Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Debate heats up as school board weighs community and staff recommendations before coming school year.
Two weeks after a community committee detailed 52 recommendations to overhaul discipline practices systemwide, Fairfax County Public Schools staff has presented its own proposal for policy changes. But the plan leaves out two programs some see as key to a years-long push for reform — sparking a debate Monday on what role both groups would play in how the system moves forward. Staff leaders backed many of the ideas put forward by the 40-member Ad Hoc Community Committee on Student Rights and Responsibilities, including initiatives to make the discipline handbook easier to understand, keep students in school as they appeal a suspension and give principals tiered, age-specific approaches to a range of offenses. But staff members said they …
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Eyes turn to the Fairfax County School Board as it weighs how to move forward in an overhaul of its disciplinary process.
More than two years after parent advocates rallied for widespread reform to Fairfax County Public Schools' disciplinary procedures, a community committee has made more than 50 recommendations to overhaul the system's practices. Among them: creating a "second chance program" for first-time drug and alcohol offenders, requiring schools in most instances to notify parents before students are questioned and establishing a standing committee to oversee reform. Committee members told the school board Wednesday the Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook should also include a separate section for students with disabilities — who make up about 14 percent of the system's population but comprise about 40 percent of suspension and expulsion …
Friday, February 8, 2013
Committee hosts outreach meetings this month in an effort to reform the county's Student Rights and Responsibilities handbook.
Parents, community members, educators and others gathered Thursday to discuss Fairfax County Public Schools' disciplinary procedures, "second chance" programs and parental notification. Those are among the modifications the system could look to make as it continues its years-long process of reforming its Student Rights and Responsibilities handbook. But many of the few dozen people at the meeting, which was moderated by the Ad Hoc Community Committee on Student Rights and Responsibilities (SRR), said they couldn’t understand the SR&R guide itself, complaining it resembled a legal document. It is too long and too hard to understand, they said. Parents recommended the SR&R handbook be simplified or at least made more easily searchable …
Friday, September 16, 2011
Supporters say cameras inside schools would help administrators do their jobs; opponents say it takes away student privacy.
A proposal to install video surveillance cameras inside Fairfax County high schools is resurfacing decade-long discussions about student safety and privacy, pitting high school principals who believe the system could curb theft and discipline issues against local activists and community members who say the program is ineffective and violates student rights. The Fairfax County High School Principals Association and the schools’ Department of Facilities and Transportation Services brought the proposal before the school board at a Monday work session, saying the program could help administrators curb disciplinary issues like food fights, physical altercations or drug dealing. “We really need to have cameras in our schools for security reasons…
doris lyons
12:50 pm on Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Bullying is a major problem in many schools and even in the lower grades. In the current conversation there is too much focus on one or two infractions and not enough attention to the overall school environment. On the one hand we always hear that the "Parents should be involved." Then, when the parents try to be involved, no- they can't even be notified to be present when their child is facing … more ›