On Wednesday, after months of deliberation, the Ad Hoc Community Committee on Student Rights and Responsibilities presented 52 substantive changes in student disciplinary policy to a special session of the Fairfax County School Board. If approved in their entirety, these long-overdue recommendations will replace a rigid “zero tolerance” policy with one based on common sense and educational principles.

The 40-member ad hoc committee was chaired by Steve Stuban, whose 15-year-old son, Nick, a football player at W.T. Woodson High School, committed suicide in 2011, after being suspended from school for 11 weeks for possession of synthetic marijuana. This was two years after 17-year-old Josh Anderson, another suspended football player from South Lakes High School, killed himself the day before his disciplinary hearing.