SCHOOL EXPULSIONS CONVULSIVE FOR STUDENTS, FAMILIES

Drugs, weapons and fights at school campuses usually result in only one
thing: a student's expulsion.

Frequently, that is followed by regrets. Both by the students and their
families.

Once students are expelled, their lives are never the same, the experts
say.``Kids don't really think about it,'' said Santa Barbara schools
Superintendent Michael Caston. ``But when they get expelled, it takes them
out of school, away from friends. It affects their whole family."

Hearings are held. Statements are made. Parents often plead for leniency for
their children. Tears are shed. Reputations are forged that sometimes can
follow students forever.``It's really wrenching to watch these families go
through this,'' Caston said.

But many did go through it locally last year.

County junior, middle and high schools released data in recent days on the
number of expulsions handed down last year.

Expulsions in the high schools rose from last year, mostly due to tough
``zero-tolerance'' policies on drugs and violence. The numbers dropped
slightly at junior high and middle schools.

Taking a longer view, the total number of expulsions throughout the county
have steadily increased over the past six years - from 94 in 1992 to 202
last year.

School safety is a constant concern of parents, teachers, students and
others. The expulsion statistics tell a little about the situation -
although the best gauge is still a visit, or several, to your children's
campus - but they don't often tell the ``human'' side of the story.

The expulsion process is usually most traumatic for the students themselves,
educators said.

After a principal recommends expulsion, a committee of administrators
examines the case and decides whether to recommend the expulsion to the
school board. During that time, about 30 days, the student is tutored at
home.

When the school board expels students, they are usually sent to El Puente
Community School, the local continuation high school.

Parents and students can appeal the decision to the county's school board.
Students are expelled from the district for at least one semester, but no
more than two. After that, they can return to the district, but not to the
same school campus from which they were expelled.

Exceptions are made for districts with only one high school. The expulsion
remains on the students' record, and can affect their ability to participate
in some school programs, such as athletics.

Santa Barbara school board President Fred Rifkin said handing out expulsions
is one of the most difficult aspects of his job.``It's very difficult to sit
in judgment of these kids,'' he said. ``You look at the kid and their
parents, and each has his own story and different background. Some come from
homes with no fathers, or where the parents aren't around because they're
working."

The school board is particularly sensitive to those cases involving junior
high students.``They're really too young to go to El Puente,'' Rifkin said,
``so we take them on a case-by-case basis. We'll give them homeschooling,
and the opportunity to go to anger-management classes or to provide
community service."

``With some of these kids you just look at them and say `This is an
opportunity to turn your life around. What are you going to do?' Some of
them break down and cry,'' Rifkin said.

One Santa Barbara mother whose son was expelled two years ago for fighting
said the ordeal caused him to drop out of high school. The mother, who asked
that her name not be used in order to protect her family's privacy, said the
expulsion created tension for the entire family.``The first problem was
facing the reality that he couldn't go back to that same school,'' she said.
``His friends were there. Also traumatic was trying to find another school,
and trying to get him to go there."

Her son was devastated, and eventually dropped out after learning that he
could not participate in the two sports he loved - baseball and football -
at the new high school.

Not long after moving out and getting a job, her son realized he wanted to
earn a degree. He has since moved back home and is finishing up his last
year of school. The mother believes that the experience, as tough as it was,
has made her son stronger.``He's more mature. He handles his anger better.
He walks away from fights,'' she said. ``He's learning to accept and obey
the rules."

WHY THEY WERE EXPELLED

In the Santa Barbara secondary schools, total expulsions rose from 32 in
1996-97 to 41 last year.

Most were cases of students brandishing knives, selling or using marijuana
or alcohol, and getting into serious fights. Students were most often
expelled at La Cumbre Middle School and Santa Barbara High SchooL.A.t
Carpinteria High School, there were two students expelled for carrying
knives. One student at Carpinteria Middle School was expelled for throwing a
football at a teacher's head.

There were no expulsions for hate crimes, or for firearms, on South Coast
secondary school campuses last year.

There were six students expelled for bringing guns to school in the North
County secondary schools.

In the Santa Barbara district, there were 11 expulsions of students caught
with dangerous objects, in most cases, knives. Several others were expelled
for possessing explosives, such as cherry bombs.

One La Colina Junior High student was expelled for possessing an imitation
firearm.``It was a play gun, but it looked real,'' said Superintendent
Michael Caston.

Last year the Santa Barbara school board expelled 21 students who were
caught a second time using, selling or being under the influence of drugs or
alcohol.

On the first offense, students usually receive family counseling and are
ordered to attend teen court and do community service.

Students who are caught with weapons of any kind, or caught selling drugs,
are immediately expelled. So are students who commit acts of what school
officials describe as ``extreme violence."

``If there is anything that we will not hesitate to do expulsions on it's
violence,'' Caston said. ``And if you catch a student with a knife that has
a blade more than three inches long, the principal has no choice, they must
recommend expulsion."

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst