FZTR Hopes School Board's SR&R Vote Isn't Final Call
The reform group plans to rally before the FCPS meeting on Thursday.
As Fairfax County School Board members prepare to vote on revisions to the school system's discipline policies at their meeting on Thursday, reform supporters are planning a rally before and during the meeting to show their dissatisfaction with the proposed changes.
Fairfax Zero Tolerance Reform Rally for Student Rights will kick off at 6:30 p.m. in front of Luther Jackson Middle School. The school board meeting begins at 7 p.m., with a vote on the changes to the Student Responsibilities and Rights handbook scheduled for around 7:45 p.m.
FCPS Superintendent Jack Dale presented his own 10 recommendations for changes to the discipline process and Student Responsibilities and Rights handbook last month, along with feedback collected from parents by school principals and groups such as the Fairfax County Council of PTAs and Fairfax Zero Tolerance Reform, a group of concerned citizen who fight for reform of Fairfax County school disciplinary policies and their implementation.
Some school board members and local advocacy groups think the superintendent's recommended changes to the system’s disciplinary process don't go far enough – especially in the areas of parental notification and access to audio recordings of hearings.
FTZR President Caroline Hemenway said the changes are small and aren't close enough to the complete discipline system overhaul the group would like to see.
"More than 70 issues were raised [at the March 14 work session], and the board stated it would be responsible for leadership in reviewing them," she wrote. "Instead, the board ceded responsibility to the superintendent. As a result, his proposal does not go anywhere near far enough to include parents and guardians in preventive, rehabilitative, or restorative practices."
She adds these guidelines for the school board to consider Thursday night:
- Whatever happens, this is only a START; keep the reform review going.
- Notify parents/guardians before kids are questioned, give them Miranda warnings, do not let them sign statements without parent/guardian permission. Superintendent Jack Dale's SR&R proposed changes state only that an attempt to notify parents will be made after questioning.
- Put a moratorium on involuntary lateral school transfers because research/data show they are deleterious and none shows they are beneficial. Work with national experts to develop criteria for the very limited cases where they may be appropriate. The proposed SR&R changes do not address this issue at all, Hemenway says.
- Record all hearings and make them available for free immediately to parents who request them. Jack Dale's proposed SR&R changes suggest hearings be recorded but parents can only "review" them, not have copies.
- Support children on suspension by providing ongoing educational (and wraparound) services throughout; meantime, reduce out-of-school suspensions to as close to zero as possible.
- Reduce disproportional discipline against students with disabilities and disadvantaged students, including minorities. This is not addressed in Jack Dale's proposed SR&R changes.
FZTR plans to wear red "as a symbol of valor and strength" and wave signs, Hemenway said. The meeting is shown live on Channel 21.
Sue
9:15 am on Wednesday, June 8, 2011
It is unfortunate that FZTR has conducted itself in such a negative, angry and aggressive manner (see Patch comments by the Pres. and others on the Bd). They have lost credibility with many. The issues raised are important but the approach was all wrong. Hopefully its leaders will re-think how they direct their passion for an issue and work on better channeling this passion in a more constructive and consensus gathering approach.
Dobby24
12:04 pm on Wednesday, June 8, 2011
I agree. I have heard and read extremely nasty comments from this group and other groups such as FEC who say they are speaking for the majority. Well they don't speak for me and they are teaching our kids that bullying works. I have a child with a disability who has been bullied by someone who was NOT removed from the school and continued to harass my child. There are two sides to every story and this group needs to hear it.
L Bligh
8:23 am on Thursday, June 9, 2011
I agree with FZTR that the transfers should not be the default consequence for a wide range of infractions, but agree with Dobby24 that there are situations where transfer is appropriate. Continual bullying seems to me to be a reason to force a school transfer. Bringing one's acne medicine to school is not.
Graham
11:36 am on Thursday, June 9, 2011
When parents find out their kids can be coerced into false confessions under interrogation by school officials without being notified, believe me, the "majority" get pretty upset. When parents find out they are not allowed to record their own kids' discipline hearings, and then undergo abuse by the hearings officers in those rooms, they get upset. When parents find out kids get kicked out of school for minor and first-time infractions, and with zero evidence it helps anything, they get upset. When school authorities abuse authority, parents get upset. When advocacy groups that have data, research, the law, and children's interests on their side are dismissed and ignored by school officials and some board members, they get upset. When school data are found to be nonexistent, wrong, manipulated, or misused, school systems lose all credibility. It is incumbent upon FCPS to prove its discipline process works as intended, which it has not. That is where credibility goes out the door.
L Bligh
1:13 pm on Thursday, June 9, 2011
Some might question the point about "false confessions," above, but students have been trained to tell the teachers what they want to hear. I remember a bullying situation when one of my kids was in elementary school. All the students involved were required to write out an account of what happened and how he/she contributed to the problem. Basically in order to get to leave the principal's office and return to class, the victim(s) had to take on some of the culpability. This situation is very common. It certainly wouldn't occur to a students that the pro forma written statements could be used to kick them out of school.
Consider other incidences of telling the teachers what they want to hear. Another of my kids had to write an essay recently, with the instruction: "Write about a poem that inspires you." My kid detests poetry and hasn't yet been inspired by a poem, so it was necessary to fake it utterly. It's all in a day's work for a student. See what I mean?