THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 1, 1996 TAG: 9610010263
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 91 lines
Repeatedly disruptive students? Let teachers toss them out of class, for good.
No place to put such students? Create more alternative-school programs for them, so the education of other children can proceed unhindered.
Is the public concerned about school safety and discipline? Conduct annual safety audits of schools, like fire inspections, and make the results public.
These and other changes and initiatives are among the bagful that Lt. Gov. Donald S. Beyer Jr. on Monday said he plans to push in the next General Assembly. He spoke to some 50 school superintendents from around Virginia gathered at the Virginia Beach Hilton Inn for a three-day retreat on state education issues.
Such issues have become a top state and national concern, even more so in this presidential campaign season. Beyer said that, when he asks teachers how to make Virginia's schools the best in the nation, nine out of 10 ask for help with classroom discipline and school safety.
``In Virginia, no teachers should be afraid to walk into his or her classroom,'' the lieutenant governor said. ``And no student should stay home'' out of fear, which he said one out of 12 in Virginia have reported doing.
Beyer wants the General Assembly to give teachers the legal authority to kick out chronically unruly students, to be readmitted only if there's no place else for them to go, as determined by an outside committee. Florida and Texas have such laws.
Some superintendents raised concerns that such power could be abused, with some impatient teachers cutting down their class sizes by simply getting rid of a quarter of their students. They urged Beyer to ``go slow'' with such legislation, saying that many teachers need more training in classroom management and in dealing with cultural differences.
``If you've got teachers who don't like kids, then you've got to do something with those teachers,'' Beyer agreed.
He suggested that discipline skills could be made part of the state certification requirements for teachers. Extending the standard teachers' paid work year beyond the current 200 days to accommodate this training and other updating of skills also needs to be discussed, Beyer agreed with one superintendent.
If students can be banned from classrooms because of bad behavior, all jurisdictions would need alternative education settings to place students who can't get along in regular schools, Beyer said.
A safety audit could examine discipline policies, numbers of infractions or crimes reported at a school, the building's physical safety, even whether there are phones in classrooms for teachers' use in emergencies, he said.
Other education priorities Beyer mentioned included continuing and expanding the Head Start program to disadvantaged children in addition to the 4-year-olds currently served. He cited numerous studies showing the earlier that children are exposed to reading and other higher-order thinking, the better chance for their later academic success. He also proposed offering grants for adult-literacy programs at the same sites, so parents who need such remedial training can stay and learn to read to their children.
``Parents will learn better - at-risk adult parents - when paired with their children,'' Beyer said.
Beyer also said improving the state's schools requires improving the state's school buildings, which he said needed $8 billion more than the $6 billion already approved for school construction and renovation to meet current needs. A third of Virginia's schools are overcrowded, more than 63 percent are 25 years old or older and need renovation, and there are 100 that still lack fire alarms, he told the superintendents.
A goal of one classroom computer for every five students by 2000 that already is being funded will run into a simple roadblock, Beyer said: 72 percent of Virginia classrooms only have two electrical outlets.
To meet such needs, Beyer proposed increasing school borrowing caps; restrict use of the state Literary Fund - a fund offering low-interest loans to schools - to construction and renovation costs and not allow it to be raided for other uses; and establish an equipment-buying trust fund for elementary and secondary schools, like the state's colleges have, that would increase each district's buying power.
``Virginia can lead the nation again, but only if we can make Virginia's schools the best in the nation,'' Beyer said.
He ticked off the names of several high-tech companies that moved to the state in recent years.
``None of them,'' he said, ``came here because we have the best prison system.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
``In Virginia, no teachers should be afraid to walk into his or her
classroom. And no student should stay home.''
At a retreat on state education issues, Lt. Gov. Donald S. Beyer
Jr., left, says he plans to push changes and initiatives in the next
General Assembly that relate to discipline and safety in the
schools. by CNB