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.”
