With the recent assault on a substitute teacher and staff member by a 13-year-old female at Antioch Middle School, coupled with a robbery at Deer Valley High School, the Antioch Unified School District highlighted their suspension and expulsion policy.
Adam Clark, Associate Superintendent at the District, on Monday said that every incident is different and has circumstances behind it.
He said for example, the student at Antioch Middle School was new to the District this year.
The school and staff are now going through a process as to whether or not to recommend expulsion given the circumstances around the assault–he could not share any further details on the circumstances since its under investigation and dealing with a minor.
The substitute teacher suffered minor injuries and will recover, but Clark could not provide any more information as it was a personnel matter.
Board President Waler Ruehlig said the Board does not have much latitude when it comes to expulsions because their policy aligns with the California Education code.
“We follow all the timelines and procedures outlined in the Ed Code. Of course, we have no control over the courts, “said Ruehlig. “For my own personal two cents, liberality has no place when it comes to staff assault. Our teachers deserve protection. Their job is hard enough as is. I trust, from our end, the school district will make sure appropriate consequences are meted out.”
Last year, the District handed out 21 expulsions.
According to the District policy, the District has five major violations that could result in expulsion for a period of up to 1-calander year.
SUPERINTENDENT OR PRINCIPAL’S AUTHORITY TO RECOMMEND
EXPULSION
A. Unless the Superintendent or principal determines that expulsion should not be
recommended under the circumstances or that an alternative means of correction
would address the conduct, he/she shall recommend a student’s expulsion for any
of the following acts: Education Code 48915
- Causing serious physical injury to another person, except in self-defense.
- Possession of any knife or other dangerous object of no reasonable use
to the student. - Unlawful possession of any controlled substance as listed in Health and
Safety Code 11053-11058, except for (a) the first offense for the
possession of not more than one ounce of marijuana, other than
concentrated cannabis, or (b) the student’s possession of over-the-counter medication for his/her use or other medication prescribed for
him/her by a physician. - Robbery or extortion.
- Assault or battery, as defined in Penal Code 240 and 242, upon any
school employee.
B. In determining whether or not to recommend the expulsion of a student, the
Superintendent, principal, or designee shall act as quickly as possible to ensure
that the student does not lose instructional time. Education Code 48915
Clark further explained that if a student has an IEP (Individualized Education Program) and commits one of the 5 major violations (see above), they have to hold a Manifestation Determination where they decide whether or not the act was a result of the students disability or not.
“From that determination, we can go forward with an expulsion determination,” said Clark.
Once a determination is made, that recommendation then goes to the District Office in the Student Services Department who then presents the case to the Board of Trustees. The Board will then either accept or reject the recommendation. They could also decide on other means of correction.
The process takes 2-3 weeks all of which the student is out of school.
“We can only suspend the student for 5-days at a time, but when there is a pending expulsion, it can be extended as long as it takes. This also goes to a regular scheduled board meeting so it depends on how the dates align,” explained Clark. “When it happened, we have 5-days from the event and within those 5-days we have to make the determination if we are going to go forward with an expulsion. During that time, there is a meeting that takes place with district staff, student and parent where we have to inform them of all the charges that are being brought forward on the student. You have to have a face to face meeting with them.”
Clark admits its a time consuming process, but when it is done correctly everyone is on the same page and it works well.
“You provide education code, policy on suspension and expulsion, walk them through the process. Maybe a psychological test. It could take 2-4 weeks,” says Clark.
When asked why some students are arrested and some go to juvenile hall, he says it all depends on the police and the entire circumstance of an incident.
“Sometimes police are called and arrest a student but we do not expel. Other times we expel and there is no arrest,” explained Clark. “Every incident is different there is no correlation on arrests and expulsions.”
He noted that expelled students from the District also are not entirely kicked out either, but instead they attend Bridges which is a school where expelled students attended.
According to the District, Bridges Community Day School is a program designed for students in grades 7-12 who have been expelled from the Antioch Unified School District. Students may also be placed in the program through the Antioch Unified School District Student Support Services for other reasons. Bridges is a six hour per day program where students work on core course assignments. The goal of the program is to give the students the skills necessary to allow them to transfer to more traditional education programs and be successful.
Clark added that although students have made headlines recently, police briefs don’t always tell the whole story and it doesn’t represent the entire 17,000 students the District has.
He says there are many good things going on within the District.
“We have a process for 17,000 students in our district and the acts of a couple students does not represent the district as a whole,” says Clark. “Its disappointing reading some of the comments, things do happen and there are two sides to every story. Sometimes reading the police briefings do not tell the whole story. There is a lot of great things happening in the District. Like every school district, some students have challenges and we work within education code to provide an education where students have different backgrounds and experience.”
For more information on the Antioch Unified School District Suspension and Expulsion process, click here.
1 comment
What a joke
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