Pubdate: Thu, 08 Dec 2005
Source: Bracebridge Examiner (CN ON)
Copyright: 2005 The Bracebridge Examiner Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.bracebridgeexaminer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2354
Author: Jack Tynan

CRACKDOWN SENDS MORE STUDENTS HOME

Student suspensions in Trillium Lakelands District schools are 4 per
cent higher than the provincial average, figures show.

Administrators say the numbers are the result of a new provincial
crackdown to improve safety, not rising student problems.

Numbers released by the Ontario Ministry of Education on November 23
show steady increases in the number of students sent home from the
province's schools since the Safe Schools Act took effect in 2000.

Across the province, 5.3 per cent of students were suspended in
2000-01. That number rose to 7.2 per cent last year.

At Trillium Lakelands schools, 11.2 per cent (2,402) of students were
suspended in 2003-04, 229 more than the 9.9 per cent (2,173) suspended
the previous year. In the first year of the act, 10.2 per cent (2,304)
of students were suspended in Trillium Lakelands.

The Safe Schools Act was put in place to improve student safety and
respect among students and teachers across the province. It includes
automatic suspensions for students who vandalize school property,
swear at a teacher, utter a threat or are caught with drugs or
alcohol. Students who cause bodily harm requiring medical attention,
sexually assault a peer or sell drugs receive an automatic expulsion.

Paul Doiron, superintendent of operations for the board, said numbers
could be higher here for two reasons: differences in the way some
other districts compiled their information, and a lack of resources
for troubled students in rural schools.

Districts in urban centres can lower suspensions and expulsions by
putting troubled students into programs set up for troubled youth,
Doiron said.

"In a more rural school district where there's a large geography, it's
very difficult to provide some specialized programming," he said. "We
have so few expulsions in the course of a year, we couldn't put a
program together. In Toronto, you have an ability, because of sheer
numbers, to create a program we can't match."

Trillium Lakelands administrators questioned the accuracy of some
smaller districts reporting no suspensions or expulsions all year.

"If someone's under the influence of drugs or alcohol there's a
mandated suspension," said Peter Elliott, principal at Bracebridge and
Muskoka Lakes Secondary School. "It's mystifying to me a school would
never have a case like that in a year. I think it's well documented
marijuana use is up right now. That's a reason for some
suspensions."

The number of suspensions from district to district, or school to
school also "comes down to one's interpretation," Doiron said. "What
becomes physical contact? Is it a hand on a shoulder, or a slap?"

According to Elliott, the mandated crackdown has changed his hallways.
The increase in suspensions reflects the different consequences for
student misbehaviour under the act -- not more unruly students.

"I believe, in our board, that our schools are quite safe and
incidents of extreme violence are quite low," Elliott said. "In this
school it's very low. If you get involved in a fight with someone else
you may hurt them seriously. It does have an impact and they realize
that."

Administrators continue to discuss what the numbers mean and what to
do about them, Doiron said. In the meantime, the Safe Schools Act is
improving Trillium Lakelands schools, he said.

"Would I get a call if somebody's son or daughter is suspended?" he
said. "Certainly. But I certainly don't get calls from parents
concerned the schools are not safe and welcoming."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin