It’s a given that students who have been suspended from school probably aren’t sitting at home studying calculus or reading Shakespeare — or even Harry Potter. More likely, they’re vegging out in front of the TV or, worse, exploring behaviors that may invite far more serious trouble — or put them at more personal risk — than an infraction at school.

It’s also a given that out-of-school suspensions — or any other form of discipline — should be administered as fairly and uniformly as is humanly possible.

What’s not a given, however, is how educators should deal with students whose behavior is so disruptive that it may preclude learning by others, or how they can manage students whose parents refuse to take any responsibility for their child’s behavior.

As Rowan-Salisbury school officials examine their use of in-school suspensions, those issues should provoke some serious discussions. A story in Sunday’s Post described the widespread debate over the practice of out-of-school suspensions and cited statistics that suggest such suspensions may be meted out disproportionately to black students in at least one Rowan-Salisbury school. While that’s not reason for anyone to accuse school administrators of racism, it is reason to thoroughly look at the suspension practices at all schools, determine whether minority students are being disproportionately punished with suspension and, if so, determine why that is occurring and how it can be remedied.

With out-of-school-suspensions coming under increasing scrutiny in North Carolina as well as around the nation, educators also need to examine what alternatives they have — or can create — as options to out-of-school suspensions. One option already being used is some form of in-school suspension in which disruptive students are separated from the main student population but continue to receive classroom instruction. That’s a costly remedy, however, that requires additional classroom space and additional personnel. A school board member also has suggested giving disruptive students more focused instruction in social skills.

Certainly, a school’s first obligation is to provide an orderly, safe environment for the majority of students who have the self-discipline — or at least a sufficient dose of parental discipline — to behave civilly and do the required work. In some cases, removing a chronically disruptive student from the school may be necessary. And for the most serious infractions, such as bringing a weapon to school or threatening other students, out-of-school suspensions may be the only recourse.

But those cases should be the exception. Suspensions should be issued sparingly, as a measure of last resort, and always with the awareness that while they may temporarily remove a problem from the school, that problem is all too likely to surface later somewhere else.