ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, May 27, 1996 TAG: 9605280076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-5 EDITION: HOLIDAY
DATELINE: WOODBRIDGE
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
A member of the Prince William County School Board says it makes no sense to just suspend truants and send them home, because avoiding school is their aim to begin with.
Charlie Colgan says that, instead of being allowed to sit in front of the television at home all day, the hooky-players should be forced to do something productive - a punishment that would benefit both students and the community.
His suggestion: have students recommended for suspension spend their out-of-school time cleaning up graffiti on school and public buildings.
``All through high school, my friends and I would see our peers suspended for not coming to school or for being tardy. Out-of-school suspension just never made sense to me,'' said Colgan, a 1993 graduate of Stonewall Jackson High School.
``Over the last couple of months, I have been trying to think of things students could do to clean up the community and keep [students] in school,'' Colgan said. ``One of the things that can help is to give them a can of paint and have them paint the side of buildings for a couple of hours.''
Jack Lynch, area associate superintendent, said school administrators will conduct a feasibility study of Colgan's idea over the summer.
``We've started to look into this after the suggestion,'' he said. ``We have to look at the logistics of something like this, the liability of having students in the community, and then pull a package together before we make a recommendation to the superintendent.''
If all goes well, Prince William County schools could be using community service projects as a punishment alternative by the new school year, he said.
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