A state educator is being forced to defend his practice of suspending four year-old, pre-K students.

What do you think?

The state of Maryland is in the national spotlight because of its' suspension of pre-K students. 91 students were expelled or suspended in the 2011-2012 school year according to the most recent data available. The city of Baltimore suspended 33 young students last year, a number that almost tripled from the previous year.

Educators who work directly with the children in the schools say that the decision to suspend a child is never taken lightly, and it almost always comes down to the issue of safety and zero tolerance. He argues that the suspensions were for one day only, and were based on consultations with a school psychologist, a social worker and the school's assistant principal. He argues that the school needed to be the disciplinarian because there weren't any interventions taking place outside of the school setting.

Others argue that children that young do not fully understand the consequences of their actions, and that they are to young to understand that kind of punishment. A day not spent in the classroom is a vacation to them. Suspensions, they say treat, pre-K students almost like fifth or sixth graders and do not start young students on a strong path towards success.

How do you feel about suspending pre-K students?

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