LancasterOnline.com:News:Elizabethtown alters student suspension policy

Elizabethtown alters student suspension policy

Oct 28, 2009 06:18 EST

Elizabethtown

By CHAD UMBLE, Correspondent

Related Stories

Elizabethtown Area School District board members signed off on a two-week suspension for a high school student found with marijuana, a reduced sanction that reflects a new punishment philosophy for the school district.

Previously, a student found with drugs would have been expelled, but the district has been looking at a tiered system of discipline that takes mitigating factors into account to result in less harsh sentences, district officials explained.

During the Oct. 20 meeting, school board members approved disciplinary measures for the high school student who was found in possession of marijuana Sept. 13. In addition to a suspension from Oct. 15 through Thursday, the student will finish the school year in an alternative education program. If certain benchmarks are met, the student can return to regular school next fall.

Amy Slamp, district superintendent, told school board members that the desire to move beyond a "zero tolerance" policy for such offenses came from board discussions in recent years. In this case, the mitigating factor was that it was the student's first offense, Slamp said.

In other business, board members approved a proposal to give college courses taken by high school students more weight when determining class rank. Weighting classes gives students credit for taking harder courses and can result in students having a grade point average higher than 4.0.

The new system, which will begin for seniors graduating in 2011, will give college courses a 1.2 rating, the same as advanced placement courses. For comparison, regular high school classes get a 1.0 rating and honors classes earn a 1.1 rating.

Previously, the relative difficulty of classes wasn't taken into account for Elizabethtown students taking classes at Elizabethtown College, Penn State Harrisburg or Harrisburg Area Community College.

Also at the Oct. 20 meeting, school board members approved a $63,680 contract with K&W Engineers, of Harrisburg, for a roughly half-mile walking path that would connect East High Street to the Bear Creek School, which is under construction.

Recent Posts

Showing 5 most recent comments out of 28 total TalkBack comments about this article
View full comments | Comment on this article

QUOTE (citydweller @ Oct 28 2009, 09:35 PM)

Bring a gun to school, yeah, you should be both expelled and arrested, and hopefully sent to a juvenile facility and not set loose on the streets............
To be fair, I'd give the kid with the gun another strike, within a program. I don't know his background, home life or personal problems. But he's already over the line.

I simply read these as conflicting statements. The first one does not seem to give the kid another strike...

QUOTE (dc @ Oct 28 2009, 08:47 PM)

I simply read these as conflicting statements. The first one does not seem to give the kid another strike...

Well Dodge, that's a judgement call. And that's sort of the point here - a profound lack of "judgement calls" in favor of "blanket zero-tolerance" policies.

A kid with a gun, if he/she doesn't actually fire it at someone, is possibly cause for a judgement call, even if it's on the very outer rim of what we call "tolerance". Not much wiggle room in the punishment area, but certainly a first-offender could be heard out and evaluated, although this rarely if ever happens.

But the real problem, in my eyes, is that we allow authority to apply the same severity of intent to the kid who has a cough drop or a pocket knife to the truly messed up kid who has a gun, or something of truly equal danger to a student population. Teh Big Fuzzy Blanket. It's B-S. AND it's a major leave-my-azz-off-the-hook cop-out for those in authority who should be accepting responsibility for the decisions they make about our children. They don't want to be held accountable for individual decisions, so they throw it all under one blanket.

I give major kudos to E-Town for taking a different stance, most especially in these nasty partisan us-against-them times we are living in. Judge each kid for who they are, and burn the blanket.

citydweller

QUOTE (citydweller @ Oct 28 2009, 08:35 PM)

It's a freaking cop-out, because the world became inextricably complex, and the town elders have a pipe-dream of "simpler times". And so they try to make it so, by throwing everything under one blanket.

In the case of the first-grader with the camping tool, it was mentioned that his school adopted a "zero-tolerance policy" in part to avoid charges of discrimination in student discipline. So if every kid gets booted for bringing anything sharp to school other than a #2 pencil, no questions asked or reasons considered, there can't be any claims that race or whatever played a role in how a kid was treated. Sad, isn't it?

ETA: It's sad but not surprising...just look at the comments here expressing the belief that the E-town kid who was not expelled must be the child of a school board member or LEO.

LicenseForMayhem

QUOTE (dc @ Oct 28 2009, 08:16 PM)

Bingo!! This is the problem. Kids today are not taught the fact that they are responsible for their actions. This is a principle that is going to follow them for the rest of their lives. Drive drunk and there will be a consequence. Do not show up for work and you will be fired. One thing that I do not remember as a kid was the excuses that you see today. You see kids get into trouble and you hear things like....they were bored.....their upbringing and environment was the cause of this......all of the other kids were doing it, so what do you expect.....it is just one thing after another. Things like respect for others and respect for authority seem to be lost in today's society. It is no wonder that so many out there struggle with their decision making. In my opinion, you have to put the blame on the parents. It is not the school's primary responsibility to teach these charter traits. It is the parent' job......

I believe many kids are not responsible nor do they make good decisions BECAUSE we are too controlling and protective of them. A lot of people think a good parent is an overprotective parent. People who allow their kids the freedom we had in the 70s & 80s are thought to be negligent. Kids aren't taught to do little things and develop independence and complete dependence/obedience to their parents is expected and then we're surprised when they mindlessly follow their next big influence — their peer group.

As far as not making excuses for kids, I'll agree that too many parents cover for their kids in regard to punishment at school. Certainly when I was a kid if I got in trouble at school (for something other than an obvious misunderstanding) I was in a lot more trouble at home. But then again, my parents didn't have to worry that I was getting a "permanent record" at the ripe old age of six! (Donegal pencil poking) So maybe it's a vicious cycle, I don't know. I do know kids soon won't even understand the humor in Ferris Bueller's Day Off because their parents are getting freaking certified letters for absences. I just don't think I'd like to feel like I was being watched every single second of my childhood — how does anyone gain a sense of independence (and thus responsibility) that way?

And respect for authority? How many people who come on here railing against the school system and saying rotten things about teachers are really going to back up the teacher 100% in discipline issues or convey a proper sense of respect to their kids?

NativeBlue

QUOTE (litlmo @ Oct 28 2009, 08:02 PM)

Did you read the whole thread? Are you gonna feel sorry for our youth when they pull a knife out on you, or introduce drugs to a family member? the decisions our youth our making today are really poor. ok young and dumb, i get that. What i dont get it when they keep repeating those decisions and they up the ante to some serious crimes. Thats with all due respect that I say this to you.

Yes, I read the whole thread — I pretty much always read the whole thread.

Am I going to feel sorry for a youth who pulls a knife on me — yes and no. I know there's usually a reason why and I'd want to know what was going on with the kid. Of course I'd be pretty shaken up and if they actually hurt me or scared a loved one I'd be more upset.

But are you saying kids bringing pocket knives to school has anything to do with a kid "pulling a knife" on me? Get real. We didn't have these general restrictions on pocket knives and the like and I never once heard of a kid pulling a knife. You'll probably say "oh it was a different time" — yup, it was a time of HIGHER crime. Crime was much higher during my school years from the late 70s to early 90s and dropped just as I was finishing high school.

"Introduce drugs to a family member" — if my family member wants to use drugs it is THEIR issue. Unless someone literally held them down and shot heroin in their arm, it is their right and responsibility to choose yes or no. And again, you're comparing ibuprofen to "introducing a kid to drugs"? Come on. This is one reason we're losing kids — the rules don't make sense, they're "zero tolerance" with no thought, understanding or nuance. The kids see that the adults obviously can't use their brains to sort out situations — the adults are just pushing paper, checking boxes.

NativeBlue

View full comments | Comment on this article