If you're wondering whether zero-tolerance disciplinary policiesare good for our schools and good for our kids, take a few minutesto listen to some of the parental buzz on a Fairfax County onlineforum:
'Request a copy of your son's record asap,' urges one poster onFairfax Underground. 'You have the right. Take that to an attorney.'
'All appeals are denied,' warns another. 'Don't waste your time.'
'Good luck - you are in for one of the worse experiences of youlife - dealing with FFX County School Board.'
'How horrible a system we have that we as parents need to trainour kids not to speak to teachers, cops, or administrations. I'vetold my kids they have one thing to say - I want to speak to myparents, and to not write or sign anything.'
The way the much-vaunted Fairfax County school system treats kidswho make mistakes has become Topic A in the wake of the Jan. 20suicide of Nick Stuban, 15, whose story was recounted inheartbreaking detail Sunday by Post reporter Donna St. George.
By most accounts, Nick was a really good kid.
He was a die-hard on the W.T. Woodson High School football team,did well in his classes, was active in church and was even a BoyScout, literally.
Then last fall, he made a single stupid mistake, the kind lots ofteenagers make. In Nick's case, someone told a school administratorthat he had purchased one capsule of a synthetic compound thatmimics the effects of pot - JWH-018. It's not even an illegalsubstance.
Nick admitted it, apologized and was sincere and remorseful whenhe and his parents attended his disciplinary hearing in November. Itwas the only offense of that kind he'd ever had.
Nick was the only child of military veterans Steve and SandyStuban, and he was struggling long before he walked into thathearing room.
His life at home was defined by illness, an excruciatingchildhood spent watching Lou Gehrig's disease take his mother,muscle by muscle. He knew how to respond to her ventilator alarmsand how to perform tracheal suctioning on her. She came to hishearing in a wheelchair with her nurse.
Nick made it clear that Woodson was his second family. This was aschool where he'd found inspiration, support, friendship and succor.He begged to go back.
But the hearing board showed the Stubans no compassion and nounderstanding. It stuck to Page 20 of the school system'sdisciplinary manifesto - the Student Responsibilities and RightsHandbook - that parents and students are required to sign each year.
On that page is explicit detail about Stuban's offense, sayingthat it 'shall result in a ten-day suspension from school andrecommendation for expulsion.'
Fine. But why in the world didn't the hearing boarddisciplinarians consider something in the spirit of Page 23 from thesame handbook: 'Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions, the SchoolBoard may determine, based on the facts of a particular situation,that special circumstances exist and that no disciplinary action oranother disciplinary action or term of expulsion is appropriate.'
When you look at this family's situation and the student himself,Page 23 seems a much more reasonable place to begin.
If Page 23 doesn't exist for someone like Nick Stuban, than whocan it possibly be for?
And yet, the hearing board stuck to Page 20, kicking a good kidout of school, a kid who needed the embrace of his school communitymore than anything else.
The whole ugly process went on for almost two months. During thattime, Nick wasn't allowed to go to class or to his Boy Scoutmeetings or to sports activities. He became withdrawn andincreasingly depressed. He'd been at his new school, Fairfax HighSchool, for just a few days when he killed himself.
Stuban is the second Fairfax County student in two years to killhimself during the disciplinary process. Josh Anderson, a 17-year-old football player at South Lakes High School, did the same thingin 2009.
An entire organization dedicated to the school system'sdisciplinary policies and parents' experiences with it has sprungup: Fairfax Zero Tolerance Reform.
The people who want change aren't saying that kids shouldn't bedisciplined when they do something dopey. But they argue that mostdon't deserve to be treated like criminals, either.
Here's what the zero-tolerance policy has taught folks inFairfax: When kids get in trouble for a minor offense, they need toclam up while their parents lawyer up. Families who treat a kid'sscrew-up head-on, with honesty, integrity and sincerity, as theStubans did, will pay a price - sometimes a terrible price.
Expelling kids for shooting plastic pellets out of a pen case,strip-searching them in a hunt for Ibuprofen or writing a 6-year-old up for sexual harassment after a playground booty smack is noteducation. It's an over-lawyered response that flies in the face ofcommon sense.
Fairfax Superintendent Jack D. Dale said that zero tolerance wasnot a factor in the Stuban case and that the disciplinary processwasn't a factor in Nick's suicide. He called that conclusion'erroneous.'
Here's the word I'd use to describe all of it: cruel.
E-mail me at dvorakp@washpost.com.
