Eliminating Excessive and Unfair Exclusionary Discipline in Schools Policy Recommendations for Reducing Disparities

All schools must be safe places for all members of the learning community. Schools have the right and indeed the responsibility to develop safe school climates to protect the safety of students and teachers, as well as the integrity of learning Yet the data indicate that it is relatively rare for students to pose a serious danger to themselves or others.In states like Texas, serious safety concerns trigger a "non-discretionary" mandatory removal, but these represent less than 5% of all disciplinary removals from school. While exclusion on grounds of safety is infrequent, students are routinely removed from school for minor offenses like tardiness, truancy, using foul language, disruption, and violation of the dress code.Of course, public school educators are also responsible for ensuring the integrity of the learning environment and attend to misbehavior that does not raise safety concerns. There is no question that there are circumstances where removing a student from a classroom is helpful to de-escalate a conflict, or to pursue an intervention outside the classroom with the support of an administrator, a counselor, parent(s) or community members. However, too many of our nation's public schools have moved away from reserving school exclusion only for the most serious offenses, and as a measure of last resort. Excessive suspensions and expulsions threaten educational opportunity, thereby undermining our national goals for closing academic achievement gaps for all children

Cost, Schedule and Safety Benefits of Early System Safety Involvement

System safety engineering is the application of engineering and management principles, criteria and techniques to achieve acceptable mishap risks. System safety typically reduces mishap risks through analyses that identify and address potential system failure modes. Studies indicate that when system safety is involved early in the product lifecycle, schedule slippage and cost escalation resulting from design changes can be substantially reduced. Development programs often face the dilemma of whether to apply funding to perform thorough, intensive system safety analyses in the conceptual design phase or wait until later, when designs are more complete, parts are being manufactured or testing is underway. Performing the analyses earlier consumes funds that might be needed later, while performing the analyses later increases the likelihood of expensive and time-consuming redesigns. This paper provides examples that encourage involving system safety engineering earlier in the process, by demonstrating the cost and schedule advantages, as well as the expected safety risk reduction. In addition, involving system safety earlier permits corrective actions to be implemented at a higher level in the system safety order of design precedence, which increases the effectiveness of corrective actions and reduces residual risk

Quantifying the impacts of ozone pollution on the sustainability of pasture

Tropospheric ozone (O3) is a potent threat to food security. In recent years, increasing evidence suggests that ozone can have large effects on the growth and functioning of grassland species, although the responses of grassland to ozone are complex and difficult to predict. Given the global ecological and economic importance of grasslands, there is a continuing need to research the effects of ozone on grassland and pasture. In this PhD project, the impacts of ozone on temperate managed pasture were investigated, primarily through a series of ozone-exposure experiments. Elevated ozone (seasonal mean concentration 30-67ppb) was found to have large impacts on pasture vegetation, including injury and premature senescence, reduced biomass production, declining production and yield, and impacts on forage quality. Ozone impacts on nodulation and nitrogen (N)-fixation in legumes have not extensively been investigated, but could have important consequences for pasture sustainability, with predicted reductions in the root nodule biomass of clovers (Trifolium spp.) of 12% or more in UK pasture. Ozone impacts on below ground biomass displayed a strong interaction with cutting, and intensive grazing could disproportionately increase the sensitivity of N-fixation in pasture to the effects of ozone. Flux-based ozone doseresponse relationships are constructed for biomass, total injury rates, N-fixation and forage quality in high-sugar ryegrass (HSG) pasture mesocosms, which could assist in the development of new critical levels for the protection of pasture vegetation

Ecology of Giant Mud Crab (Scylla serrata) in southeast Australia

Giant Mud Crab (Scylla serrata) is a large, estuarine portunid crab (Family: Portunidae) that is widely distributed throughout the Indo-West Pacific. In southeast Australia, the species supports important recreational and commercial fisheries, but harvest can be highly variable. Variability in fisheries harvest in this region is likely exacerbated at the southern extent of the species range, which is considered a climate change hotspot. However, there is a lack of locally relevant information regarding the ecology and behaviour of the species. The aim of this thesis is to quantify the effect of environmental variation on spawning, larval dispersal, and adult behaviour to inform adaptive management of the species. Acoustic telemetry was used to provide the first direct record of a female spawning migration from estuaries to the ocean, triggered by cooler water temperatures and rapid declines in conductivity (following high rainfall events). We also provide evidence of a long-range northern migration along the coast that is consistent with other crustacean and finfish species in the region. Larval dispersal simulations suggest high connectivity between estuarine populations and provide evidence for a north-south source sink structure for populations within the region. In addition, we demonstrate how patterns in connectivity diverge between Giant Mud Crab and Blue Swimmer Crab (Portunus armatus) as a function of larval growth rates and mesoscale oceanography. Fine-scale movement data demonstrates a link between the tidal cycle and foraging that suggests crabs employ a foraging strategy that minimizes predation risk while maximizing energetic efficiency. Finally, observer-based catch rate data demonstrates how environmental variation (e.g., water temperature, river flow) can influence catchability of this iconic species with implications for stock assessment