Board of Education uncovers flaws and inequities in trustees’ proposed discipline policy
May 4, 1998

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District of Columbia Board of Education
Press Release

Board committee chair recommends that DCPS pull back proposed discipline policy for further work

Washington, DC: Today, Board of Education President Wilma Harvey announced that she will recommend that the District public school administration pull back the revised discipline policy proposed by past CEO Becton for further work.

“Our panel of citizen advisors raised a disturbing number of issues around the proposed discipline policy,” said President Wilma Harvey. “After listening to two and a half hours of testimony I am convinced that the policy, as written, will compound the problems of student discipline and unnecessarily expose DCPS to legal actions.”

The Board public hearing, held April 28, began with a roundtable discussion with two lawyers specializing in juvenile justice issues, a principal of an alternative charter school and a representative of National Council of La Raza. Today the elected Board of Education of the District of Columbia released the minutes of its public meeting.

The panelists discussed a range of issues that they felt the proposed policy failed to address:

• The policy establishes a wall of sternness, isolating children with discipline problems rather than pulling them into the system.
• It fails to recognize that discipline problems become evident as early as first, second and third grade, allows disruptive students to continue through a system rift with neglect, and ignores the original issue that led to the discipline problem.
• When notifying parents of students with discipline problems, the policy does not take into account families who do not speak English at home.
• Sections of the policy violate the Family Educational Records and Privacy Act (FERPA).
• The process for removing disruptive students from a classroom or school includes so many steps that it increases the chance for administrators to be caught on a technicality.

The Board of Education sponsored the public hearing to provide their community advisors and city residents the opportunity to discuss the policy in public. “This meeting is an example of what the elected Board has begun as an ongoing process of working with the public to actually resolve a problem,” stated Phil Blair, the coordinator of the hearing panel.