SNOW HILL — The Worcester County Board of Education officially adopted a new Student Discipline Policy this week.
At its core, the policy aims to meet new state regulations while allowing Worcester to retain flexibility with student discipline. Though the policy is now on the books, the Board of Education does plan on collecting feedback from advisory committees on the Code of Conduct.
The new discipline policy has been in the works for months and been the topic of much discussion within the Board of Education. It is based around state regulations that seek to mitigate the time students spend outside of school for behavioral issues. The general attitude is to trim down out-of-school suspensions whenever possible without compromising the safety of staff or students.
“One of the biggest changes, to answer an overall question, the word [to define punishment] used to be ‘shall.’ We have some flexibility now that a lot of ‘shall’ was changed to ‘may,’” said Lou Taylor, assistant superintendent of administration.
It’s a subtle change that gives educators a lot of room to address behavioral issues on a case-by-case basis, he continued. Whereas in the past, the rules were set in stone and had to be enforced, now Worcester will be able to customize responses. Overall, it should cut down on the time students are being removed from schools.
“We’re looking for every avenue to not take that route,” Taylor said of suspension.
Some of the spine of the policy is already incorporated into Worcester County Public Schools in a less official capacity.
“Some of these practices were in place but they weren’t in the actual policy,” said Dr. Aaron Dale, supervisor of student services.
There has been some criticism leveled at the new Student Discipline Policy and the state regulations behind it, both locally and around Maryland. Opponents worry that the policy lacks teeth and that by trying so hard to mitigate punishments that would take students out of schools the regulations might not be effective in culling bad behavior.
However, the school board has stated repeatedly it’s entirely comfortable with the changes. While some room for leniency is being worked in, at its core the board has said the policy still provides the tools educators need to enforce discipline.
There will be some community outreach alongside the adoption of the new policy but it will only impact the Code of Conduct, which is a “document that helps parents and students understand the range of consequences associated with certain behavior infractions.”
The policy itself is metaphorically set in stone now that the board has approved it. The Code of Conduct, though, will be influenced by feedback from advisory committees such as the Worcester County Drug and Alcohol Council, the Health Council, and School Improvement Advisory Committees. Feedback will be collected during those committees’ regular meetings at a time when the BoE is scheduled to provide an update on the adoption of the discipline policy.
The board was unanimous in voting to adopt the policy and have said that they are confident that Worcester is in a good spot with discipline.
“We are already doing things that other people haven’t even started yet. We’re feeling good,” said Taylor. “We’ve got a lot of work to do, we’ve got to be very consistent moving forward. As [Superintendent of Schools] Dr. [Jerry] Wilson already said, we’re going to really tie our communities in as we look at our Code of Conduct and get some thoughts and ideas from them as well.”
The policy will yield a lot of transparency, Taylor added. With the new regulations, the county will be more accountable to the state for how it handles disciplinary issues, he said.