9 Investigates

9 Investigates: Former CMS teacher reveals classroom dangers, suspension issues

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A former Charlotte-Mecklenburg teacher opened up to Channel 9 about dangerous behaviors in the classroom and said not enough is being done to stop it. He said that suspension rates in the district are partly to blame.

"The year before I retired, I received three written death threats on my desk,” former teacher Ken Kyzer said.

Kyzer said that was the tipping point. He's a veteran and spent 14 years teaching in the CMS district, most of it at North Mecklenburg High School.

"I'd rather have been back in combat," Kyzer said. "I went around my methods, so I didn't have to turn my back on my kids for any length of time. I always kept my phone close by."

Kyzer said some of his students were violent but faced little discipline.

"The first question that I was always asked was, ‘What had I done to set the kid off?’ I don't know. Ask him to be quiet, ask him to put his phone off, ask him to do his work?"

He believes part of the problem came down to suspension rates.

"They just told us that we had to get suspension rates down," Kyzer said.

The way the state monitors suspensions is complex.

For three school years, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14, the state determined CMS was suspending too many African-American students with disabilities.  They were found to have what was called "significant disproportionately."

Those numbers are monitored under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act.  A formula determined by the state and federal government determine suspensions were too high.

Bill Hussey, the director of the state's Exceptional Children Division, told Channel 9 because of those high suspension numbers, CMS was ordered to take part of its federal money earmarked for special education students and use it on preventing behavioral issues among all students.

According to CMS, that was about $4 million a year.

“(It’s) to try to help prevent suspensions of children who are regular ed, who are at-risk and could become special ed," Hussey said.

Channel 9 asked if that made sense, given that the students being suspended were specifically exceptional children.

"Logic would say yes, but the federal government has said this is how you spend it,” Hussey responded.

Hussey said CMS had to reduce its suspensions of African-American students with disabilities and showed the state the other forms of prevention and discipline it had implemented for all students.

Kyzer said he saw some of those efforts firsthand, but they either were ineffective, or his school didn't have the resources to keep them up.

"Does me no good to have a kid who's cussing me out removed from class today, and he's right back in there tomorrow. That sends a message to the other kids that it's OK, and I'm not in charge of the classroom, they are," Kyzer said.

Hussey couldn't comment specifically on Kyzer's concerns, but did discuss his own experience in the classroom.

"I was a teacher of behaviorally challenged children, and you don't turn them around quickly, and you also can't work with them when they're not in the school, so you have to work with them in the environment that exists.  It's difficult, and when you're not expecting that level of behavior, it is disconcerting and difficult, but you really have to stay consistent and really be with that kid over time to really make change,” Hussey said.

Channel 9 asked Hussey from his perspective, if enough was being done to make it so suspension isn't always the answer.

"I think districts take suspension very seriously, I think people are working at it and around solutions for it all the time. It's a big problem. It's bigger than schools. It's about community, it's about families and it's about how all those things are coordinated together,” Hussey said.

If there's further change to discipline and suspensions, it has to come from the regular education side and not just special education, Hussey said.

While districts work to reduce suspensions all students get, there's no consequence unless numbers are considered too high for exceptional children, as it is tied to a federal law, and federal funds.  All districts are encouraged to find alternate forms of discipline to suspension.

"There's no consequence that is directly applied to a district as a result of suspensions, other than, if there's a serious problem with suspensions, there's probably other serious problems," Hussey said.

Kyzer hoped by speaking out, serious change will come.

"I don't know anybody in CMS from the superintendent on down that doesn't mean well. They want the best for these students. We just got to find a way to give them the best,” Kyzer said.

CMS has succeeded in lowering suspension rates in recent years for African-American students with disabilities, and are no longer considered to have "significant disproportionately."

CMS declined to speak on camera to Channel 9 about the issue.

Channel 9 did talk on the phone with the district's Exceptional Children Department. Officials said when it comes to behavioral issues, students are provided various levels and types of support in and out of the classroom depending on their needs. Repeated suspensions are monitored carefully.

When asked about changes made because of their high numbers, they said districtwide, more preventative measures and alternatives to suspensions were implemented.

Channel 9 asked about those measures and teacher concerns. Officials directed Channel 9 to a website for Positive Behavior Intervention and Support.

[LINK: Positive Behavior Intervention and Support]