Temporarily banning students from public school grounds may not offer the best route to improved discipline and educational achievement, according to authors of a recent report. This statement may take on more significance, since the report also shows students who receive out-of-school suspensions are on the rise in all of Fairbanks' K-12 grades.

Analyst Barbara Sundberg and the district's chief of program planning and evaluation, Nick Stayrook, compiled the Student Discipline Report by using statistics for school years 1996-97 through 2002-03.

"Of the three types of disciplinary actions (out-of-school suspension, expulsion, and exclusion) by far the most frequent is out-of-school suspensions," the report said.

Ninety percent of offenses serious enough to have a student removed from school resulted in out-of-school suspension, 10 percent resulted in expulsion or exclusion.

Sundberg and Stayrook's data led them to conclude that, "Missing school due to suspensions leads to impairment in achievement because students are missing out on important learning opportunities."

Information from the report, dated January 20, leads some to wonder whether removing a child from school is an outdated form of punishment, doing more harm than good.

"Our goal is to examine school policies, between the violation and disciplinary action," said Susan Burrows, who was appointed by her husband, school board president Bill Burrows, to serve on a Student Discipline Task Force last October.

"If a student is caught smoking, how is getting kicked out of school going to help?" Burrows asked, "Wouldn't it be more effective to have in-school suspension and require the student to write a report?"

The study and the formation of a task force to look at the issue of student disciplinary procedures began last year following a lawsuit filed by North Pole High School student Anthony Frey and his father, Martin Frey. In the lawsuit, the Freys alleged that Anthony's constitutional right to privacy was violated after he received a 90-day suspension on May 22, 2003 for refusing to take a urinalysis test. Anthony, who was suspected of being under the influence while at school, failed a school nurse's rapid eye exam before being ordered to take the urinalysis test.

While the case was still pending, the district school board took action by forming the Student Discipline Task Force and requesting the Student Discipline Report by Sundberg and Stayrook. Late last month, federal judge Ralph Beistline ruled on the lawsuit in favor of the school district. According to a Jan. 27 Associated Press report, Beistline found that "The school district's policy complied with a mandate for trying to eliminate substance abuse in schools while not invading student's privacy."

The Student Discipline Report ranks substance abuse third in a list of 22 possible offenses serious enough to have a student removed from school in the Fairbanks North Star Borough. The top two offenses committed by high school students, who were the largest segment of offenders were: flagrant disrespect towards staff and disruptive conduct.

"It (student disrespect) is sad and out of control," said Burrows, "a situation has to escalate before a teacher would take such action as to request a student be suspended."

The increased substance abuse combined with flagrant disrespect of students towards staff has generated "talk about wanting to close campuses," said Burrows.

According to Burrows, parents are partly responsible for these problems.

"Today, parents give kids more privileges like cars and cell phones. However, cell phones are very disruptive and students can even cheat using them," said Burrows, "but when staff tries to take them (cell phones) away, parents get upset."

Kim Kelly is Head Teacher and Counselor for the district's START Program, which is one of two programs intended to assist suspended, expelled or excluded students get back into school and not become repeat offenders. Kelly agrees that much of the student violator's problems can be traced to the home front.

"We have parents who are in denial that their child committed an offense, parents who are (alcohol and drug) users themselves, and parents who are very protective of their child's and family's right to privacy," said Kelly.

Despite these obstacles, Kelly said she and others are helping the task force as much as possible. "We have had police, judges, parents, teachers, and administrators make presentations to the task force to advise them in forming recommendations to address these challenges," said Kelly.

However, no matter how good the recommendations are that come out of the task force, they will face an uphill battle for implementation.

"We are facing an $11 million short-fall," Kelly said of the school district budget, "The START and Re-Entry programs are among the top third of programs on the chopping block. Also, district-wide we are looking at cutting 104 teachers and 13 to 14 school counselors."

Regardless of the fiscal situation, the task force plans to present their recommendations for alternatives to kicking out problem students to the district school board by April, according to Kelly.

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