THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 2, 1995 TAG: 9502020406
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
Declaring war on student violence and misbehavior, a 58-member Safe Schools Task Force on Wednesday set out to clean up schools.
The task force, led by School Board members and made up of teachers, principals, students, parents and community leaders, is charged with drafting a safe schools plan to present to the board in July.
The plan's recommendations are expected to range from tougher rules for student behavior to better equipment and training for school safety monitors.
``We are not going to wait for something tragic to happen,'' board member and task force Chairman Tim Jackson said.
Last summer, the board made school safety a top priority for the next few years.
Board member and task force Vice Chairman D. Linn Felt said he has been frustrated by the increasing numbers of discipline cases he has seen in the school system.
``I would have hoped that with everything we had put in place, we would have seen a reduction in discipline cases,'' he said. ``It's a little discouraging to see that we're not making as much headway as I thought we were.''
The task force was the brainchild of former School Board Chairman James R. Darden, who resigned from the board this week because of family medical problems. The board unanimously backed the idea.
The director of the University of Virginia's Youth Violence Project, which consults with school systems to promote safety, is a member of the task force.
Wednesday was the first of five monthly meetings for the whole task force. The group is divided into four subcommittees, which will meet more frequently to come up with specific recommendations, such as beefing up alternative programs offered by the school system or in the community.
Task force members will study statistics on discipline cases, visit schools and evaluate programs now in place to deal with behavior problems or to prevent violence.
Jackson said he expects to see concrete results.
``We're not doing this for a touchy feel-good,'' he said.
Task force members said they did not yet know what their work would produce.
``I didn't know it was going to be this big a deal,'' said Denise Brannon, a security assistant at Salem Middle School. ``I'm very impressed, because I'm down on the level where things usually trickle down. I'm impressed by how much effort they're putting in.'' by CNB