Good
News is Suspension Percentage Went Down;
No School Labeled Persistently Dangerous
By Ahmar Khan
ST. MARY'S
TODAY
LEONARDTOWN ---
Expulsions in St. Mary�s County public
schools jumped to three in less than four
months of the current academic year compared
to just one last year, with one of the three
expulsions related to drug use and sale.
Still, a St.
Mary's school official has heaved a sigh of
relief school suspension rates have gone
down and none of the county schools fall
under the category of persistently dangerous
schools.
"We
could expel for bomb threats, for history of
violence and for use and sale of drugs,"
Kathleen Lyon, director pupil services cited
the three main causes for the expulsions.
She said there was a single expulsion the
previous academic year, 2005.
Lyon
declined to be more specific or elaborate,
citing confidentiality reasons.
Bomb threats
have consistently bedeviled St. Mary�s
county schools and saw the posting of a
uniformed officer in two middle schools,
Esperanza and Spring Ridge, though this time
drug sale in school has also been cited as a
cause for expulsion.
"There's
a state description of persistently
dangerous schools," Lyon told ST. MARY'S TODAY at her office Monday afternoon.
"We don't have any in the county," she said. Lyon gave out the county figures from a state report
released last week entitled, "Suspensions,
Expulsions. And Health Related
Exclusions, Maryland Public Schools."
A "persistently
dangerous school" means a school in which
each year for three consecutive school
years, the total number of student
suspensions for more than 10 days or
expulsions equals at least 2.5 percent of
students enrolled.
A student can
be suspended for more than ten days or
expelled for arson or fire, on charges of
possession of drugs, explosives firearms,
other guns or other weapons. The other
reasons for a longer suspension or expulsion
are physical attacks on a student, school
employee or other adult, and sexual assault
.
In academic
year 2005, St. Mary�s County improved its
ranked to 13th in the state, with
12 jurisdictions having a lower suspension
and 12 jurisdictions a higher suspension
rate. In academic year 2004, the county
ranked 15th with 14 jurisdictions
having a lower suspension rate.
Lyon said expulsion can range
from less than one year to forever.
She said at
times a student simply drops out when an
expulsion is imminent. �We have the White
Oak Secondary Center and evening school as
alternatives to expulsions,� she said.
Lyon said expulsion was the last
thing the school system wants to do. "We are
in the business of helping children," she
said.
(See
detailed report in print edition).
