THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 9, 1995 TAG: 9501090046
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
School officials are claiming victory in their battle to keep guns out of the city's schools, but the war for good behavior in the classroom continues.
Unruly students have become a national concern, and school administrators in Norfolk are grappling with ways to bring order. They think the public can help.
Officials scheduled a community forum Tuesday to find out how residents would solve the problem.
``We want their input on how we can have better discipline in the schools, what are the problems and what are the things they think are successful,'' said Norfolk School Board member Joseph T. Waldo.
There are successes to point to.
So far in the 1994-95 school year, Norfolk and Chesapeake are the only school districts in South Hampton Roads where guns haven't been found on school property.
Last year, four guns - not counting five BB, pellet or look-alike guns - were confiscated from students at Norfolk schools. In the 1991-92 year, Norfolk schools reported 27 incidences of guns, including BB guns or imitations of deadly firearms.
``Essentially, we have conquered that problem,'' Waldo said. ``It doesn't mean it's not going to happen, and I'm not saying we're not prepared to deal with it. Students know what to expect. They get put out of school for a look-alike, too.''
Tighter security and swift punishment may have deterred such serious violations as gun possession, but ``general disruption'' that intrudes on class time continues to trouble teachers, parents and students in schools across the city, Waldo said.
During this school year's first two months, a period when student behavior typically is calmest, a majority of Norfolk's high schools and middle schools, and a third of its elementary schools, reported at least one case of a student assaulting a teacher or staff member.
Three of those incidents were classified as ``major,'' meaning there was some type of injury.
During three weeks in September, 167 students were cited for fighting.
Tuesday's forum will be conducted by a discipline committee formed by the School Board last fall, consisting of parents, teachers, students and school administrators.
Waldo, who co-chairs the committee with fellow board member Anna G. Dodson, said the meeting is in line with two of the board's three top goals this year: to improve discipline and increase community involvement. The third is to enhance academic achievement.
``We believe you can't separate academic performance from discipline,'' Waldo said.
School statistics reveal that a relatively few disruptive students, most of them repeat offenders, cause the majority of problems.
In 1993-94, according to school records, two-thirds of the reported offenses were committed by about 3,700 children, or about 10 percent of students in Norfolk schools. On the other hand, 75 percent of Norfolk students stayed out of trouble that year.
Last year, 103 students were expelled for the year, while 841 more received long-term suspensions.
Those few unruly kids can have an enormous impact on the ability of their well-behaved classmates to learn, officials say.
Committee member Denise Matchen, a parent and president of the Norfolk Council of PTAs, said teachers need to be given more authority to enforce discipline. She also said parents should be held more accountable for their children's behavior in school.
``We're kind of punishing kids who really want to learn,'' Matchen said. ``Teachers have to spend so much time disciplining kids who really don't want to be there.''
In the General Assembly session that convenes Wednesday, Norfolk and other school districts will lobby state legislators for more money to provide alternative classroom settings for disruptive students. Norfolk officials are pushing for legislation that would enable schools to petition the courts to force uncooperative parents to take responsibility for their children's behavior.
``Principals tell me that the biggest problem is insubordination - kids mouthing off,'' Norfolk schools spokesman George Raiss said. ``Kids sometimes are rude to each other and rude to school officials.''
Statistics for the 1993-94 year document 7,226 cases of disobedience and 7,143 for disruption, ranging from sassing a teacher to talking in class. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
TO GET INVOLVED
What: A discipline committee appointed by the Norfolk School
Board last fall is holding a community forum.
When: Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Where: Lafayette-Winona Middle School, 1701 Alsace Ave. (off
Tidewater Drive)
Why: To gather public comments about what the school system can
do to improve school safety and discipline.
by CNB