Thirteen-year-old Levent goes to an Indianapolis middle school that's been celebrated for its test scores – but he's behind academically. His mother, Shania, believes that's because of how often he's been disciplined and suspended.
Levent has ADHD, or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, which his school, Paramount Englewood, has documented as a disability. School records show he has been disciplined for misbehavior like repeatedly disrespecting teachers and for leaving campus during the school day, raising safety concerns; he's been suspended for fighting, for "not following school rules" when he was already in trouble and for "horseplaying (fighting) in the restroom."
NPR is referring to both Levent and Shania, as well as the other student and parent in this story, by their middle names because the article describes the students' disabilities and how they have been disciplined at school.
It often feels to Levent, who is in eighth grade, like he's being unfairly punished. Take an incident last school year, when he was suspended for wrestling with a classmate.
"It felt like I was getting suspended for just playing around with my friend," Levent says.
To his mom, when her son gets suspended from school and sent home, it feels like the school is ignoring his disability. Shania says ADHD makes Levent impulsive – and contributes to many of the incidents that get him suspended.
"Why is he getting in trouble for what ADHD looks like?" she asks.
In records, school staff have said they don't believe all of Levent's misbehavior is related to his disability.
Nationwide, students with disabilities are suspended at far higher rates than their non-disabled peers.
Levent's school is part of a charter network that stands out in Indiana: An NPR analysis of 2024-25 state data found that the system, Paramount Schools of Excellence, suspended students with disabilities about three times as often as the state average.
Paramount's supporters, including many parents, have praised the network for calm classrooms and strong academic performance, especially among students from low-income families and students of color.
But several current and former Paramount parents told NPR that some students – especially those with disabilities – struggle to follow the rules that foster those quiet classrooms.
"It's either you fit this mold or you don't," Shania says. "And if you don't, then we're going to suspend, suspend, suspend."
"Calm" hallways and very high suspension rates
Paramount Schools of Excellence is a growing charter network in Indiana. As a K-8 charter system, its campuses are privately managed but publicly funded and free to attend.
When Paramount CEO Tommy Reddicks describes his schools, one of the first words he uses is calm. The halls are quiet. In classrooms, students are focused on school work. "We're very much a calm, collected school environment rather than a kind of really jazz you up cheerleading type of environment," he says.
Federal data shows Indiana schools rely on exclusionary discipline like out-of-school suspension more than schools in most other states. And Paramount's suspension rates surpass Indiana's state averages among students with and without disabilities.
For every 100 students in general education in the Paramount system, there were about 45 suspensions, according to an NPR analysis of state data from the 2024-25 school year. The statewide average was 10.
For every 100 children receiving special education services, there were about 73 suspensions. The statewide average was 22.
This data reflects the total number of suspensions, not the number of students suspended.
Reddicks attributes the network's high suspension rates in part to its structured approach, which he believes protects the learning environment and ultimately benefits students, including those with disabilities.
"You know, a lot of our special education incidents typically involve safety of others or safety of the students in question," Reddicks explains.
Reddicks says, and state data confirms, that Paramount schools reduced suspensions among students with disabilities during the 2024-25 school year.
He says the decline reflects both the maturing of campuses that opened in recent years and that enrolled first-time Paramount students, as well as the network's focus on training staff to reduce suspensions.
When suspensions do happen, Reddicks says he doesn't believe they hold students back.
"We know that, in our more structured system, students with suspensions still perform very well and typically outperform state averages," he says.
Reddicks shared data from two Paramount schools. It showed students who have been suspended do outperform state averages on standardized tests, but only in some grades. He did not provide data for the network's other campuses, including Paramount Englewood.
Why some families of students with disabilities are drawn to Paramount
For some parents, the discipline policies that help foster Paramount's quiet classrooms are a selling point. It's one reason Nicol, who has sent five children to a Paramount school, kept driving her family there even after she moved across town.
"I like that they're strict," Nicol says. "You walk into Paramount, their kids are sitting at the desk. Their kids are doing what needs to be done."
Even when her own children have been suspended, Nicol has seen some benefit.
Her 12-year-old son, Leon, has autism and other disabilities. Last year, Leon's behavior spiraled after his grandfather died, Nicol says. He began cussing and throwing objects in class. Nicol says that not every suspension he received was necessary but that he should be suspended when he pushes or fights with other students.
"He does need to be held accountable," she says. "Because I don't want to say, 'Oh, well, let's let [Leon] get by with this because he has autism.'"
Overall, Nicol says educators at Paramount have worked hard to meet Leon's needs. She trusts Paramount in part because she believes her two oldest children's experience there set them up to succeed in high school.
The costs of missing school
Some experts say that when schools suspend students with disabilities, it's little more than a Band-Aid that gives educators a break from misbehavior and a chance to think through how to respond.
"I would say suspension doesn't fix much," says Federico Waitoller, a professor of special education at the University of Illinois Chicago. Waitoller says suspensions don't help students with disabilities learn and grow.
"You're not teaching anything, right?" says Waitoller, a former special educator. "You're saying, 'Don't do this.' But you're not telling the student what to do, how to do it — and give them the supports to do it."
Levent's mother, Shania, says that she's seen some of his difficult behavior at home and that she would like him to learn to control his impulses — to stop horseplaying and arguing when adults ask him to do something.
But Shania says suspensions do little to teach her son how to behave. And the missed days of school add up. Records show Levent's school suspended him for at least 10 days last school year. Then, after Levent walked off campus a few weeks before the end of the year, he had to spend most of the final days of school at home, where he received about an hour of remote instruction a day, according to school records.
All that missed school has taken a toll, Shania says.
"I don't want him to get even further behind," she says. "Because again, this is a kid that's behind."
Levent started his final year of middle school in August – and already Shania is frustrated by how the school is handling his behavior. She says she's considering pulling him out.
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