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

DATE: SUNDAY, September 24, 1995                   TAG: 9509250014
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FROM MONTGOMERY'S CONDUCT CODE:

Local public schools had to add to their codes of conduct this year a state-mandated list of specific weapons that would result in a student's expulsion.

The General Assembly also this past session enacted a law imposing a $50 penalty for parents who did not sign and return forms that spelled out their parental responsibility.

Following are excerpts from documents distributed in Montgomery County:

[From the state's list of weapons for recommended expulsion]

4. Any flailing instrument consisting of two or more rigid parts connected in such a manner as to allow them to swing freely, which may be known as a nun chahka, nun chuck, nunchaku, shuriken, or fighting chain ...

10. Any destructive device. "Destructive device" is defined as [i] any explosive, incendiary, or poison gas, bomb, grenade, rocket having a propellant charge of more than four ounces, missile having an explosive or incendiary charge more than one-quarter ounce, mine, or other similar device ....

From the "Acknowledgment of Responsibility" form parents across the state were required to sign:

I further understand that the court, under 16.1-241.2 of the Code of Virginia, may upon a finding that I have willfully and unreasonably failed to cooperate, order that I do the following:

Pay a $50 fine for failure to return this statement;

Meet, to fulfill the request of the principal, to review the code of student conduct and discuss my responsibility in that process;

Participate or have my child participate in programs or treatment or be subject to other limitations and conditions as the court deems appropriate for failure to meet with school officials if my child is to be readmitted after a suspension, or is receiving a second suspension or is being expelled; or

Pay a $500 fine for failure to meet with school officials if my child is to be readmitted after a suspension, or is receiving a second suspension or is being expelled.

by CNB