so that it does not allow students under the age of 8 to receive suspension out of school. The policy committee will outline the exceptions to the policy that would allow the continuation of suspension outside school in cases involving weapons, drugs or violent assaults.
"It's thrilling," said Peter Rovitsch, co-founder of Love Our Children. "When I spoke to the board tonight, I said we just needed one more vote, and what a gift they gave us. We got four more, 7-0. It was beyond our imagination."
Love Our Children was originally formed by Rovitsch and Veronica McLaurin-Brown in March 2021, after the board voted unanimously against ending the out-of-school suspensions for elementary school students.
In the year since, the group has grown in numbers and attracted the attention of the Board and the community. Love Our Children is regularly presented during audience sessions at school board meetings and often takes up a third of the speaking time during those public commentary sessions. He spent the last year talking to anyone who passed out T-shirts and buttons, and even funded a billboard in Wilmington.
"I really give the team credit for talking to the board month after month," Rovitsch said. "We did that and saw that our hard work was paying off."
Rovitsch also said with the most recent vote, Love Our Children's work is not over. He said that when the new language is written they plan for the policy committee meeting and for the board meeting to officially approve the new written policy.
He also said that this change is like an "ant biting an elephant". The group has several other initiatives they hope to start working on. For now, however, they celebrate as New Hanover County has become one of the first in North Carolina to end suspensions for its youngest students.