THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 24, 1996 TAG: 9605240505
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 99 lines
Seth Hicks' troubles began that night in January when he helped his mom clean out her car.
The 14-year-old picked up several items, including his mom's cellular phone, which he stuck in his backpack and carried into the house. Seth forgot to empty his bag before he left for school the next day at Independence Middle.
There, another student spotted the phone in Seth's bag. Carrying communications devices on school grounds is against school policy. Seth was reported, and the principal recommended a one-year suspension.
The charge is also a misdemeanor. The Hickses were in court last week, facing up to a year in jail or a $2,500 fine.
Seth was reinstated in school after a 10-day suspension.
His family hired an attorney who helped the family get the case dismissed, but the Hickses are still frustrated: Seth might have had a criminal record if they hadn't spent $300 on a lawyer, and the cellular phone, which the Hickses used for their body-shop business, was in police custody until last week.
The Hickses say the school system's ``zero-tolerance'' application of the school code is far too rigid.
``I think it's a good rule,'' said Seth's dad, Dan Hicks. ``But it takes all authority from the principals. The code says principals shall recommend a one-year suspension - automatic, like all kids are the same.
``I believe the principals should have more authority to make decisions in cases like this, where there's a mistake.''
But the school system says there is already some wiggle room in a code designed to undercut a serious problem - drug-trafficking on school grounds.
When a student is recommended for a suspension of more than 10 days, the student attends a hearing where a hearing officer accepts the recommendation, reduces the time, or refers the student to an alternative school setting. Seth could have received the one-year suspension, school officials said, but was allowed back in school after 10 days.
``We try to determine what the real reason is (why the student brought the device to school),'' said Joe Lowenthal, spokesman for Virginia Beach Public Schools.
``Where it used to be a mandatory one-year suspension, in an inadvertent situation or indiscretion, we might give a 10-day suspension.''
School and police officials say that the hard-line approach is the only approach, however. Making allowances will only bring an unequal application of the rules.
``Learning is the primary focus of the school, not talking on the telephone,'' said Anne Meek, executive assistant to the superintendent.
``I understand when parents say it's a mistake - `He found the knife under the shrub.' But we try to hold kids responsible for the possession of these things. That might be a strict interpretation, but it is a fair discipline policy.''
Virginia Beach developed its policy four years ago after a 1989 state law was passed to deter drug transactions at school. The school system added the policy to its Code of Conduct booklet, which students receive each year and parents must sign and return, to confirm that they have read it.
``We knew it was against the policy,'' said Seth's mom, Sandi Hicks. ``But he didn't take it to school intentionally. He's not a criminal.''
The school system confiscates about six or seven communications devices a month, figures that haven't changed much over the years. The number of drug-related instances has decreased, Lowenthal said.
The debate over the rule's inflexibility is as old as the rule itself. Bill Burnside, the Hickses' attorney, has represented four or five families in similar cases.
``The code is so drafted that the school principal has no discretion,'' Burnside said. ``There's no excuse whatsoever (in the code) for having a beeper or cell phone in school, and I believe that there are some legitimate reasons to have one.
``I don't think the child should determine those circumstances, but the principal could.''
A similar case occurred in Williamsburg last year when a student was suspended after school officials found a toy dart gun in the trunk of his car.
Del. George Grayson of Williamsburg responded by introducing a bill in the last General Assembly session that would amend the current state law. His bill would not require suspension or expulsion for students with a toy ``that is not being brandished or not disrupting the educational environment,'' Grayson said.
The bill was killed, but now the Williamsburg-James City County School Board is looking at revising its school policy to prevent kids from being suspended for toy knives and water pistols.
``I'm just trying to get them to use some common sense,'' Grayson said.
The Hickses plan to begin a letter-writing campaign to get Virginia Beach school administrators to use some ``common sense,'' the Hickses said. They're concerned about the futures of Seth and their two daughters.
``I can't promise you that it won't happen again,'' said Sandi Hicks. ``I get so busy. As they get older, they take my car, and I leave my phone in the car. They're in trouble again.''
Dan nodded his head in agreement.
``I feel like the only thing I can do is cross my fingers for the next six years and hope nothing happens.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
L. TODD SPENCER
The Hickses - Dan, son Seth, 10, and Sandi - say they'll push to
give principals more discretion on the rule.
KEYWORDS: CELLULAR PHONES INDEPENDENCE MIDDLE SCHOOL
VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOLS by CNB