Dozens of Fairfax County parents are planning to rally outside the school system’s headquarters on Thursday, saying the superintendent is proposing weak changes to the discipline policy that won’t effectively serve students. Wearing red and wielding signs, parents will demand that the school board take more aggressive action with its discipline policy, which school officials have been re-examining after a 15-year-old student — who was suspended, removed from school for months, then transferred to another school — committed suicide.
“I haven’t heard a single statement from [Superintendent Jack Dale] that would indicate to me that they are doing anything but minimal changes to shut parents up and make it appear like they’ve done reform,” said Michael Deale, who has a senior and a sophomore at Langley High School in McLean. “He’s very successfully maneuvered our school board into a set of changes that are very superficial.”
Deale referred to 10 recommendations to the school’s discipline policy that the school board has been discussing at work sessions over the last several months. They include audio-recording all disciplinary hearings and making tapes available for parents to listen to; specifying that parents should be notified “at the earliest opportunity” when a student is facing disciplinary action; better explaining of consequences to both students and parents; expanding drug and alcohol seminars; and other measures.
Some changes, like parental notification, require school board approval to alter the district’s Student Responsibilities and Rights document. The vote is scheduled for Thursday night.
But the parents — and some school board members — say the new rules don’t go far enough.
Fairfax Zero Tolerance Reform Director Caroline Hemenway, whose daughter is a junior at South Lakes High School, said that about half of the recommendations “are absolutely lame” — especially because students still could sign written confessions before their parents are notified, something that parents have been furious to learn.
Nick Stuban, a student at W.T. Woodson High, signed a confession that he used synthetic marijuana before his parents were notified; the football player’s suicide created a fury that had led to a $457,000 overhaul of the district’s discipline policies.
“The entire culture of the school system is defensive and punitive,” said Hemenway, who says parents deserve copies of the audio recordings, not just listening privileges. School officials say that would be too expensive and pose a privacy risk if leaked on websites like YouTube.
Dale was unavailable to respond to requests seeking comment before deadline Wednesday, a spokeswoman said.
Several school board members, who have been critical of the proposed changes, are planning to introduce amendments before the final vote. Sandra Evans, of the Mason District, and Ilryong Moon, at large, are suggesting that schools inform parents before the police when criminal accusations are at play; they also want to ensure parents are notified before their children sign confessions.
“As one parent told me, when they cut their finger, they call you. When they need you to pick up a child who is sick, they call you,” Evans said. “They can certainly call you if your child may be in serious trouble.”
