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 …
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Meetings across Fairfax County continue years-long conversations on Student Rights and Responsibilities.
Four months after the Fairfax County School Board named members to a committee tasked with reviewing the system's student rights and responsibilities handbook, the group is seeking input from residents on what changes it should consider moving forward. The Ad Hoc Community Committee on Student Rights and Responsibilities (SR&R), created by the board Sept. 20, has traveled across the county this week and will continue to do so through Feb. 23, seeking parent, student and community member feedback on how to improve Fairfax County Public Schools' disciplinary procedures. The meeting closest to Vienna will be held Thursday at McLean High School. The 40-member group — which includes representatives appointed by the county's three major teachers…
Friday, October 12, 2012
Forty-person group charged with reviewing FCPS discipline policies will meet Oct. 24.
The Fairfax County School Board unanimously appointed 40 members Thursday to a newly-created committee tasked with reviewing the system's student rights and responsibilities handbook, putting the body in place to begin its work by the end of October. The Ad Hoc Community Committee on Student Rights and Responsibilities (SR&R), created by the board Sept. 20, includes representatives appointed by the county's three major teachers unions, high school and middle school principal associations, as well as the county's associations for school social workers and psychologists. It also includes Bob Bermingham, Director of the county's Juvenile & Domestic Relations District Court, Hearings Officer JD Anderson, and two students. Among the committee'…
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Twenty-nine appointees will recommend changes to student handbook
The Fairfax County School Board is scheduled to vote Thursday night to establish a special committee charged with reviewing and recommending changes to the system's Student Rights and Responsibilities (SR&R) manual, continuing a broader reform of its disciplinary process that began nearly two years ago. The 29-person committee — whose members will range from citizens and judicial representatives to administrators and students — will be charged with slimming the 44-page document, making it easier to understand and ensuring it reflects the "community's values, School Board policies and Virginia laws," according to school board documents posted in advance of the meeting. It will deliver its recommendations to the board by March 2013, …
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 ›