Lawyer Tried to Keep Traumatized Students in School

James Hagerty:

While working for a Boston nonprofit in the early 1990s, she saw a surge of expulsions of students from schools enforcing a zero-tolerance policy for behavior seen as threatening the safety of classmates or teachers. Among her clients was a 15-year-old boy, neglected by his mother and abused by his father, who was banished from school and a regular in juvenile court. She took him to a psychologist, who offered a surprising diagnosis: post-traumatic stress disorder.

The experience spurred Ms. Cole to look for ways to help schools embrace traumatized students—afflicted by such things as neglect or domestic violence—rather than kicking them out. That would be more humane, she thought, and cheaper for society in the long run than endless cycles of prosecution and incarceration.

In 2004, she helped create the Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative, a collaboration between Massachusetts Advocates for Children and Harvard Law School. Her campaigning led to funding in Massachusetts and other states for programs that train educators to recognize the effects of trauma and help students find solace and support at school.