Peer juries reduce suspensions, increase attendance at Chicago public schools

School is a joke, and getting suspended is an easy, cool way to get free days off while impressing the ladies.

That is what Senn High School sophomore David Shamon thought before he faced a jury of his fellow students last year.

“I didn’t get what I was doing was wrong,” Shamon said. “Kids and adults don’t listen to each other a lot of times, but when people the same age with the same mind tell you what’s up—it clicks.”

Senn High on the city's North Side was the first of 44 Chicago public high schools to adopt a peer jury program in 1995 devised by Alternatives Inc., a local community organization. The goal: give students alternative consequences to getting kicked out of school. The means to the goal: create a student jury to review cases of student misconduct.

Students are trained to serve on peer juries to hear cases of misconduct ranging from sneaking in a cell phone to fighting in the halls. The jury's focus is to identify the root of the misbehavior and rectify any harm done.

“It gets kids talking about their actions instead of just automatically sending them home where the problem just sits,” said Cornelius Ellen, peer jury coordinator at Dyett Academic Center on the South Side. “Having students take ownership of their actions can make a big difference and often leaks out into the community.”

At Dyett, he said, student arrest rates have decreased by 83 percent since the program was introduced last year.

Since his visit to the peer jury, said Shamon, he has not seen the inside of the Dean’s office, and he is now an active peer juror. Advisors said many referred students often follow the same path.

Students labeled trouble makers often turn out to be amazing leaders and role models, said Sara Echevarria, peer juror advisor at Clemente Community Academy High School at Division Street and Western Avenue.

Designed to give students a voice in matters of school discipline, the program prevented more than 1,000 suspensions last year and increased school attendance and instructional time, according to CPS officials. Advisors said they also see fewer students entering in the juvenile court system.

So if this program works, why isn't it up and running in every Chicago public school?

It's a matter of funding and resources, said members of the Citywide Peer Jury Advisory Committee. However, plans are in the works to start a pilot peer jury program in middle schools.

“We have the Board of Education’s buy-in," said Dr. Inez Drummond, CPS peer jury supervisor. "Now we just need to get the word out to schools and add more funding and we’ll make it happen.”

The public school system honored more than 500 peer jurors Wednesday at the Northwestern University Law School.