STUDENT SUSPENSIONS ON THE RISE; PLYMOUTH, QUINCY IN TOP 10 OF EXCLUDING
STUDENTS

Quincy and Plymouth made the list of the state's top 10 school districts
with the most students suspended or expelled during the last school year, a
report by the Department of Education shows.

Statewide, the report shows student exclusions, defined as the removal of a
student for 10 consecutive days or more, hit a 10-year high last year.

Plymouth's school district ranked seventh, with 34 students excluded during
the 2002-2003 school year. The previous year, 27 students were excluded.

In Quincy, which ranked 10th on the list, 25 students were excluded, down
from 38 the previous year. All of those excluded were high school students.

Plymouth School Superintendent Steven Hiersche said he believes his
district's increase is due to a 100-student jump in Plymouth's high school
enrollment to 2,700 between the two years.

In the school year that ends this month, the Plymouth district has put in
place some counseling programs that have led to a decrease in exclusions, he
said.

"What you'll find is when they do the report next year, the numbers will be
down," Hiersche said. "We've become a little more proactive. to provide
opportunities for kids who get into trouble due to drugs."

Hiersche said most of Plymouth's exclusions are a consequence of drug use or
felonies committed off school grounds.

State law allows schools to suspend or expel any student who is caught with
drugs at school, brings a weapon to school, commits violence at school or
commits a felony outside of school.

Across the state, 1,890 students were excluded - a 10 percent increase from
2001-2002 and the highest number since the DOE began tracking exclusions in
1995-1996.

Twenty-five percent of expulsions were due to possession of an illegal
substance at school, 22 percent for bringing weapons to school, 15 percent
for assaulting school staff, and 13 percent for assaulting students.

"This type of behavior simply cannot be tolerated in our schools, and
students need to know that if they commit the offense, they will be
disciplined," Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll said in a statement.
"Although it bothers me to know this kind of behavior is going on at all,
I'm pleased to see that teachers and administrators are responding
appropriately."

Most of the exclusions lasted between 21 and 40 days. Ninety-two students
were suspended for an entire year.

More than 200 of the state's districts, including Abington and Cohasset,
reported no exclusions. Those two towns have had no exclusions for the past
three years.

Abington School Superintendent John Aherne said the district's zero
exclusion rate is due to a number of factors, including the availability of
alternative programs for students who misbehave or lack motivation in
school.

"I'm certainly not going to say we haven't had kids who have made mistakes,
because we have," Aherne said. "But, through our programs, we have the
ability to provide services to students without excluding them for lengthy
periods of time."

Of the 34 districts that reported 10 or more student exclusions, Springfield
had the most with 583, followed by Boston (221), Worcester (102), Lawrence
(75) and Holyoke (56).