SchoolMatters Blog

New SchoolMatters Calendar

I just outfitted my blog and my constituent website with new calendar software offered by a company named Trumba.  I am very impressed with their program.  It offers the following cool features to people interested in my School Board calendar of activities:

• The ability to receive alerts about calendar changes
• An RSS feed of the appointments (Feed URL -- What is RSS?)
• The ability to import appointments into MS Outlook

A small version of the calendar highlights now appears on the left side of this blog.  You can click an appointment for more details or click on See all>> for eveything.

Brian Wheeler

P.S. Trumba now joins my greatest hits list of software and website gems: Plaxo, Qurb, Pandora, Bloglines, and Furl

Response to Daily Progress editorial on student conduct policies

I thank The Daily Progress for devoting its June 20, 2006 editorial (“School policy complicated”) to the discussion of Albemarle County Public Schools’ student conduct policies.  Speaking as one school board member, I think some additional points need to be considered by the community.

The Daily Progress says schools should apply one standard to all students (i.e. athletes and non-athletes) with respect to off-campus illegal behaviors and that any disciplinary action by the schools should only be taken only when there is a criminal conviction (not an arrest).

I agree that we should apply the same standard to all students, however, when it comes to off-campus use of alcohol and drugs at the level that it causes a material disruption to the school division, I think the schools do have an important role to play in setting policy and disciplining students who make poor choices. 

The editorial reported on the School Board’s June 8th discussion that improved education of students on the dangers of drinking was “the most popular proposal.”  Education is certainly an idea everyone will agree on, but I think we need to look beyond what is popular and easy and ask what policies need to be in place, ask what expectations we want to set for off-campus behavior, and ask what series of consequences would lead to better choices.

The Daily Progress highlights an important question: “Is it fair for schools to punish behavior that did not occur on campus and did not directly damage the school or its academic function?”  I do not think that would be fair, nor do I think it would be legal in Virginia.  Recent court cases have supported school boards disciplining off-campus behavior only when there is a material or detrimental effect on the operation or general welfare of the schools.  This has been the law in Virginia since the 1960s. In the case of the recent parties with arrests for under age drinking in both the Albemarle High School and Western Albemarle High School communities, that standard of a material disruption was clearly crossed in my opinion.

The editorial fails to discuss the following:

1) schools are not subject to the standards of proof required by the judicial system as state law allows us to discipline students for actions based on testimony from the student and testimony and investigative work by school staff—sometimes the school board takes action before a student’s case has been adjudicated in the courts, however for felony arrests, we often suspend a student immediately (which would also take them off the playing field) and hold off on a final decision until after the case is adjudicated.  Is the Daily Progress suggesting we shouldn’t act on any criminal arrests and we should always wait to discipline a student only when there is a conviction?

2) there was no mention of the Athletics Training Policy that was signed by our student athletes (and their parents) that explicitly prohibits off-campus use of alcohol.  Is the Daily Progress suggesting that, since it believes we should wait for criminal convictions, that this honor code policy should not have been enforced or even written this way in the first place?  The media has reported about 30 of Western Albemarle’s athletes left their teams in the middle of post-season competition because they declined to re-sign the policy when asked by school staff to reaffirm they had been following it, presumably many did not sign because of off-campus behaviors.

3) only the Athletics Training Policy was invoked in the aftermath of the recent parties--the School Division’s general policy on Student Conduct (signed by all students) was determined to not be specific or clear enough to have placed students on notice that they could be disciplined for off-campus behaviors, as allowed under Virginia law when the policies are clear.

4) by Virginia law, the school division is only informed by the police about certain types of misdemeanor arrests and convictions (e.g. underage drinking) of our students when the student is age eighteen or older, or when the incident happens on school property.

I think many in the community would agree we should have one standard for all students when it comes to off-campus behaviors and that our student conduct policies, and their consequences, can be improved.  We can all agree education about the dangers of drugs and alcohol are essential.  We can all agree parents have the most important role to play when it comes to the off-campus activities of their children.  However, it would be a mistake to limit our school policies, and thus our concerns about off-campus behaviors, to apply only when we are informed of criminal convictions for students age eighteen and older.  To do so would reinforce a “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” interpretation that will contribute to the death and risky behaviors of more young people in our community.

Brian Wheeler

Stafford School Board Avoids E-Mail

I read an article in the the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star today ("Illegal meetings alleged") about the Stafford County School Board backing away from their use of e-mail as a result of a recent Freedom of Information Act  (FOIA) request.  I think that is an unfortunate turn of events for any government body.  School Board business should be open to the public and it should make full use of the Internet (e-mail, websites, blogs, podcasts) to promote community and staff engagement in the business of public education. 

Using e-mail for school business does require careful discipline by School Board members.  For example, we have to ensure that our electronic communications don't become virtual public meetings (e.g. if three or more school board members were online chatting or e-mailing in a rapid fire manner, that would in my opinion be a public meeting requiring public notice).  We also have to keep copies all our e-mails as public documents.  Every time a constituent, board member, or school employee sends me a message on school business, that is a public document subject to disclosure under FOIA (note: some e-mails are confidential if they are related to legal issues or personnel matters).  Certainly, a public official shouldn't send any e-mail they don't want to read about in the paper the next day.

If you keep guidelines like this in mind, public officials should be able to balance open government requirements with the effective use of the Internet to communicate with their constituents, colleagues, and school employees.  In 2005, I helped revise the Albemarle County School Board's policy on Board-Staff Communications to include language covering e-mail communications. 

Brian Wheeler

P.S. Thank you to the Virginia Coalition for Open Government for drawing my attention to this article in their daily e-mail newsletter.

First "official" School Board podcast

On this web page you can find the first ever "official" podcast from an Albemarle County School Board meeting [the first unofficial podcast was my experiment last November here].  I am thrilled we are doing this and I hope the public gets a lot of use out of these recordings. 

The School Board was informed during our meeting last night that a podcast would be produced of our discussion on student conduct policies and I believe that is what has been posted.  The School Board agreed to start podcasting all our meetings later this summer.  We are also investigating streaming video of our meetings over the Internet since, unlike the City of Charlottesville, the County has no franchise agreement with local cable TV that would allow us to put our meetings on public access TV.

Brian Wheeler

Student conduct discussion

The Albemarle County School Board met last evening and held a lengthy discussion about student conduct issues in the wake of recent community events involving underage drinking and the death of AHS student Nolan Jenkins.

The School Board Attorney, Mark Trank, provided a detailed review of our current policies and Virginia law as it relates to a school board’s power to discipline students for illegal behaviors off-campus.  He said there is substantial precedent in Virginia, going back to a 1961 Attorney General opinion, that school board’s do have authority, with some limitations, when there is a material or detrimental effect on the operation or general welfare of the schools.  Further, it is well recognized by Virginia law that athletes and students representing their schools in other extracurricular activities may have other standards established.  According to Mr. Trank, other school divisions including the City of Charlottesville, Prince William, Henrico and Fairfax all have specific policies on off-campus behaviors.

The School Board had mixed opinions last night as to whether Albemarle’s existing student conduct policies are in need of revision.  Several school board members said we needed to focus primarily on education of students about drugs and alcohol.  Mr. Trank informed the School Board that our existing Student Conduct Policy JFC was not specific or clear enough to put students on notice that we can discipline them for off-campus behaviors. 

I offered the prepared remarks below during the discussion. I think our policy is broken and needs to be revised to help ALL our students make healthy choices in line with our core values.  This matter will come back before the Board later this summer as there was consensus to: 1) review athletics training policy and related consequences for violations; 2) receive staff recommendations on educational programming; and 3) have another discussion about whether to change Policy JFC with respect to off-campus behaviors.

I look forward to continued feedback from the public.

Brian Wheeler

P.S. In addition to comments on this blog, you may e-mail me at bwheeler@k12albemarle.org, or the entire School Board at schoolboard@k12albemarle.org

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Our discussion tonight is not about the families that hosted these parties, the actions the police have or have not taken, or whether the drinking age in the United States should be 18 instead of 21.  The central questions for me are:

• Can we make improvements to our student conduct policies to help ALL our students make healthy choices in line with our core values?  These core values speak to community, honesty, integrity, respect, responsibility, and virtue.
• Can we be more clear about our expectations for student conduct and can or should this include off-grounds behavior? 
• With sometimes limited information from police, can we enforce our student conduct policies consistently at our schools, especially when they depend on an honor system of self-reporting?
• Do we have the right consequences for violations?

When it comes to off-grounds use of alcohol and drugs at the level that it causes a material disruption to the school division, I think we do have an important role to play in setting policy and disciplining students who make poor choices.  We do that because we care about them, because we have lost too many young people, because we need to help set boundaries that promote healthy choices.  Not all parents want our help and I certainly respect their opinion, but the majority of people I speak to want the school division to be part of the solution.  Mostly, they are saying if we have a policy, educate people about it and be consistent in its application.

Some parents, as I said, have written me to say they think the school should do nothing about off-grounds behavior.  They want illegal underage off-grounds drinking excluded from our code of conduct.  If the school division’s response to Nolan Jenkins death is to retreat from our concern about off-grounds behaviors, I think that would be a double tragedy. 

I have talked to many constituents and staff about these issues.  I want to share some particularly interesting comments from an e-mail the School Board received from the Western Albemarle Warrior Club (parents of our student athletes):

“Everyone needs to accept the fact that we have operated under a don't ask/don't tell policy for all the years that any of us could remember.  To suddenly apply rules and sanctions that have always been there but ignored is going to take a lot of effort from all athletic communities.”

“The rules should be discussed weekly, or throughout the season, starting in the fall.   Coaches will need to be on board because the enforcement will come from them. 
Include JV kids and parents in the discussions.  Including the rules in the handbook is not enough right now.  They have always been there and always ignored.”

“This has been an ugly issue for our students, coaches and parents.  We need to use this frustration and anger and disappointment to make changes that make sense and help our student/athletes and insure that we do not have another year end like this.  If we don't, then all the discussions are wasted.”

In a conversation I had this afternoon with a coach from another high school, these same basic observations were confirmed.  This may not be the view from our administrators and athletic directors, but the reality is that this is the message our students and parents are receiving.

I started with some important questions…  let me repeat them and give you an indication of where I stand.

• Can we make improvements to our student conduct policies to help ALL our students make healthy choices in line with our core values? I hope we can and I will support doing so.
• Can we be more clear about our expectations for student conduct and can or should this include off-grounds behavior? I think we can be clearer in the Student Conduct Policy and I think we need to make all our policies explicit that we do care about off-grounds behaviors.
• With sometimes limited information from police, can we enforce our student conduct policies consistently at our schools, especially when they depend on an honor system of self-reporting? It is a challenge, but we shouldn't back away from our goal just because it is hard to enforce.  Clearly this is not an obstacle for the other school divisions Mr. Trank mentioned that have policies on off grounds behavior.
• Do we have the right consequences for violations? I’d like to hear recommendations about a set of graduated consequences for violations of student conduct and athletic training policies.  I think the single-sanction 30-day removal from an athletic team is a major obstacle for students coming forward.  I think a graduated set of consequences will make this policy easier to enforce because students will be more willing to confide in adults and admit they made a poor choice.

Western students propose student member of school board

At the May 25, 2006 Albemarle County School Board meeting, I was very pleased to hear from a team of Western Albemarle High School seniors who came to present their policy proposal for adding a non-voting student member to the school board.

Here is a link to the handout that accompanied their presentation.

The students outlined the following benefits:

• Students would be more connected to the governance of the schools.  As a result, they would have a greater stake in their education and would feel added motivation.
• School Board would be more aware of the day-to-day problems facing students in Albemarle County Public Schools.

Some of the students on this team had been observing a school board meeting earlier this year and found themselves wishing they could contribute to the board's deliberations.  They also read my blog posting talking about my support for investigating a student member.  In that posting, I said:

"I am very interested in learning what our high school students think would be a good way to engage them more effectively in our work."

Now the students have done some research on the issue, identified legal issues and precedents in Virginia, identified some options for selecting the student, and surveyed their peers to assess their support for the idea.  This is outstanding feedback and will certainly help inform the Board's discussions as we head into a retreat this month and set goals and priorities for the next year.  I want to thank them for their work and for taking the initiative to advance this proposal.

Brian Wheeler

Student conduct policies under review

In response to the recent events in our community, at our June 8, 2006 meeting, the Albemarle County School Board will be reviewing policies related to student conduct.  This is an information item and the community is welcome to provide feedback during public comment.  Our meeting starts at 6:30 PM in Room 241 of the County Office Building.  Speakers may sign-up with the clerk between 6:00 and 6:45 PM and you will have 3 minutes to address the School Board.  This item is scheduled for 8:00 PM on the agenda, but it may start before or after that time.

Here is a link to the student conduct agenda item as presented in our board packets today.

Policies being discussed will include the following:

• Policy JFC – Student Conduct– Applicable to All Students
• Policy JFCI – Substance Abuse – Student Assistance - Applicable to All Students
• Policy JGD/JGE – Student Suspension/Expulsion – Applicable to All Students
• Athletic Training Rule – Applicable to All Student Athletes
• Virginia High School League Eligibility Policies

I have some opinions and ideas on these matters which I will be sharing at the meeting and likely in advance with the public via email and on my blog.  I welcome any feedback before or after the upcoming meeting.

Brian Wheeler

Time for an Athletics Advisory Council?

At the May 11, 2006 Albemarle County School Board meeting, I made a recommendation that the Board and Superintendent consider the formation of an Athletics Advisory Council.  What follows is the memo I presented and that everyone took under advisement.  No action was taken.

May 9, 2006

Should we have an Athletics Advisory Council?  Their charge would be to report annually to the Superintendent on the status of athletics and athletic facilities in the school division.  The School Board would receive a copy of this report in much the same way we receive feedback from the Gifted, Special Ed, Equity and Diversity, Long Range Planning, and Technology advisory groups.

I envision this as a council that would have representation from the following groups:

• Athletic Directors
• Student varsity athletes
• Parks & Recreation department
• Parents of athletes
• Central office staff (Facilities, PE)
• Others constituents (officials/referees, coaches, former coaches, parents of graduates, booster club reps)

Issues an advisory committee might consider and make recommendations on:

• Identifying core principles and practices that will guide athletics in the division.
• Recommendations on athletic policies and codes of conduct for coaches, students, and parents.
• Recommendations on training for coaches.
• Recommendations on athletic facilities and capital budget priorities.
• Facilitate cooperative efforts between Parks & Rec and other users of our facilities (e.g. SOCA, YMCA).
• Provide an avenue for parents to provide feedback via public comment at regular committee meetings (focused on programs, facilities, policies--not about specific employees).
• Virginia High School League issues and representation.
• Acting as a clearinghouse via a central website about opportunities in the community for other sports activities run outside the school division (e.g. middle school leagues).
• Recruiting and retention efforts for officials and coaches.  Coaching and Athletic Director evaluation procedures.
• Activities promoting good sportsmanship, ethics, and health and fitness to serve student athletes.
• Assessing award dinner practices and seeking opportunities to recognize students for their combined athletic and academic achievements.

In some research this week, I exchanged information with an educator in Maine who facilitates an athletics advisory committee.  He directed me to look at this handbook produced by the University of Maine: Sports Done Right: A Call to Action on Behalf of Maine’s Student Athletes. See: http://www.sportsdonerightmaine.org .  I found this to be an excellent resource.

This handbook highlights the following role for School Boards and Administration:

• Consistently strive to provide quality athletic programs
• Expect student athletes to conduct themselves respectfully and compassionately
• Expect coaches to provide enriching sports experiences for each student athlete
• Expect parents and community members to contribute to a positive experience for everyone

I found their outline of various core principles very helpful and this educator in Maine told me his committee focuses on one aspect of this handbook at each meeting.

Brian Wheeler