Catrina Weber, of Over-the-Rhine. (Gary Landers photo)

No, kids need to be taught behavior

OVER-THE-RHINE - Kindergartners should never be suspended, says Catrina Weber, an Over-the-Rhine parent of a kindergartner at the Academy of Multilingual Immersion Studies.

"Kindergartners are too young to have vicious intent," she says. "The school ought to work with them, sit down with them and maybe separate them from other children."

But kicking them out of school is too harsh, she says.

"These zero-tolerance policies don't allow children to be children," she says.

Her son, Gregory, 5, has been in trouble, although not suspended, for hitting other children with an umbrella, swinging his book bag and throwing Pokemon pieces off the school bus.

The full day of school at the Roselawn academy was a difficult transition for Gregory this year.

Last year, he attended half-day programs at a Community Action Agency Head Start in Over-the-Rhine.

Though the children in Head Start worked on a journal, learning to write their names and practice the alphabet and other words, they did not have to stay in their seats or work if they didn't want to. Gregory thinks school should be the same way, Weber says.

"We were having a time getting him to adjust."

Weber, vice president of the Parent Teacher Organization at the school, says she spoke with Gregory's teacher about the boy's behavior and then had a sit-down with her son. She says she learned he didn't understand he should listen to all the adults around him, even those who aren't his classroom teacher.

"He doesn't know any better," Weber says. "He has to be taught."