School board reviews student discipline policy

CHENEY – School board members held a first reading of revisions to policies addressing student discipline and the enrollment rights and services for homeless students at its Jan. 22 meeting last Wednesday.

Associate Superintendent Tom Arlt told the board the district elected to make changes to the student discipline policy in conjunction with best practices and recommendations from their legal counsel, Stevens and Clay, rather than adopt changes proposed by the Washington State School Directors Association. Arlt added those changes, advanced two years ago, were rather “drastic.”

In making changes, the district sought to reduce overall exclusory language, create better paths and encouragement for parents and students in the process, create an annual review process by the district and address “proportionality with population” issues surrounding disciplinary actions. The policy notes discipline is not necessarily punitive, but “can take positive and supportive forms.”

The policy encourages administering discipline in manners that “respond to the needs and strengths of students” while keeping students in the classroom as much as possible. The policy requires educational services be continued with students during suspension or expulsion and that “fairness, equity and due process in the administration of discipline” is assured.

Arlt pointed to language in the policy directed towards staff, instructing them to “attempt one or more forms of other forms of discipline to support students in meeting behavioral expectations” before imposing classroom suspensions or expulsions. The district must also consider other forms of discipline before imposing long-term expulsions.

Arlt told the board the original policy was 17 pages long, now reduced to six pages.

“That gives you a little insight into how extensive the changes were,” he said.

Changes to the homeless student policy begin with ensuring equal access to education, rather than just public education, and special attention to identification, enrollment and attendance for students while “mitigating educational barriers to their success.” Homeless students include those sharing housing or living in motels, hotels, trailer parks or campgrounds because of loss of housing or economic hardship along with students abandoned in hospitals, living in cars or public spaces and migratory children living under similar conditions.

The policy requires all school principals to establish a point of contact for such youth, rather than just middle and high school principals. It also specifies the district will “waive specific courses required for graduation for students experiencing homelessness if similar coursework has been satisfactorily completed in another district.”

The district may also deny the waiver, but if so and the student would have qualified to graduate from that district, Cheney must provide an alternative process for the student to obtain that course work. Arlt said the district experienced such a need from a student who moved to Western Washington and sought help from Cheney with graduation needs, which the district provided.

No action was taken on the two policies by the board, which is scheduled to vote on the adoption of these revisions at their next meeting.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.