Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 28, 1994                   TAG: 9401280159
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BILL WOULD MAKE PARENTS TAKE ROLE IN SCHOOL DISCIPLINE

It aims to make parents partners with schools in controlling their children's conduct.

Parents would have to meet school officials at the beginning of each school year to discuss standards for student conduct.

They would sign an agreement acknowledging the standards and assume responsibility to help the school discipline students.

Some educators like the proposal, but question whether it should be required for all children.

It is part of a bill introduced by Del. Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County, that would provide $100 million to begin closing the spending gap between rich and poor school systems.

Teachers are happy that the issue of student conduct and disruptive behavior has gotten the legislature's attention, said Rob Jones, Virginia Education Association president.

But some teachers question whether a written agreement on a conduct and discipline plan is needed for every student, he said, because it could become burdensome.

"Our hope is that this would be used for the most disruptive students," Jones said. "I think that further discussions with [legislators] might bring some amendments to this proposal."

Ken Walker, chairman of the Coalition for Equity in Educational Funding, also has reservations.

"If you are dealing only with youngsters who have had problems, that could be productive. It could be helpful," he said. "If you're talking about every student, you could get bogged down in paperwork."

Cranwell said Thursday he understands why some people might believe the proposal could be burdensome. But lack of discipline is a major problem in schools and something has to be done about it, he said:

"It might create a little hassle, but nothing is easy if we want to improve the quality of schools.

"The thrust of the bill is to bring back discipline - to bring parents back as advocates of the system rather than as advocates of the students," Cranwell said.

Parents often hire lawyers and become advocates for their children who are disciplined for breaking rules, he said.

"There might have to be tradeoffs. If we want discipline, we need to have parents" who back the school system's rules, Cranwell said.

"You can't pick and choose who would be covered" if a student-conduct agreement is required, Cranwell said.

If the requirement burdens school officials, changes might be considered, he said. He said the legislature also might provide financial incentives to school systems for parental and community involvement in student conduct and discipline.

"But if we are going to improve the quality of schools, we have to deal with the issue," Cranwell said.

He said the proposal is designed to deal with some of the problems of disadvantaged students who end up charged with crimes.

Under the proposal, schools would have to notify parents when a child is suspended and inform them of the specific reasons. Before the child could return to school, he and his parents would have to meet with school officials to discuss improvement of his behavior.

If the parents do not have such a meeting or if a child is suspended a second time, school officials would file a complaint with the juvenile court. The court could put students on probation, require them to participate in a rehabilitation program and fine their parents.

Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY