BUFFALO, N.Y. — Innocent Nkurunziza is a sophomore at McKinley High School.
"Usually kids at my school get suspended for oddly and strange reasons, and I would like to have students know why they're getting suspended and figure out their solution," Nkurunziza said.
He's just one of many students and local organizations trying to lower the number of suspensions within the Buffalo Public Schools, a recurring theme for the district with more than 32,000 enrolled.
"We've been working on this issue for over a decade. Buffalo Schools is doing some work on this, but we still have one of the highest suspension rates in the state, about 5,000 suspensions have happened this school year," said Jessica Bauer Walker, who is president of the BPS Community Health Worker Parent & Student Association.
Students say most of the time, their peers aren't even aware of the procedure for a suspension.
"When you're suspended, you're supposed to get a letter. Before you're suspended, your parents are supposed to be called. A lot of the time this isn't happening. You get sent to the office, and then you're sent right home, and a lot of the time, kids don't even know this isn't supposed to be happening," said Serea Walker, a sophomore at the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts.
It's just part of the reason they were trying to educate students and parents about the process Saturday afternoon.
Bauer Walker says students who act out need consequences, but it's not always a suspension.
"I have been in so many conferences with students where they were taken away by Child Protective Services, or they lost a family member, they saw somebody get shot in their neighborhood, and so they're going to act up. So if we can just pull them aside and say, 'What's going on?' a lot of our students say is, 'This was a misunderstanding,' or, 'I made a mistake,' " she said.
Bauer Walker says suspensions last about five days, but some can last for most of the school year. She says of they're out for more than 20 days, students are less likely to graduate.
"The first and foremost thing we can do is we can ask them what's going on and come up with an appropriate response," Bauer Walker said.