A very important role of school districts is to make sure that schools maintain a safe environment for students. A couple years ago, the Board asked that all schools include programs promoting school climate in their Site Plans. All schools now have concrete goals around creating positive learning environments.
One of the most unpleasant duties of the Board of Trustees is to make decisions about students who are caught committing expellable offenses. These include the possession or consumption of alcohol or drugs on campus, the possession of a weapon, such as a knife or gun, gang activity, or getting into fights.
The Board discusses these cases in closed session and usually must decide whether to expel the student from the district or suspend the expulsion so that the student has the chance to remain in one of our schools. In either case, the Board attaches a rehabilitation plan that the student must follow in order to remove the expulsion from their record or be readmitted to the district. When an expulsion is suspended, the student is usually moved to another school in the district and any further discipline referral can result in complete expulsion without further review.
Expelled students are referred to Santa Clara County's alternative school, which for middle school students on the East Side of the County is Stonegate School. Today, I visited Stonegate and got a tour of their program. Stonegate is a small facility with 3 classrooms, a "multi-purpose" room, and an office, located on the edge of the Stonegate Elementary School campus. The school has 3 teachers, an aide, a resource specialist, and a part-time principal and secretary. In addition, there is always a San Jose Police Officer on site as well as a counselor from California Youth Outreach.
In addition to teaching material from California's standards, Stonegate helps students focus on making positive choices with the ultimate goal of reintegrating students back into their home school districts. The school does a good job for its students considering its low budget.
I have always felt that our role as a school district is to do all we can to keep students in our schools and find ways to help them be successful. That is why support services such as counselors, school psychologists, and social workers are an important part of the school community. If we intervene with children who have issues outside of school or are acting out on campus, we can help them make better choices and avoid having to deal with expellable behavior. Not only is it better for the students to remain in their local school, but it is financially better for the district. When a student is referred to Stonegate School, we must pay the County for their education out of our general fund.
The Board must strike a delicate balance between serving all our students and ensuring campus safety. I will continue to support services that address behavioral issues and find ways to minimize the number of students in our district that must be expelled.
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If the district would reinstitute Opportunity Classes, we would have fewer expulsions.
As a teacher in the district, it's painful to see students in a regular class who don't belong in a regular class. It sets them up for daily failure and sometimes that leads down a path to expulsion.
Let's serve the needs of all of our students.
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