News+Ariticle+-+FairFax+Schools

Blog II

Hi, This is Debbie and this my second news ariticle - Blog II.

The news article is entitled: Fairfax Schools to scale back forced transfers The Article was found from CEC Smartbrief; The URL is []...

The School Board of FairFax County School has found itself in a dilema where with its zero tolerance policy students are "involuntarily" being ushered out of the district. That is, the district has adopted very stringent policies where specific infractions would result in an automatic supsension and / or expullsion. Parents and students are upset about such actions. They feel that this is not fair and reconsideration of the policies and the consequences need to be considered. The underlying factor that the parents and students want the Board to understand is that the policies should not be such that they are "one size fits all" implementation.

With careful consideration of the complaints the Board has decided to take the concerns into consideration and issue alternative consequences. A few alternative options being considered are community service, Saturday school and a loss of privileges. These alternatives are under review before a child is given the consequence of an "involuntary transfer" to another school.

Some questions and concerns that I would have as an administrator for this district are the following: 1. Will the district's funding (ADA) be affected by the loss of students when they leave the school/district? 2. Do you think that there will be additional expenditures for the parents of those students who are moving to another school? Will these parents be compensated in some form or the other? 3. How will this affect these children academically by being placed in a whole different environment as it relates to their grades, peer relationships, extracurriculia activities, community associations, etc.? 4. How will such transfers help in building a "community" between school and home?

To my peers that will be responding: Can you help in answering some of the concerns that I have stated above?