ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 23, 1996 TAG: 9605230053
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-16 EDITION: METRO
EXPEL OR suspend a student for sleeping in class?
That's overkill. A sleeping student is not learning, true, but he (or she) is not - or should not be - preventing anyone else from learning, either. They should be awakened.
But expel or suspend a student who is threatening the safety of others? Absolutely, if the threat is real.
Every child - from kindergarten through graduation - in every school everywhere should feel safe physically every hour of every day. That doesn't mean school authorities will be able to keep children and adolescents from having disputes, getting angry, having their feelings hurt.
But no one should fear violence at school.
Some students at Patrick Henry High School have told Roanoke Superintendent Wayne Harris that they do.
Their suggested remedy - toss out the troublemakers - may not be as simple a matter to decide as the group of about 60 concerned students seems to think. There is the matter of different perceptions, for instance. What behavior constitutes a serious threat? Might not someone feel intimidated when no physical violence was intended?
There's also the problem of what to do with students who are kicked out. Society retains an interest in doing something - but what?
A recent attack on one senior is evidence, however, that students have legitimate concerns. One student has been convicted of assault and battery and two others of unlawful wounding. A fourth also faces charges. That incident was treated with appropriate seriousness. It should send a message that violence will be treated as what it is: a crime, carrying all the attendant consequences.
But students meeting with Harris complained, too, about classmates who disrupt classes with impunity, and those who smoke or use drugs but are not punished even when they are caught. Such laxity shouldn't be tolerated.
Teen-agers, at an age when it is natural to question authority and chafe at restrictions, are asking for tougher discipline. School authorities need to keep on top of this.
LENGTH: Short : 48 linesby CNB