Dale Points to State Zero Tolerance Policies To Explain FCPS Actions
Senate kills bill requiring parent notification when student faces suspension
County schools superintendent Jack Dale urged the family of former W.T. Woodson High School student Nick Stuban to focus their reform efforts on the state's zero tolerance policies.
His Monday letter seems contradict his past, strongly worded assertions that Fairfax County Public Schools do not have a zero tolerance policy.
"You might be interested to know that many student discipline laws passed by the Virginia General Assembly compel us to take certain actions with given infractions — invariably, the law requires us to expel a student from his/her school," he wrote in his Monday letter. "For example, most drug- and weapon-related infractions require an expulsion from school."
He went on to say FCPS staff and the school board try to find alternative placement for such students.
His response came hours after a letter from the Stubans, crafted by the president of The Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit organization that provides free legal representation for those in need.
The family said their son was not treated "fairly and reasonably" and directly connected his suicide to the county's "inhumane, impersonal, overly harsh and draconian" discipline policies.
"The state code seems to have ‘zero tolerance’ for certain infractions," Dale wrote in his response. He went on to suggest that maybe the state code dealing with due process should be reviewed.
Despite widespread dissatisfaction with standing disciplinary policies, the state seems no closer to reform. On Feb. 21, the Virginia Senate dropped a bill that would require school staff to notify parents whenever their child faces suspension.
The Washington Post reports that Nick Stuban signed a confession saying he bought a legal marijuana-like substance at school before his parents even knew he was in trouble.
Due Process of Law?
The Stuban letter reveals a frustrating run-in with the FCPS disciplinary system. Nick was charged with possessing an "imitation controlled substance," something not illegal and not prohibited by school rules. His family was deterred from seeking legal counsel by hearing officials, who allegedly claimed the move to seek legal help would be viewed as "adversarial."
It is difficult to confirm the Stubans' experiences as informal notes serve as the only detailed records of the hearing process. What's more, these notes allegedly end whenever the hearings take a "decidedly unprofessional tone."
But Sue Anderson, the mother of a former South Lakes student, tells a similar tale. She too was warned against bringing a lawyer to her son, Josh Anderson's, first hearing process.
"The questioning started out in a reasonable way but as the meeting progressed and Josh was not showing forth the type of responses they wanted, it became more and more confrontational, which caused him to shut down even more," she writes in her blog, "Remembering Josh." "We did not feel good about Josh's chances after this meeting."
When the family consulted a lawyer on their second disciplinary run-in, they received grim news. They were told Josh's expulsion from the county school system was pretty much a done deal. Josh killed himself the day before his hearing.
A Growing Issue
Debate over the effectiveness of FCPS discipline policies has taken over news reports and PTSA discussions.
The Washington Post published a Sunday article about the Stuban family, the Fairfax disciplinary policy, and how other area school jurisdictions treat similar infractions.
Parents at last week's McLean PTSA meeting came to the consensus the process is putting kids at risk. Dranesville Supervisor Jane Strauss denied the existence of a zero tolerance policy in Fairfax schools and echoed Dale's former assertions that every infraction is treated on a case-by-case basis.
Fairfax Underground's forum discussion on the topic has sparked more than 15,000 comments.
Ellen Stoupa
9:50 am on Wednesday, February 23, 2011
I don't even know where to start. Zero tolerance. Come on. Petula Dvorak's column in the 2/22 Metro section of the Washington Post is definitely worth the read. Page 23 of the student handbook states that "special circumstances" can be considered as an alternative to expulsion and/or transfer.
My gosh, this was a good kid. Don't you remember when you were a teenager the littlest thing felt like the end of the world? This was a big thing. It cost Nick his life.
I used to think the world of the FCPS system. Now, it scares me. I warned my seventh grade daughter yesterday about the perils of what one mistake could cost her. I told her to tell all of her friends. I told her not to sign a thing without her father or I present.
School is supposed to be a place where children feel safe----where they can make a mistake, be punished resonably---learn from it----and move on. Nick moved from life to death.
Barbara Shinrock
12:31 pm on Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Sadly, Dale and the FCPS continue to dodge and deflect. Its time for some obvious questions and honest answers about the outcomes of ZTP disciplinary actions on our children. Even for the kids who are doing well, "good kids" evdience based research is consistent in telling us; the 3 most important protective factors for our adolescents as they are accomplishing the develomental tasks of identity formation and individuation are
1. the ability to find one's place in the world (connectedness)
2. Role experimentation (risk taking, exploration)
3. The anticipation of achievement versus paralysis (stressors)
Doesnt anyone else find it alarming that the 3 key pscychosocial factors that are consistently identified as suicidal risk factors are:
1. Stressful life event or loss
2. Lack of connectedness with parent/family and or peers
3. School environment and success
It isnt hard to connect the dots. Our ZTP one size fits all approach summarily suspends and expels our kids quite effectively removing the very 3 things that protect our kids.
Take away their relationships and connectedness with school peers and teammates, place them in a school environment that increasingly resembles a police state, rather than a supportive learning environment and heap on a good dose of stress through humiliation, intimidation during the hearing process...
Well, it makes for a perfect storm...Its a poster list of emotional abuse.
Judy Downs
10:43 am on Sunday, May 8, 2011
I absolutely agree with you and drafted a letter to all the school board members and to Jack Dale. They can try to deflect the blame to the state but the reality is that power should have been given to the principal and one of his respected teachers to admonish Nick Stuban about making a poor choice and counsel him against similar future actions. The substance was not illegal. He didn't injure anyone. It should have ended there.
The only zero tolerance policy that needs to be in place is one towards administrators and government that abuses the rights of our children. They need to listen to parent citizens AND students and effect a change or they need to leave. It is cowardly how this school district will not even allow parents and citizens of this state to speak out in an orderly fashion at school board meetings. I grew up where it was commonly done. There was heated debate but it helped to enact effective change not this political slithering. It prevented this autocratic behavior. What happened to government "of the people, by the people and for the people"?
J. Downs
Crystal
1:05 pm on Wednesday, February 23, 2011
It's amazing that Dale says that the SR&R rules is following "the law" yet all individual right laws are being broken in these hearings! Dale said in his email, "that many student discipline laws passed by the Virginia General Assembly compel us to take certain actions with given infractions – invariably, the law requires us to expel a student from his/her school."
Aysegul Acar-Dreyer
9:30 am on Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Having attended the March 14 FCPS School Board work session on student discipline process, I found this to be a very timely post from Parent Encouragement Program (PEP) http://PEPParent.org/ : "Why Yelling Doesn't Work: Children do not hear what we are saying if they are feeling blamed or criticized. They are either scared or focused on defense or retaliation. Children are more likely to learn from the situation and change their behavior if we express our feelings in a respectful way without judgment or blame."
Families and Schools should cooperate in making the most of tools such as Positive Discipline http://store.positivediscipline.com/Teachers_c_12.html , Responsive Classroom http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/ , to connect with kids - and maybe focus more on prevention rather than reaction.
School districts should seriously consider providing training in positive discipline / responsive classroom to every school staff member who interacts with children on a regular basis, and that schools should start focusing more on prevention, building trust and practice effective communication with kids. It takes work, effort but it is worth it. Parents should also invest in taking parenting classes/workshops to improve their relations with their kids, and how to talk so kids will listen and learn, and how to listen, so kids will talk. (see for ex www.fabermazlish.com/ )
FCPS Parent
9:05 am on Sunday, May 1, 2011
Barbara Shinrock you hit the nail on the head. I had the exact same thoughts. My advice to everyone with any age child in a Fairfax county public school is to warn your child against speaking to or signing any paperwork other than for their teacher. I have explained this to my children and have coached them to say, "Please speak with my mother. I will not be able to answer your questions." I have also coached my children that they may have to wait in the office and it may be a long time before they contact me.
I put nothing past FCPS. I have interviewed many families for a current project I am working on and if the public knew the extent to which FCPS will go to intimidate then retaliate against families with any issue there would be more of an effort to oust Dale and his cronies.