A group of Miami-Dade educators, politicians and juvenile justice officials held a forum on Friday to discuss preventive measures to decrease racial disparities in school discipline.

At the center of the debate, held inside the Miami-Dade School Board auditorium, was what most leaders called a poorly defined and overused zero-tolerance policy in the district and how it has resulted in a staggering number of arrests, expulsions and suspensions due to minor offenses.

''We're throwing away children at an early age by funneling them into the juvenile justice system,'' said Carlos Martinez, chief assistant Miami-Dade public defender. ``I would have been considered delinquent for many of the things I did as a child.''

Martinez gave the opening remarks to the forum entitled ``Improving Educational Outcomes and Reducing Disparities in Arrests and Discipline By Doing What Works.''

The session was the third in a series that explored the linkages between school failure, zero-tolerance polices, race and delinquency and their relevance to the Supreme Court's decision in Brown vs. Board of Education.

Last year, when Miami-Dade schools police arrested about 2,500 students, black students accounted for more than half of those arrests, though they only make up 28 percent of county enrollment, district records show. Blacks also accounted for more than half of the 29,000 students sent home on outdoor suspension.

''Our primary mission is to chart a course to reduce racial disparities in suspensions and arrests, so all our children can share in the American dream,'' said event organizer Bennett H. Brummer, Miami-Dade public defender.

Throughout the four-hour-long dialogue, officials stressed the importance of prevention before punishment and the role that early intervention plays in making that philosophy a reality.

''We're aggressively implementing measures to address what's going in the lives of kids who are exhibiting bad behavior,'' said schools Police Chief Gerald Darling. ``Using us as the bullies and bad guys does not fix the problem.''

Darling has implemented a civil citation program, which officials say will cut down on most of the arrests. Under the program, first- and second-time offenders will get citations for minor offenses such as disorderly conduct and trespassing.

The district has also proposed a new kind of suspension starting next school year. Suspended students who commit certain violations of the code of conduct will be required to go to alternative centers where they'll be assigned conflict resolution and other forms of anger-management intervention.

But some officials present suggested that the zero-tolerance policy mandate sending thousands into handcuffs should be restructured as well as the student code of conduct guidelines.

''We pay for programs that are reactive,'' argued state NAACP President Adora Obi Nweze. ``We need to change the zero-tolerance statute.''

Sharon Frazier-Stephens said the policy has taken a personal toll.

''My son was one of those kids who fell through the cracks. . . . When he was arrested, no one at the school notified me,'' said Stephens, a volunteer at Miami Norland High. ``Now he's in a correctional facility.''

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