The Zero Tolerance Reform advocacy group was in existence several years prior to Josh's death and had been calling attention, albeit on deaf ears, to this draconian and overly harsh punitive process. Had reforms occurred at that time, perhaps our son would be alive.
We find it interesting that the 10 recommendations below are being touted by school officials as "the most sweeping changes in more than a dozen years." As Tim says, if nothing has been done in many years, any change will be "sweeping". We see this as county "spin" to make this look better than what it really is.
- Refining notification rules and helping parents prepare for the process
- Helping students and parents understand their rights and responsibilities
- Recording all disciplinary hearings
- Shortening the disciplinary process
- Providing instructional and intervention support for students in limbo
- Giving more power to principals
- Collecting data on existing and any new disciplinary processes
- Urging parents to fill out exit surveys after hearings and school board rulings
- Training and retraining staff on disciplinary guidelines
- Continuing the "Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support" programs across all schools
Do you have the same reaction as we do when reading this list? Aren't these just "bare minimum" items? Isn't the county exposing how little attention has been placed on the disciplinary process that affected over 600 students last year and largely responsible for the deaths of two? A process that all 175,000 students are exposed to?
Let's be honest Superintendent Dale and School Board members, this list isn't about true reform - it is about establishing procedures that should've been in place from the start.
For example, how can FCPS subject students to involuntary transfers, basically ripping them out of their community, and not collect data on the impact of this highly punitive action to the student? We find this "unconscionable".
This is a start but there is a long way to go. Here is our list that would signal true reform.
IMMEDIATE CHANGE that must be demanded by all FCPS parents:
- Parents MUST BE notified if their child has done anything to warrant suspension. There should be NO questioning of the student by school administrators or SRO (School Resource Officers) and NO searching of student property until at least one parent is present.
- Stop involuntary transfers immediately until the process has been reformed. Heaven help the Superintendent and School Board if another FCPS student who has been involuntarily transferred attempts or succeeds in suicide.
REFORM the process
- The initial hearing should be at the local schools. Only if the student is deemed a threat to the school community by people who know the student, should it be "kicked" up the School Board Hearing Office.
- Use the money saved by reducing the Hearing office (the cost is approximately $1.6 million) to provide training on the local level for these hearings.
- First time juvenile offenders should be treated as such. Distinctions must be made between dumb teen mistakes and hardened criminal activity. It should not be that the law treats these kids with more compassion and understanding than the school system.
- Consequences should match the offense with a goal of education and reform. Kids should be able to make dumb teen mistakes and learn from them without wholesale change and disruption to their lives. NOTE: We are not saying that kids who break rules shouldn't be punished. They should be. But not in a way that is overly harsh and punitive.
- SRO presence in schools should be re-evaluated. We have heard horror stories of "over zealous" SRO's that take any excuse to search students. It is as though they are looking for someone to prosecute. Has something that started out as a good thing, gone too far?
- Involuntary transfers should be the absolute last resort, not the first.
Our overall comment to the Superintendent and the School Board is this: Stop hiding behind the excuse of "we are following the Virginia State Code when we recommend first-time student offenders for expulsion." It has been established that Virginia law not only allows school boards to use discretion for special circumstances but can determine what those circumstances are.
Remember what it was like to be a teen. If you were back in high school, did you engage in activity that would subject you to the disciplinary process? And if so, how would you have fared?
Use discretion; have compassion.
Or more famously said: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. "
Or more famously said: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. "
