[SchoolMatters] School Board continues review student conduct issues

Tue Jul 11 09:06:41 EDT 2006

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This message is not an official communication of the Albemarle County School
Board. It is a private, e-mail-only newsletter written by Brian Wheeler,
At-Large Member of the Albemarle County School Board. 
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here:
http://schoolmatters.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/07/school_board_co.html ]

At our meeting this Thursday, July 13, 2006, the Albemarle County School
Board will continue our review of student conduct issues in the wake of two
year-end parties with underage drinking arrests and the death of AHS student
Nolan Jenkins in a driving accident.  Since our last consideration of this
matter on June 8, 2006, staff have reviewed our policies and existing
prevention and intervention services related to substance abuse.  A summary
of these services can be found in the materials provided to the School Board
[see: http://www.wheeleronboard.com/docs/20060713-StudentConduct.pdf].

What follows below are the six recommendations from staff describing
specific areas the Albemarle County Public Schools should review related to
our current practices, curriculum, policies and state laws.  These will all
be on the table for the Board's consideration Thursday.  

I will readily support the proposed change to Policy JFC which will allow
the School Board to discipline students for off-campus behaviors in certain
limited situations.  This is a positive change that would apply equally to
all students (not just athletes) and could be put into effect for this
upcoming school year if we make the change this week.  It would help set
clearer expectations for student behavior and end any perception that a
"don't ask, don't tell" handling of off-campus underage drinking was
acceptable to this School Board or our staff.  The other recommendations
also should be pursued in the next year, but this is one positive policy
change we can make immediately.

Brian Wheeler

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>From materials for the July 13, 2006 School Board meeting:

After much discussion at the June 8, 2006 meeting, the Board expressed
interest in expanding the education of students about the dangers of
drinking and substance abuse as well as determining if changes in student
conduct policies are warranted to address underage drinking that occurs off
school grounds and not during school-sponsored functions. It was noted by
the Board that underage drinking is not limited to athletes and increased
efforts should be made to improve our focus on both prevention and
intervention issues that are educational in nature for all students. It also
was noted by the Board that the specific responsibilities of parents, public
school staff, and law enforcement authorities do differ in regards to the
scope of their roles in supervising and disciplining juveniles. Lastly, the
Board also clearly stated that formal partnerships are critical to the work
of parents, school staff, and organizations that have a common mission to
ensure that children know, understand and use safe behaviors.

Continuous improvement requires that we take a look at our current state and
work towards a desired state. In order to facilitate and improve prevention
and intervention services, setting clear expectations of students regarding
underage drinking the following actions are recommended:

1.	Review, and revise in 2006-07 as necessary, our existing curriculum
for alcohol, tobacco, and drug abuse and, identify and use resources and
strategies that extend relevant substance abuse instruction beyond the tenth
grade, addressing all students in grades 11 and 12.
2.	Identify and partner in 2006-07 with organizations that share with
us a mission of eliminating underage drinking so that we can better use
their services to further engage students in learning activities that more
systemically educate parents and students about the dangers and implications
of underage drinking (MADD, etc.) use of partners and their resources should
occur through drivers' education, health education, and required drivers'
education parent workshops.
3.	Review Sports Done Right [http://www.sportsdonerightmaine.org/], a
University of Maine Sport and Coaching Initiative, and other instructional
resources designed to support coaches to engage in consistent best practices
for implementation across all three high schools. This includes improvements
in student and parent participation agreements with focus on using these
beginning in the 2006-07 School Year. A review of and possible revision of
current practices for communicating with and educating parents and
student-athletes through parent/student athlete educational programming
required in each school. [Note: This resource and an Athletic Advisory
Council were discussed on this blog here:
http://schoolmatters.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/06/time_for_an_ath.html]
4.	Review best practices associated with other school divisions'
training and extracurricular participation rules and change as appropriate
so that Albemarle County Training rules and extracurricular activity
participation guidelines ensure consistency across schools and clearly
address consequences for underage drinking on or off school grounds and
during or not during school activities. Consider the possibility of
requiring students participating in other extracurricular activities to sign
participation agreements.
5.	Discuss and take action upon proposed modifications to policy JFC
that would align it to legal code so that disciplinary action can be taken
by the Board for off-grounds misconduct that meets the criteria established
in the code. [**See text of proposed addition below]
Consider requesting local delegates to amend state code so that students
under 18 years of age who have been charged with underage drinking are
reported to school authorities per prior Board discussion.

**Proposed addition to Policy JFC-Student Conduct

"Students may also be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including
suspension or expulsion, for misconduct that occurs at any time off-school
grounds where (1) there is a nexus between the conduct and school
operations; (2) where the conduct has been shown to have a detrimental or
harmful effect on the welfare or safety of the school and its students; or
(3) where the conduct has caused substantial or material disruption to the
school's operations."   

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Brian Wheeler
 <mailto:bwheeler at albemarlematters.com> bwheeler at albemarlematters.com
 <http://www.wheeleronboard.com/> http://www.wheeleronboard.com

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