
DATE: Friday, November 21, 1997             TAG: 9711200477

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Education 

SOURCE: BY NANCY YOUNG, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  135 lines

EXPULSION DOESN'T MEAN THAT LEARNING MUST END AREA STUDENTS OFTEN FIND A HOME IN SMALLER THAT SPECIALIZE IN HELPING THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN EXPELLED.

Marlon Battad, 18, was one of the statistics two and half years ago when he was expelled from the Norfolk school system for fighting.

Before he was expelled from school, Battad had hoped to have a career in architecture. Right after he was expelled he thought that was lost.

But hope is back.

``Now I think I still can make it,'' said Battad. Shortly after being expelled, he was referred to Richard Milburn High School, a private school that serves students who have been expelled or suspended from their own campuses. He expects to graduate in June and then eventually go on to college.

In Hampton Roads each year, hundreds of students are deemed to be enough of a threat that they can no longer attend classes at their home school - for the good of the other students and teachers.

``It's based on moral authority and what the community expects,'' said Glenn L. Koonce, director of pupil discipline and student activities for Chesapeake schools. ``The community is very clear on this. They want safe schools. . . . When it's time to draw the line, that line's going to be drawn.''

But on the other side of the line are the expelled students and their families. Koonce said that while everyone may ascribe to the idea of safe schools in theory, it's harder when it's your child facing expulsion.

``With something like this you can't expect a parent to say, `Oh yeah, expel my kid. I want him home every day,' '' said Koonce, adding that parents often see his office and the school district as their adversaries at first.

Over time though, Koonce said his goal is to show parents that he is not just there to punish, but to help the students who are expelled turn their lives around. Without that balance, a school discipline problem gets transferred to the community.

``If we throw them out without education, my experience has been they will end up in jail,'' said Jon Harnden, director of the office of student leadership for Virginia Beach schools.

Harnden said that most students in Virginia Beach who are recommended for expulsion are not actually expelled from the school system itself, just their home school.

``We seldom really expel a kid,'' said Harnden, adding that the district offers several alternative programs for such students, including the Center for Effective Learning for middle-school age children and the Adult Learning Center for older students studying for the GED. There's also a substance abuse intervention program where some students who would have previously been expelled for drug use instead receive help.

Even with the alternatives, some students don't turn themselves around, Harnden said.

``Those are the young people who have been given every opportunity to change their behavior and don't,'' he said.

But those students seem to be the exception, not the rule. In Chesapeake, Koonce said, the norm is that expelled students do what is necessary to get back into school - and once admitted, they make sure they stay there. In his three years directing discipline for the district, Koonce said he has seen no students expelled again after being readmitted.

Students appealing their punishment to the school board - which makes the final decision on expulsion and readmission - need to show that they are ready to come back by getting counseling and tutoring, doing community service, holding a steady job and attending an accredited program like Richard Milburn High School, which has several campuses across the country, including one each in Norfolk and Virginia Beach.

But attending a program like Richard Milburn, which costs just under $5,000 a year, or paying for a private tutor might be beyond the reach of some families.

``That doesn't mean they cannot do something to show that they are serious about their education,'' Koonce said. He said that a student simply going to the library daily and providing proof of how many books he has read can sway a decision in a student's favor.

``It's a powerful statement to board members,'' Koonce said.

Battad did not have to face the financial fallout of being expelled for fighting because the Norfolk school system pays the tuition of the students it refers to Richard Milburn High School, said Donna Eldridge, the area director for the program. About 90 students are currently enrolled at the Norfolk campus.

``I saw the opportunity and I took it,'' said Battad, who is also involved in a work-study program as a cook at Pizza Hut.

Eldridge said that students who struggled in the larger public school setting often thrive at Richard Milburn because the smaller class sizes - usually no more than 12 students per class - allow for more personal attention. And even though many of the students who are referred there have committed violent offenses, that doesn't mean they'll continue that behavior at Milburn

``They've been removed from their peer group. There's this feeling that you're sort of in this together,'' said Eldridge.

``There are more behavioral issues,'' said Lois Wright, an English teacher at the school. ``But you have to get past that and get to know the student in order to make education possible.''

At times, students and parents may even request that they be allowed to stay in alternative programs after they could go back to their regular school.

``That may be the only success the student has known,'' said Harnden.

But wherever they go to school, Battad recommends that the students who are expelled go somewhere and make sure they at least get a high school diploma. ``They should try to get back to school. You don't want to be running around on the streets for the rest of your life doing nothing.'' ILLUSTRATION: PHILIP HOLMAN PHOTOS

Lois Wright...

Marlon Battad...

The numbers on expulsion

While concern about school safety abounds, consistent measures of

discipline procedures are hard to come by.

``School districts around the nation vary widely in whether and

how they collect and track data on incidents of student violence and

discipline,'' said a report from the U.S. Department of Education.

``However, without accurate and consistent data to analyze, it is

difficult for educators, parents and communities to draw conclusions

on the impact of any policy relating to safer public schools, much

less to determine which schools are doing a good job and where