<p>With 46 suspensions on the books so far this school year, some parents are concerned about standards for student discipline at the regional high school.</p>
With 46 suspensions on the books so far this school year, some parents are concerned about standards for student discipline at the regional high school.
School administrators and the Island Parents Advisory Council (IPAC) on Special Education met to discuss the school’s disciplinary approach Thursday night.
What followed was a lengthy and sometimes heated discussion that touched on protocols for disciplining students with special needs, the school’s response to the teen vaping epidemic, and the role the Oak Bluffs police school resource officer (SRO) Jillian Sedlier plays at the school.
Parent Lara O’Brien read a letter outlining concerns. The letter said changes in leadership at the high school in 2016 and the revised code of conduct that followed resulted in a system that focuses on consequences instead of relationships.
“This action results in mental health deterioration for some, stressed families who are alienated from the school, and a divided and frustrated community. We hear it at the supermarkets, the doctor’s office, and the dinner tables across the Island. Suspension.” Ms. O’Brien said in part.
High school student affairs administrator Dhakir Warren shared suspension data for the school year so far. The 46 suspensions involved 38 students. (In the 2017-2018 school year, 32 students were suspended, according to department of elementary and secondary education data.) Among those 38 students, half are on individualized education programs (IEPs), meaning they have specific identified learning needs. Schoolwide, 20 per cent of students are on IEPs.
Parents noted the disproportionate number of students with special needs being suspended. High school special education director Hope MacLeod acknowledged the issue, and said the numbers are similar statewide.
“That is the trend across the whole state of Massachusetts. It’s a significant — it’s something we need to talk about, but it’s not out of whack from, we compared it to Falmouth and we compared it to a similar school system that [the state] ranked with us,” she said.
Some parents said they want to be sure an understanding and training in special education is part of the discipline process at the high school.
“I think there’s a disconnect . . . with the behavior and the disability,” said Lori Scanlon. “There’s a disconnect between the disciplinary umbrella of the school and the special [education] department.”
Mr. Warren said 76 per cent of this year’s suspensions are infractions related to vaping such as possession of paraphernalia or a controlled substance. Educators and health officials around the country are struggling to keep up with the youth e-cigarette trend, which took hold on the Island two years ago.
Mr. Warren said state law dictates how the school responds to infractions involving nicotine and vaping devices. It is illegal to vape under the age of 21 in Massachusetts and prohibited to bring devices to school. According to the code of conduct, use of nicotine on campus leads to a minimum three-day suspension on the first offense.
“There are infractions that, mandated by state law, are very clear,” Mr. Warren said. “The handbook clearly outlines what the consequences are.”
Mr. Warren said his office works to connect students with resources to stop vaping and to arrange community service opportunities during suspensions.
The letter from Ms. O’Brien also addressed vaping.
“Vaping is a recognized epidemic now. Schools and parents are scrambling with addiction, and in every single article that recognizes the problem, the conclusion is that suspensions do not work,” she said.
IPAC leaders also raised questions about the school resource officer’s role, particularly what kind of disciplinary information the police officer can access.
Mr. Warren said the school does not share disciplinary data with police. Superintendent of schools Dr. Matthew D’Andrea is in the process of drafting new memorandums of understanding with police departments and schools on the Island, as required by the state.
School adjustment counselor Matthew Malowski noted the resources the high school does provide as a comprehensive high school. They include two full time adjustment counselors, a large guidance department, coordination with recovery coaches for addiction, additional counseling, relationship support, and an alternative education program.
“This is all done in this building,” he said.
This story has been corrected from an earlier version which misattributed the letter from Laura O'Brien. The letter was not from IPAC.
Comments
I would urge any parent with
WashAbhorred EdgartownI would urge any parent with a student that has special needs to learn and understand their rights. The IPAC is a good place to start as are educational advocates. Do not depend on the schools to follow the law.
This is great reporting, but
Tim Woods EdgartownThis is great reporting, but I’m confused. Is the school saying a lot of students in special education are vaping? Is that what the focus is on? Or are they saying the special education students are suspended for a variety of things, but just too often?
There should be no grey area with all students vaping because of this: “It is illegal to vape under the age of 21 in Massachusetts and prohibited to bring devices to school.”
Students should have to respect and obey the law. All of them. All people have to obey the law. If they can’t obey the law now, what will they do after high school?
I’m not trying to sound ignorant, I’m just perplexed as what the issue is. If vaping is against the law, it should not be allowed on campus. If this is something only the special education students are doing (which I doubt, but it’s how this is reading), then this is another issue that should be presented as such. But I’ve been on that campus and I have a feeling it’s not the special education students.
Please clarify? Anyone?
Our primary job as high
Resident MVOur primary job as high school educators is to prepare our young adults for the grownup world that awaits them. This aggressive policy of suspension, which amounts to alienation from society, is misguided. You can sling heroin or its worse derivatives with barely a slap on the wrist here, doing unimagianable damage to families and society. Drive a car without a license, registration, or any accountability? Practically free pass. Tax evasion as a way of life? How many cash wages are paid, with a smirk at the law, while building a personal fortune? Vaping is the new smoking, with an anti-vaxer, plastic straw ban stamp of approval. Bust them? No way. There will be no consequensces later for much larger transgressions while they make their mark on the island. Why teach them otherwise? It begins with holding adults accountable for their actions.
Do island schools have
SJDo island schools have prevention programs (substance abuse, dating violence and bullying, tobacco/vaping, STD/healthy relationships, etc)? If not, start educating them and upon conclusion provide a certificate and ask them to sign an contract (as they do elsewhere).
As for the high rate of disabled youth suspensions, the school should investigate. Parents should obtain clarity re their child's IEP and ensure school staff is on the same page.
Empower kids and families w the tools and info necessary to be happy, safe and included.
Maybe they should concentrate
charlie callahan so boston/edgartownMaybe they should concentrate on all the pot smoking these kids are doing. Pretty soon pot will be easier to get than cigarettes.
Most of the parents who have
Artie Lange Hoboken, NJ and Oak BluffsMost of the parents who have problems with the disciplinary measures at the High School thought that the way to raise their kids was to be their friend and hope that they liked them. Sorry, it backfired.
The studies on suspension are
Sheila Terranova Beasley Oak BluffsThe studies on suspension are definitive. They result in higher drop out rates which result in lower income for life, diminished acceptance rates at universities, and a tendency to increase associating with criminals rather than students which then results in higher arrests, drug use, imprisonment, and suicide rates. They also are assigned, as this article notes, disproportionately to students with disabilities. ( For example, ADD results in poor impulse control).
My grandmother was a naughty teen and the sisters gave her endless French compositions to write as punishment. The result? She joined the state department as a French translator in World War 11.
Our whole total educational
Old Timer EdgartownOur whole total educational system is totally broken actually destroyed. It is such a shame to see what our elementary schools, high schools, our colleges and universities are now producing to run our country.
I am so glad i just hit 80 years old!
Are the students vaping
Tag Martino AquinnahAre the students vaping marijuana or tobacco? Is this being done inside or outside? In cars?
We’ve spent 3 months past 2
Marcus Michael West TisburyWe’ve spent 3 months past 2 winters in Crested Butte, Colorado. All the school kids here get $100 ski passes if they join the community center and sign a social compact with their parents and the community to stay off nicotine, drugs and alcohol. This is not run by the school, but coordinated with the school. Aside from the deeply discounted ski pass kids get discounts at local stores, ice cream shops, movie tickets and a series of other things the kids value. They also have an amazing teen center funded with marijuana sales tax proceeds. The kids agree to random substance abuse screening and infractions are subject to family guidance counseling and possible loss of privileges. The pressure among the teens is to ‘stay clean’ and not lose their pass or other privileges. That is the positive kind of peer pressure that adults can’t duplicate or fabricate. I’d like to think with the Y and the rink and tennis programs and movie theaters and bowling alley and a host of other creative options, discounts and promotions that this could be duplicated on the Island to create a rewards based program not so different from what I see here in Gunnison where despite having recreational marajuana readily and cheaply available the use among teens here seems extraordinarily low.
We have all the resources. With a little creativity and organization a much more positive path can be created. If the kids pressure each other to stay clean I’d like to think you’ve won 90% of the battle. The cost of substance abuse and a failed education is a lot higher than a teen being provided an ‘Island Pass’ to work out, skate, play tennis, sail, bowl, swim, catch a flick...
Maybe I’m just a dreamer...but it doesn’t look to tough to do.
Hi Mike,
Lara O'BrienHi Mike,
The gazette chose to publish the article with a focus on vaping, but the meeting was held by the IPAC and was organized to address the high levels of discipline and suspensions that IEP and 504 students face.(Not necessarily because of vaping, we have to get the data of all discipline numbers) When the new leadership gave the mandated direction to send all kids to discipine for disturbances in the class, tardy, class cutting etc instead of problem solving and critical thinking with a professional understanding of the student's disability, we then created a chronic absentee and discipline issue instead of a support and wellbeing initiativee to help students struggling with learning challenges and mental health illnesses. The new direction is crippling many families and students. Vaping became the hot topic as it is the number one reason for suspensions, the meeting itself was to request the numbers of students that face discipline and are not being reported to the State, so we can see who and what is happening and the damage being done. And a request to turn the direction away from ineffective discipline, (you cannot discipline a disability and nor should we) and towards support and wellbeing, first.
60% of rehab patients have learning disabilites and we want to collaborately help these at-risk students before the addiction, and that will take the first step of putting the will, finances and energy into wellness first for parents, schools and community.
All parents of IEP and 504 students need to support the IPAC.
I do like your dreaming though, and it is good to hear what is working.
Best,
I hear you loud and clear
Mike Marcus West TisburyI hear you loud and clear Lara. You’ve been super consistent and I think your points are entirely valid.
I’d really like to see Community Services or Youth Task Force really get behind coordinating some version of what I outlined and what I see working so well out here.
Prevention and better choices. Stimulation. Letting kids support and pressure each other to make better choices.
No matter what my parents said or did would not have kept me away from substance abuse. Peers might have made the difference. Disciplining disabilities is not going to work.
It would not cost the community much to coordinate and give better choices, and in the long run I’m sure we’d save a lot and genuinely provide enrichment. It won’t work for every kid, but it could work for a lot of them.
Young people, EDUCATE
Mike Unsteingz Oak BluffsYoung people, EDUCATE yourselves please. You wish to change the world. It will be difficult for you to change the future while battling cancer.
Let’s start by recognizing
Really?! TisburyLet’s start by recognizing that vaping nicotine is highly addictive! Fact. Also there are state laws on this subject and a school handbook that is very clear what the consequences are on school property for getting caught. The rules don’t single out any particular group of kids. How about we all start parenting and take ownership for our child’s behavior. They broke a rule very clearly outlined to them. It is not about their IEP. What about the kids who don’t break this rule and are so afraid to go into the bathrooms for fear of getting busted along with the kids vaping. What about their educational rights? Should we have a meeting about their rights! No?! Then work with your kids to get them to stop vaping and fix their addiction. Nobody said parenting was easy. But how about trying to do it!
Hi Really?!
Lara O'Brien VHHi Really?!
I'm not sure people understood the intent of the meeting. It was held by the Island Parent advisory council. Many people who attended were there to ask for data that could be looked at from a special ed perspective. To understand that when special ed kids, kids with disabilities and mental health issues are binned into discipline before understanding the root cause of the problem in the class, it creates bigger issues. Asking for the data and conversing with adminsitration, was a way of trying to understand how to prevent suspensions and be more supportive of kids that need help. It was not a meeting on vaping.
You bring up a good point, nobody should be afraid of going into the bathroom. No body. To attain a 'safe school' it must be built on trust. So parents are asking for a direction that suppports all students' wellbeing first. Suspensions solve nothing. You are right, parenting is not easy, and parenting a child with mental health issues such as anxiety/depression, learning challenges and social emotional deficts, is a particulary hard task, as parenting any disability is. We parents are learning too. The best direction we can all ask for is leadership with compassion and professional understanding to attain a positive outcome.
Best,
The Promise Program:
BFThe Promise Program:
President Barack Obama pressured educators to adopt a new code of conduct making it harder to suspend or expel students of color, even kids who punch out their teacher aren’t automatically kicked out of school anymore.
The logic; minorities were being expelled and punished in numbers disproportionate to the remaining student body.
Sound familiar?
Sure the numbers of minority suspensions have been dramatically reduced.
However, it has given license to hit, punch, spit on, swear at , hold in strangle holds and cause serious brain injuries to teachers with little or no consequence.
Remember Parkland? One of the many schools across the country forced to adopt this policy.
Disabilities, minorities, it doesn’t matter.
The rules and subsequent consequences must apply to all!
Rather than change the rules to favor bad behavior, why not look for, address and work with the causes behind the disproportionate infractions?
It will take years to
Ken Edg.It will take years to discover the effects of vaping on humans. When we saw how many people died from smoking many quit. We will know in a few years about vaping. Best is to just not start.
Does anyone even dare to look
Carol EdgartownDoes anyone even dare to look at stats from when we banned school prayer / moment of silence and the increase rates of teen suicide, substance abuse and other ills? What about the role social media plays in all of this? MV high school teens, special needs or not, are no different than other teens. There is a sickness among so many. They are lost and searching by the millions. When you take right and wrong (not legal vs illegal) out of the public conversation, something fills the void.
As a parent with a child who
jane varkonda EdgartownAs a parent with a child who graduated from MVRHS with an IEP and with my daughter at the school now I agree with Lara. Some behaviors are driven by mental health issues, punishment may not always work, in fact it may back fire and worsen the situation, the child's outlook on school and their perceived shortcomings.
A great diversity of opinion
John Aldeborgh Edgartown, MAA great diversity of opinion here. It seems to me, as a parent of 3 daughters thankfully successful through college, that the real issue is preparing our young people for the real world. For 99%+ of us the real world is hard, regardless of any so called advantage, it's just hard. I've always felt we only give our children two things, values and an education, everything else it up to them. If, when our kids get to high school they feel like pouring gasoline on themselves and lighting a match, there is vey little we can do about it because it too late, their values are already set. The tragedy is high school isn't anywhere near the end of our life's education, it's simply a step along the way but the path is too future learning (and frequently long term success) is largely set in high school. What is important however is that the training wheels come off after high school, there is no longer a buffer between behavior and consequences. High school is the last chance for most people to screw-up and not be handed directly over to the police along with that cold hard slap in the face called reality. Again, is our high school preparing our prodigy to function in the real world. It doesn't seem so by the content of the article, but it may be too late by the time the children reach high school.
Balance the scales, folks.
Al Reiser Tisbury and StonehamBalance the scales, folks. Put the psycho-emotional accommodations in the IEPs and hold the line on the “I can do whatever I want” anarchic knucklehead students who will hijack the climate of the school and make it an unmanageable mess if adults don’t hold the line. Pretty simple. Which means it ain’t gonna happen.
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