AUGUSTA — On Thursday, March 13, 2025 testimony was heard at the Augusta State House regarding LD165: An Act to Allow School Boards to Expel or Suspend Students Regardless of Grade Level. Currently, the school board may authorize the principal to suspend students up to a maximum of ten days for infractions of school rules, including students who are considered deliberately disobedient or disorderly or for infractions of violence, for students in grade six or above. A student may be readmitted on satisfactory evidence that the behavior that was the cause of the student being expelled will not likely recur following a hearing. This bill would amend current standards, which exempt students in grade five or below from expulsion, and allow a school board to expel or authorize the suspension of any student regardless of age or grade.
Testimony was submitted from both sides of the argument by frustrated teachers who feel unprepared to deal with behavioral issues that arise in the classroom as well as former educators, representatives from the American Academy of Pediatrics (Maine AAP) and parents who fear this bill would be used to target students with disabilities.
A principal from Aroostook County stood in favor of LD165 stating they have seen firsthand the challenges schools face in severe behavioral problems. They argue the school board should have the ability to remove a student from the school until proper supports are put in place. Another educator from Washington County expresses frustration at students exhibiting behavioral problems not receiving the services they need to learn to regulate their behavior and suspending or expelling the students would show the seriousness of the students behavior.
Opponents of the bill believe suspension and expulsion are ineffective to correct the underlying behaviors present and sets the child up for future failures. Children who are suspended or expelled are often left alone without adult supervision and are at greater risk for substance abuse, engaging in physical fights and incarceration. Suspension and expulsion are seen as punitive measures that do more harm than good. They suggest reallocating resources to provide the services these students need to thrive in a school environment instead of expelling or suspending them from their educational community.
When considering consequences for children in grade five and below it is important to consider the developmental stages. According to many well researched developmental theories, children are unable to process fully the consequences of their actions while in elementary school. Children nine years of age and below display thinking that is not logical but rather centered on the self. They are only able process one concrete aspect of an event at a time. The greater consequences of a suspension or expulsion would give a child in this stage of development little motivation to change their behavior as they wouldn’t have the cognitive skills to understand the greater ramifications of such a punishment. Peer relationships are crucial to the child’s development as positive peer pressure could be the thing that turns a child’s behavior around. Ostracizing a child from their peer community would eliminate this huge developmental benefit. It is only when children grow older, around age ten, are they able to decenter their thinking and develop the ability to consider consequences beyond the immediate moment or take the perspective of another. Perspective taking is a complicated cognitive skill for a child. If they are unable to socialize with their peers they are unable to practice this in real world scenarios, endangering the child’s psychosocial development. This may explain why children who have experienced suspension are at a significantly higher risk of incarceration later in life.
Aroostook County, while being the most sparsely populated county in Maine, has the highest rate of youth incarceration. It is easy to understand the frustration of school teachers and administration in areas like Aroostook County who have little support or resources at their disposal to manage behavioral issues in the classroom. However, given the statistics, more support and community building, for both students and teachers, may be the solution rather than further isolating students through punitive measures.
LD165: An Act to Allow School Boards to Expel or Suspend Students Regardless of Grade Level is still being deliberated by the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee. To read the full bill and submitted testimonies visit https://legislature.maine.gov/billtracker/#Paper/165?legislature=132
Nicole Lund is a prison reform advocate, artist, speaker, and coauthor of Stuffed Behind Bars: Secret Recipes From Inside Maine State Prison. She holds a BA in Art Administration from the University of Maine at Farmington, where she is currently a Master’s student of Counseling Psychology with a focus on Creative Arts.
