Parental Notification, Staggered Terms On Table For School Board

A new student discipline parental notification policy and staggered terms are among a handful of proposals to the Fairfax County School Board’s 2012 legislative program.

Each year, the board adopts a legislative program to promote its positions on state and federal legislative policy.The Board will discuss that program tonight at its 7 p.m. meeting at Luther Jackson Middle School in Falls Church

While voting in favor of any proposal adds it to the program, it does not necessarily change the board's policy.

Board member Tina Hone (At-large) is proposing a modification to the system's student discipline parental notification policy that mirrors a previous statewide bill introduced by Del. Kaye Kory (D-38th). Kory’s bill, which would have required schools to notify parents of a student whose violation is likely to result in suspension or the filing of a court petition, was passed unanimously by the state House but died in the Virginia Senate.

“This is modeled on what Kaye tried to do,” Hone said.

Hone’s proposal would require school officials to notify, except in exigent circumstances, students’ parents or guardians before students are questioned about rules or violations if school officials believe the violation is serious enough to result in suspension or 10 days or more, expulsion or criminal charges. Hone said the proposal also takes into account a June 2011 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that held that juveniles enjoy expanded Miranda rights when questioned by authorities.

“It’s not directly relevant, but it think it’s close enough in subject matter that it’s worth us taking a look at again,” Hone said.

It's a change that was not included i, when the board voted to increase flexibility for school administrators and students subject to disciplinary proceedings. Before transferring the student to another school, officials must now consider alternatives such as community service, loss of privileges or detention. But the board did not enact Superintendent Jack Dale’s recommendation calling for parent notification.

Board Member Tessie Wilson (Braddock) proposed an amendment tweaking the district’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) policy. Member Stu Gibson (Hunter Mill) said the amendment basically updates standards to better reflect communication in the digital age.

The FOIA proposal would reflect the growing use of electronic and social media and support the creation of a “third party disclosure” FOIA exemption.  For example, when one citizen emails a private citizen and that private email is subsequently forwarded to a public body with a message, a third party disclosure exemption would exempt the original private email from disclosure in response to a FOIA request.

“(This) amendment is an attempt to protect those whose e-mails may end up in School Board members’ mailboxes – and thus be subject to release under FOIA disclosure – without their ever having written to the Board,” board member Tessie Wilson, who worked on the FOIA issue, said in an email about the issue. “I can tell you that I have been contacted by constituents whose e-mails have appeared in online blogs, even though they never wrote to a School Board member.”

The FOIA proposal also allows for reimbursement for the costs of mandated redactions and modifies FOIA exemptions regarding investigations and redactions of witness names.

Separately, Gibson has proposed allowing board members serve staggered terms. At present, all school board members are up for election at the same time, every four years.

“We’re not the first people to come up with that [idea of staggered terms],” Gibson said. ”It’s been done in other counties, and the idea is, you don’t want to lose all your institutional knowledge at one time.”

The change to staggered terms would be subject to approval by the General Assembly, which means it couldn't take effect until 2015 at the earliest. If passed, some school board members would then be elected for two-year-terms, for example, and others to four-year terms. In subsequent elections all members would be elected to terms of equal length.

A final amendment, proposed by board member Brad Center, would add the following language to the Standards of Accreditation and Standards of Learning position: “The Fairfax County School Board supports Standards of Learning and SOL curriculum guidelines that strike an appropriate balance between a broad overview of a subject area and in-depth exploration of components within, and interrelationships between, subject areas.”

Center said his proposal reflects his opinion that too many topics are currently being covered too quickly and not in enough depth, particularly in science and history.

“You’re going a mile wide and an inch deep,” he said.

That practice ultimately results in diminished basic knowledge to build on in future school years, he said.

Hone has also suggested an amendment supporting federal legislation providing funding to improve school building infrastructure and to protect the jobs and salaries of teachers and staff. These goals are in line with federal efforts to improve education under the Obama administration, she said.