DEMONSTRATORS PROTEST SCHOOL EXPULSION POLICY

Organizers Claim School District Is 'Creating Throw-Away Kids'

A half dozen protesters braved cold weather and blowing snow Monday
morning to protest the Blaine County School District's policy for
expelling troublesome students.

"They're creating throw-away kids in the valley," said Dana Barbee,
an adolescent addiction counselor and one of the organizers of the
demonstration in front of the school district office on West Bullion
Street in Hailey.

Demonstrators complained that the district's expulsion policy
short-changes expellees on their education, retards their
socialization process and typically puts the children on a course
that only leads to more problems.

"None of them have positive outcomes," said Barbee, who counsels
children who have been expelled. "I've watched this go on for a year
now and decided, 'You know what, I've got to do something.'"

The group carried picket signs with slogans such as "Expulsion is
throwing away the kids," "Expulsion is not the answer" and "Our
throw-away kid is a community failure."

Barbee said the demonstrations will continue in front of the school
district office each Monday morning from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. until mid-February.

Greg Greenfield, a Hailey mental health counselor, said the school
district is abrogating its responsibility when it expels students.

"If you get in trouble in the Army, you'll still be in the Army,"
Greenfield said. "In the school district, these kids are out of
sight, out of mind."

District records show that about 10 students are expelled each year.
Ten were expelled in each of the two previous school years and five
have been expelled so far this school year.

Board Clerk Cathy Zaccardi said expulsions represent .58 percent of
the district's total high school and middle school population of
about 1,700 students.

Zaccardi said expulsion is a last resort but is sometimes necessary
to protect the health and safety of students and faculty.

"When you get down to brass tacks, that's the last thing the school
board wants to do," she said.

"Children who consistently break school rules, engage in illegal
activity such as drug and alcohol consumption, and who continually
disrupt the education process or threaten the health, safety and
welfare of other students and staff forfeit the right to an
education and expulsion takes place," Zaccardi said.

Students can be expelled for fighting and other disruptive behavior,
but Zaccardi said illegal drug and alcohol use account for 80
percent of expulsions.

Expulsion is not automatic when a student violates the rules. The
district has a process in place that offers offending students the
chance to mend their ways.

Offenders are typically placed on probation and required to live up
to a contract to remediate improper behavior.

"Ninety-nine percent of the time the process is successful," Zaccardi said.

Many students, even if expelled, are allowed access to the district
support-services building to continue their education by taking
classes online.

"We are one of a very few districts in the state of Idaho that offer
this service to expelled students," Zaccardi said.

A student can be denied the service, however, if he or she is
determined by the board to be potentially dangerous or disruptive.

One student who finds himself in that position is 14-year-old Damon
Wall, who was a freshman at Wood River High school until he was
expelled last month for a second offense of fighting.

Wall, along with parents Russell and Brandie Lepley, was one of the
half dozen protesters in front of the district office Monday morning.

Wall is not even allowed on school district property, and his
parents made sure he stayed on the public sidewalk during the
demonstration. Otherwise, he could be charged with trespassing, his
mother said.

Brandie Lepley said she's signing her son up for Internet classes
and he's spending some of his free time in community service at
Blaine Manor, but otherwise he feels isolated and abandoned by the expulsion.

"The board told him that he's an incorrigible child, but we don't
believe it," she said.

So what does Wall have to say about the situation?

"I'd rather be in school," he said.

Expulsions typically last for one full year.