By MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / January 11, 1999

RESERVE – Principals in St. John the Baptist Parish were asked to make areport to the school board after a recent review showed that suspensions rose at six of the schools in the district from the first nine weeks of 1997-98 to the first nine weeks of 1998-99.

Board member Matt Ory requested the reports at the meeting of the board on Dec. 17. Ory said the figures presented in the review did not tell whatis going on at the schools and he anted the principals to tell firsthand what is being done in terms of discipline at their schools.

“Each school is different and each has its unique problems,” Ory said.

The review gave a number of possible rationales for the rise in suspensions, including administrators not applying the Code of Students Discipline in a fair and consistent manner and parents/guardians being overlooked in the disciplinary process.

The Glade School, the second largest school in the district, had the number of suspensions rise from 49 in the first nine weeks of 1997-98 to 133 in the first nine weeks of 1998-99. Principal Grady Hall said half of theproblem comes from special education students. One problem is theprocessing time between the last offense and expulsion in which the students cause more problems. Hall said most problems are caused whenteachers are out. He said he had one situation where a science teacher quitearly in the year and has not yet been replaced.

Hall pointed to some of the good things the school is doing, including the disciplinarian at the grammar school who he said is doing a wonderful job.

He said the in-school suspension program is extremely good with the only problem in that some parents are refusing to take their students there, willing to leave them out of school instead.

“Getting in touch with parents is getting worse every year,” Hall said.

“The parents of kids that give the most problems are the hardest ones to get in touch with.”Leon Godchaux Junior High also saw an increase in suspensions from 13 in 1997-98 to 31 in 1998-99. Principal Jackie Forest said most of thesuspensions are for disrespect for authority and foul language.

“We can’t allow students to stay on campus if they disrespect authority,” Forest said.

Forest agreed with Hall that one of the big problems is parents refuse to take their students to the in-school suspension centers. She said theschool has set up a disciplinary committee to come up with ideas to deter discipline problems. Students who do not have discipline problems arealso rewarded.

Rewarding students helped the number of suspensions go down at the Garyville/Mount Airy Math and Science Magnet School. Principal MikeColburn said the school has gotten the students motivated and more involved in education.

Suspensions also went down at East St. John Elementary and Fifth WardElementary. One thing that is helping at East St. John Elementary is theinstitution of the Time Out Tutoring program where the student causing the disruption is taken out of class for a cooling off period. Students inTOT do the classwork but in a different location. If the disruptive behaviorcontinues, more drastic action is taken.

Principal Jerry Galloway agreed that the in-school suspension program has been a deterrent but agreed there is a problem with parents taking their students there.

“We need to put teeth in it to enforce it,” Galloway said.

The number of suspensions rose at both of the high schools in the parish.

East St. John principal Debra Schum said the school has started usingFriday afternoon detentions which have been more effective than those on Saturdays.

“Not too many high school students like to spend their Friday afternoons in school,” Schum said.

Schum said the redirectional center has made a significant change in the climate at the school. The peer mediation conflict resolution program hasalso helped to decrease the number of fights at the school. Programs, suchas the High Five Club, reward students for positive achievements.

West St. John principal Glenda Gaudet has instituted a unique program forstudents who are caught cursing. The students must call their parents andreport what they said back to them.

Gaudet said that the school is following the Code of Student Discipline.

Many of the other principals agreed the schools should not be punished for increasing suspensions by following the book.

“We are happy that the percentage of suspensions went down, but if it had been the same as last year I don’t feel it should be looked at as negative,” said LaPlace Elementary principal Courtney Millet, whose school’s suspensions dropped from 16 to 10. “You have to look at the big picture.”Ory agreed.

“If some schools show an increase, it doesn’t mean they have problems but that they are doing the job to take care of the problem.”Board member Charles Watkins pointed out that three schools had no repeat offenders – Fifth Ward, West St. John Elementary and John L. Ory.”The suspensions must be working,” Watkins said. “Being fair and doingthe job is what we are concerned about.”

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