MOBILE, Alabama – The school system has struck an agreement to end a lawsuit by the Southern Poverty Law Center in a way that will dramatically change the way principals discipline students.

In settlement papers filed today, the Mobile County Public School System agrees to take steps to help seven named plaintiffs catch up on work they missed while suspended and, in one case, expunge the suspension from the student's record.

The school system also has agreed to sweeping changes that will affect suspensions going forward.

The school system has promised to consider changing long-term suspensions from more than 10 days to more than five days. The agreement removes suspension as a possible punishment for less-serious infractions, such as uniform violations, excessive talking in class and possession of “nuisance” items.

The lawsuit did not involve any monetary damages, and both sides will pay for their own legal fees.

Relief for plaintiffs



As part of an agreement settling a lawsuit by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Mobile County school system agreed to specific actions on behalf of seven named plaintiffs.

A student identified as K.S. will be allowed to attend summer school or the Evening Educational Options Program, and the school system will provide bus service. He was suspended from Blount High School in January 2011, apparently for being late to class.

A student identified as C.H. will get help with the state graduation examination and her suspension will be expunged as long as she successfully completes the EEOP. She was suspended from Murphy High School in April 2011 for a uniform violation and again in April 2012 for having too many tardy violations.

A student identified as D.M. will be provided with an EEOP counselor and receive help with life skills and career preparation. He was suspended from Blount in January 2011 for being tardy. [?] A student identified as E.M. will get help catching up for missed work by attending summer school. The school system will provide tutoring to help him pass the graduation exam. He was suspended from Scarborough Middle School in March 2011 for the rest of the year for skipping class.

The school system will pay for bus passes and allow a student identified as S.A. to attend the EEOP. The system also will help the student enroll in the GED program at Bishop State Community College. He was suspended form Blount during the 2010-11 year for having his shirttail out.

A student identified as G.H. will get help enrolling in a GED program and help gaining admission to Progressive Opportunities In Today’s Education, an alternative school for students who have had contact with the juvenile justice system. He also will get help enrolling in a GED program. He was suspended in 2010 from LeFlore High School several times for nonviolent infractions.

A student identified as M.R. will be allowed to enroll at Vigor High School after completing the alternative school. He was suspended from Blount in February 2011 for the rest of the school year for arriving late to lunch.

“We are pretty excited about it,” said Maria Morris, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center. “We see this agreement as a win for the students of the (Mobile) County school system.”

The school board discussed the proposed settlement behind closed doors at its meeting this week and then voted in public to approve it.

School board attorney Derek Atchison declined to discuss the agreement. “The settlement speaks for itself,” he said.

Criticism of the deal from school officials is unlikely. The agreement prohibits anyone from the school system from disparaging the plaintiffs or making public statements against the pact. The parties are required under the agreement to speak of it in positive or neutral terms.

The Montgomery-based civil rights group sued the school system in Mobile's federal court in 2011, alleging that the schools were unfairly imposing long-term suspensions on students for relatively minor offenses without giving them a chance to respond to the allegations.

Three years, 1,700 long-term suspensions

Morris said the schools handed out some 1,700 long-term suspensions during a three-year period.

Under the agreement, schools must inform students and their parents in writing before imposing a long-term suspension. The student will be presumed innocent and be offered a chance to rebut the allegations. His parents will be given a chance to speak, as well.

In addition, the student will be allowed to have a lawyer, a guidance counselor or a non-lawyer advocate speak on his behalf. There also will be a mechanism to appeal a principal’s suspension.

Under terms of the agreement, a student cannot be removed from class while the suspension proceedings are pending unless he or she is deemed a danger to other or a disruption to the classroom. If a student is suspended, the time he spends at this discipline hearing will count toward the suspension.

The school system has agreed to a schedule of changes designed to reach a goal of reducing long-term suspensions. Among them:

Beginning in September, the superintendent or someone she designates must approve any suspension lasting longer than 20 days. Also by September, the school system will come up with a suspension template modeled after one used by the Baltimore City school system.

The system will compile by September three years’ worth of data on school suspensions. By Oct. 18, the executive director of student services will begin reviewing all long-term suspensions and make statistical reports available on the system’s website.

The system will by Oct. 1 adopt a “simplified” code of conduct that is easy to understand and “preferably made shorter.” It also must be printed in Spanish and Vietnamese.

The system will pay for an expert to provide training for administrators and staff over one to two days by the end of the summer.

The system will create for the upcoming school year a professional development program for employees involved in discipline. The school system must make adherence to the new policies part of the principal evaluations by the 2014-15 school year.

By Feb. 14, the school system will create a working group made up of teachers, counselors, administrators, parents, students and community members to come up with research-based “restorative alternatives” to suspensions.

“The school system will solicit and consider creative ideas from administrators, parents, and students on how to reduce suspensions and improve discipline,” the agreement states.

Suspensions called ineffective

Morris said a host of recent research has shown that suspending students puts them behind academically and ignites a “very negative cycle” that actually worsens the problem once those students return to school.

“Suspension is generally not a very effective means of discipline,” she said. “Suspension is so harmful to students.”

In March, the SPLC, the community group FORCE (Fighting for Our Right to Children's Education) and local pastors, including Roderick F. Odom Sr., a minister with New Shiloh Missionary Baptist, held a rally in front of LeFlore Magnet High School to protest more than 90 suspensions.

LeFlore's principal, Alvin Dailey, handed down the suspensions after repeated warnings about compliance with the school's uniform policy.

School board members this afternoon welcomed the agreement with SPLC.

“I support the settlement, and I’m glad we’re bringing this to a close and going back to the business of keeping kids in our classrooms, receiving proper instruction,” board member Levon Manzie said.

Board member Reginald Crenshaw said he would be able to talk in more detail once Chief U.S. District Judge William Steele formally approves the settlement.

“We made a counteroffer on one or two issues,” he said. “We had already implemented some of the things they wanted done.”

Under the agreement, the school system must identify schools with high rates of suspension and high disparity in suspensions among different demographic groups. The system has agreed to strive toward reducing the number of school suspensions and the number of students who are suspended two times or more the same year. Another goal is to avoid disproportionately high rates of suspensions among males and minority students.

The determination as to whether the school system is complying with the agreement will fall to a committee consisting of a representative from the plaintiffs, a representative of the school system and an official with the state Department of Education. The plaintiffs also reserve the right to seek action from a federal judge.

Morris said she is confident that the school system will live up to the agreement.

“From what we have seen, there is a wholehearted commitment on the part of the superintendent and the board,” she said. “There are always bumps along every path.”

Reporter Sally Pearsall Ericson contributed to this report.