[CCHS] Discipline - suspension

[Art Dulong]

Hello to all,
	
	In case people do not know this, the School Advisory Council is taking a
look at CCHS rules, regulations, and practices this year. As you might
guess I am also asking faculty, students, parents and administrators to
assist in this process. Maybe we will find nothing to change. Maybe we'll
find lots to change. In this email I'd like to address some
understandings/misunderstandings about the practice of suspension which
has generated a few questions lately. I will address other disciplinary
issues as questions arise. 

	First, there are few disciplinary options available to schools. They
include detention after school, suspension (either in or out of school),
and community service hours. The latter option comes with two issues. One
is a philosophy held by many that community service should be done for
altruistic reasons and not as a means of punishment. More practically, if
we assign community service hours as a punishment we have to a) find an
appropriate activity and b) have someone supervise it. We seldom assign
community service as a consequence of bad behavior. 

	That leaves detention and suspension. Detention seems not to be a big
issue. It is routinely assigned for minor transgressions, generally served
without incident, or parental concern. Suspension, on the other hand, is
reserved for more serious transgressions and carries with it some
misunderstandings and concerns by students and parents.

	Suspension is legally defined as exclusion from classes, whether in or
out of school. In the eyes of the law anything less than 10 days,
regardless of who the student is, is considered a short suspension,
carrying no legal consequences or school responsibilities (other than the
due process rights that precede the suspension). The due process rights I
reference are not the same as one's due process rights in a legal
proceeding. Essentially they simply require that we give the student our
understanding of the transgression and an opportunity to explain himself
or herself. A suspension of more than 10 days requires more due process
protections for students and has a prescribed process (federal and state)
for students with special education IEP's. We do not keep "a permanent
record" that somehow follows students when they apply to college, apply
for a job, or apply to the military. With very few exceptions (that are
generally violent or clearly dangerous to society as a whole and would
carry suspensions of greater than 10 days) we do not share disciplinary
incidents with any outside agency. You should know, however, that the
state DOE now requires that we report all acts of violence (fights),
weapons, drugs, or alcohol violations to them including the State Assigned
Identification Number (SASSID #) of the student. This is new as of last
year. This is due to requirements of the Federal No Child Left Behind Act.
(I have no idea what they do with the information - except that if there
is too much of it we could be labeled a dangerous school.) 

	You should also know that suspension because it is for what we consider
serious transgressions, carries a couple other consequences with it. One
is that a student is not eligible for consideration for National Honor
Society status for the year following suspension. If a student is already
a member of NHS they lose membership in that group. I believe this is a
national NHS rule and not a local one. A second possible consequence is
that a student who is suspended will lose a leadership position at school
and/or be ineligible to assume a leadership position at school for the
next year. While this is a local rule it is a common rule for most high
schools in Massachusetts. The reason for these two consequences is that
NHS is an "honor" society and leadership of a school organization is, in a
similar respect, an "honor". 

	You can check the Handbook to see the types of transgressions that might
result in a disciplinary response, including suspension. If you have
comments, suggestions, and/or questions about any of this please call me
or contact one of the members of the School Advisory Council. The cou8ncil
meets one Wednesday evening per month (6:30-8:00). The next meeting is
this Wednesday.

Arthur Dulong
Principal, CCHS
(978) 341-2490 x7110