Heh ... I'd kill for numbers like that in my school---and I don't consider us too bad off!

We were running our end-of-year reports yesterday and in a high school of approximately 400 students, we had about 450 suspension days last year. On average, that's a little more than 1 per child or about 2.5 kids in suspension each day!

Our suspended students are detained in a special program which operates out of the district offices, which are right down the street. We just started this program as an alternative to just sending them home to watch TV when they get in trouble. Most of the offenses are for things like swearing at teachers (very common) and cutting class. We have had very few fights and no drug-related suspensions this year ... most kids have caught on that bringing drugs into school means being expelled for the remainder of the year and don't risk it.