STUDENT SUSPENSIONS SHOW DISTURBING EVENTS

Knives, Drugs, Poking Others With A Needle

A student in Cape Sable Island was suspended in June for threatening
another student with comments including "bring(ing) a knife to school
to kill her, to smash the daylights out of her, and to choke her."
According to the Tri-County Regional School Board's (TCRSB) student
suspension report for June 2008, it was the second suspension this
year for the student who, this time, was sent home for five days.

The student was 10 years old.

This suspension, one of 57 at Tri-County schools for the month of
June, is not the only one with disturbing tones.

At Maple Grove, three students were suspended in May for selling
knives and or pornography. The suspension lengths ranged from two days
to five. Another student at MGEC was suspended five days for "smoking
for a third time (and) intentionally poking two fellow students with
the same needle, causing distress to the students and their families."
It was the student's fifth suspension

In June a student at Shelburne Regional High School received his
seventh suspension of the year. The suspension report shows that he
has a chronic history of being disruptive, using profane language and
using "inappropriate actions." Another student at the school, a
17-year-old, was suspended for six days and removed from the school
for the remainder of the year for the sale and distribution of
marijuana to students. It was the student's sixth suspension. Previous
infractions by that student include "physical assault, throwing
snowballs at moving traffic and people (and) refusing to attend
supervised study."

What is most troubling is that the report is not an anomaly. In fact,
according to numbers from the TCRSB, June's suspension total is
actually lower than every other month but one. On a month-by-month
comparison, suspension totals at Tri-County schools for the 2007-08
school year go like this: September, 55; October, 111; November, 106;
December, 61; January, 91; February, 80; March, 66; April, 90; May,
113; and June's 57.

What the report for the month of June and the reports for other months
do is give outside observers cause to wonder if enough is being done
to ensure that those students who actually go to school to learn are
not only being afforded the chance to do so, but whether or not they
get to do it in a safe environment.

Phil Landry, superintendent for TCRSB, said there is a delicate
balance when it comes to following the board's mandate to provide an
education to everyone while, at the same time, making sure schools are
safe and foster a healthy, positive environment. But Landry said
school administration, the first level to deal with discipline
problems, does a good job with the balancing act of educating and also
helping students in need.

"It's balanced at the school-based level by the administration," he
said. "Having weapons, selling drugs or whatever, those are serious
offences. So it's the call of the principal and normally, by board
policy, the police are brought in automatically . . . When somebody is
selling drugs it's an automatic call to the police because that's an
illegal action."

In October Shelburne Regional High School had three different students
suspended for the rest of the semester for selling and distributing
drugs. Two of the students were 17-years-old, one was
13-years-old.

Landry said it is up to the school's principal or designate to decide
on the length of a suspension - ranging from one to five days - or
whether to push for more than five days or even the rest of the school
year. Such decisions are reviewed and either upheld or revoked.
Decisions can also be appealed.

Svein Ravlo, the principal at Maple Grove, said teachers in his school
do as much as they can to be aware of what is going on in the lives of
the students and issues they might be facing in an attempt to be able
to not only recognize when there might be a problem but also get them
help when it's needed.

"Quite often if there are issues, and I'm talking about those students
that are just having a bad day, week, month, these are the ones that
we can normally assist.

"They'll seek out their favourite teacher at times and they'll also
find a friend and friends now are well versed at watching for signs of
behaviour."

But school administration isn't limited to policing violent or
dangerous behaviour. A 14-year-old Grade 8 male and a 13-year-old
Grade 7 female from Plymouth School were each suspended for three days
in June for "(going) behind the dugouts . . . and participat(ing) in
inappropriate sexual acts." A 12-year-old student at Hillcrest School
was suspended for the remainder of the year in May for "making a
number of sexual innuendos to female students." And in September two
students were suspended at Port Maitland School for taking and
consuming alcohol. A third student was suspended for bringing the
alcohol to school and distributing it. All three were 11 years old.

Looking at the suspension reports, it becomes clear that the
challenges and demands placed on teachers and school administration
extend well beyond ensuring kids know how to do long division and can
recite the periodic table of elements.

Beyond the severe reasons for certain suspensions, the other thing
that jumps off the page when looking at the reports is the students
who have been suspended multiple times. In some cases students are
getting three, four, five, six and even seven suspensions in one
school year. This can also factor into the discipline process.

A student at Shelburne high was suspended six times before
Christmas.

In the case of students who are suspended multiple times and don't
seem to be getting the message, Landry said the decision falls to the
principal of the school as to whether that student is put out of
school for more than five days or possibly even the rest of the year.
That process is also reviewed and can be appealed. Landry said he's
pleased with the way the process works.

"It's been well balanced," he said. "The principals have done an
exceptional job on that. We have to take everything into
consideration."

Ravlo agrees. He said it's important not to react too quickly when
making decisions about student behaviour. Staff at the school try to
provide students with as many opportunities as they can to get help,
he said.

"We don't overreact. I think we do a very good job of giving every
student every opportunity to turn themselves around. We believe that
most students, if not all, are innately good. But when they continue
to, what I would consider to be demonstrate bad habits and don't show
any interest in turning it around then it's time that we involve the
family. We'll try a phone call, we'll let them know that there's some
concerns here and next time we have to speak with your son or daughter
there will be a suspension from school."

One of those considerations Landry and Ravlo refer to is what's
happening in a student's life outside of school. Beyond simply dolling
out suspensions, Landry said administration keeps a watch for possible
warning signs where they might be able to intervene before a student
gets into trouble or becomes a problem.

"There are certain things (to watch for) when you have a student that
is suspended for repeated offences or similar offences, whether it's a
physical assault or selling drugs or whatever the case might be. That
should trigger off, to me that should trigger off to the
administration there's something wrong. Either the student has anger
management problems (or) there could be problems at home, there could
be all sorts of reasons (for the behaviour)."

Part of dealing with this, said Landry is employing resources such as
school psychologists and other staff to try to help students and let
them know there are support systems in place to help them.

"What we normally do, once we have consulted with the administration
of the school because of repeated offence is that we normally send
someone in from the student services section . . . and see how we can
support that student."

There is also a discipline committee that speaks to students deemed at
risk in an attempt to see what can be done to offer them support. This
support also extends to other students who might be in class with a
troubled student as well as the teachers of those classes.

"We're really trying hard to avoid (suspending students) but there are
times (when we can't)," said Ravlo.

Ravlo said it's his belief that many of the disciplines problems they
face in terms of numbers are pretty standard. Most students, he said,
work hard and want to be in school. Even those who find themselves in
trouble are usually able to get help and improve. But there will
always be some students for whom school just isn't a natural fit.

"You have that core group. There really seems to be that core group of
five or six students that just aren't suited for what I call the
two-dimensional world. They're outdoors people. They'll probably do an
excellent job at what they're going to decide to do in life as long as
there aren't drugs influencing them or other things, (but) they just
don't fit in the two-dimensional world."