ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 31, 1997 TAG: 9703310102
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SERIES: Disorder in the schools - a special report
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER/THE ROANOKE TIMES
Roanoke Valley's schools have conduct codes that call for suspending or expelling students for drugs, weapons and physical assaults.
The punishment for lesser violations - fighting, disruptive behavior and defiance of teachers - varies from conferences with students and parents to suspension.
Roanoke expelled 12 students last year, mainly for the distribution of drugs or possession of weapons at school. The city has kicked out two students this year, and principals have recommended
expelling several others in pending cases. Roanoke County has expelled more than half a dozen students this year, primarily for violations of regulations on weapons and drugs, including alcohol.
State and federal laws require schools to kick out students for at least one year if they bring guns onto school property. Students caught distributing drugs or causing physical harm
to others also are likely to be expelled
"There is a real concern that we don't give the schools over to hoodlums," said James Gallion, assistant superintendent for Roanoke County. "There is a feeling that we should have zero tolerance on weapons and drugs in schools."
Salem, which has a smaller enrollment than Roanoke and Roanoke County, averages one or two expulsions a year.
Some teachers think administrators aren't tough enough with students who cause trouble in classes or halls, but might not have brought drugs or weapons to schools.
They say some administrators seem reluctant to suspend or punish troublemakers because they apparently fear that it might cause the student to drop out of school.
Others think school officials are intimidated by parents and the threat of lawsuits.
Roanoke Superintendent Wayne Harris said that principals as a general rule don't consider the potential for litigation or shy away from suspending a student if that seems the most appropriate punishment.
He said Roanoke's principals do look to see if there are options to suspension of elementary children, but they do not back away from punishment if a child has violated rules.
The city has student support teams - composed of administrators, teachers, psychologists and others - to work with students who have chronic discipline problems.
"The teams work with students and parents to see how we can keep them in school, but there are still consequences and punishment," Harris said.
Jeff Artis, a former Roanoke teacher and City Council candidate, believes many discipline problems in city schools are caused by what he calls "wannabe gangsters."
"We're not Washington, D.C., or other places where we have to worry about shootouts at schools or students getting hurt," Artis said. "But we have some students who act up because they want to get suspended or be placed in alternative education."
Most discipline problems are caused by a small group of students, he said, but they make it difficult for everyone else.
Roanoke operates the Noel C. Taylor Learning Academy mainly for students who have caused discipline problems in middle and high schools. Students who have caused disruptions in class, gotten into fights, damaged school property or violated other rules can be sent to the school.
About 150 students in grades 7-12 attend the alternative school in the former shopping center at Hershberger Road and Interstate 581.
In Roanoke County, some students with behavioral problems attend Roanoke County Career Center in Vinton, but it is not an alternative school.
Roanoke has used police resource officers in its middle and high schools for more than a decade. The city has two officers at each high school and one in each middle school.
School officials downplay the police role of the officers, saying they are in schools mainly to foster good relations between police and students.
"They're not there for security or to maintain order," Harris said. "But they intervene when we have an incident, and it is necessary [such as in a recent altercation between two students at William Fleming High]."
Harris thinks the presence of police helps prevent trouble in school because students know they are there. He says the city made the right decision by putting officers in school before it became "popular and before we had a crisis."
The schools do not have statistics on the impact of the police officers on drugs and fights, but Harris believes they have have caused a reduction.
Many Roanoke students said they're glad the schools have police officers, even though they say they do not fear for their safety. In meetings with Harris, some Patrick Henry and William Fleming students complained about disruptive classmates, but they said they didn't consider them to be a threat.
Salem High School has had a police resource officer since the early 1980s. The job has evolved over the years, Superintendent Wayne Tripp said. It was mainly an educational position at first, but now the duties focus mainly on law enforcement and discipline.
Roanoke also uses civilian security officers at its high schools to control parking, patrol the campuses and keep unauthorized people off school property. These officers wear uniforms, but do not carry weapons.
Roanoke County put a police resource officer in each of its four high schools in the past month, a step that school officials say will create an environment in which students feel safe.
"If we have one person in our school system who carries a gun ... we have a problem," said Michael Stovall, chairman of the county School Board.
Like their counterparts in the city, the county officers will have a dual role: law enforcement and fostering relations with students.
To curb drugs in middle and high schools, the county and Salem have started using police dogs to search for illegal substances. Roanoke does not use drug-sniffing dogs in its schools.
The reaction of students to the search dogs is mixed. Some see no need for them and complain that it's an invasion of privacy, but others think it will help keep drugs out of school.
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