The Bedford County School Board is set to begin reviewing a proposed student discipline policy Thursday night that would give the school superintendent greater flexibility to hear cases.
According to a summary of the policy on the division’s Web site, it would allow Superintendent Douglas Schuch or his designee to suspend students for up to 180 days. He would also consider recommendations for expulsions, refer “valid” ones to the board and consider appeals for short-term suspensions.
The superintendent can’t levy a student suspension greater than 10 days under the current policy, said Ryan Edwards, a spokesman for the division. Any suspension that is recommended for more than 10 days goes before the eight-member board in closed sessions he said.
“There are some changes that will give the superintendent more flexibility to handle discipline cases,” Edwards said. “Our school board this year has been inundated with discipline cases.”
Only the board or a committee consisting of board members could expel a student under the proposed policy. The board would be required to review all recommendations for expulsion and all requests to lift an expulsion and consider appeals of suspensions from 11 to 180 days.
The proposed policy would also give the board the option of having a committee review cases. It is set for a “first reading” tonight, which means final adoption likely would come at a later meeting.
In other business:
- The board could vote tonight to approve nearly 30 other policy revisions affecting the division that were mostly revised due to state code changes.
- Board members also are likely to approve a supplement appropriation request to county supervisors for $169,000 to the major category of instruction in the schools’ 2009-10 operating budget. The funds are from a Teaching American History Grant awarded by the United States Department of Education.
The 7 p.m. meeting will take place at the Bedford Science and Technology Center on Edmund Street in the city of Bedford. To view the agenda, visit www.bedford.k12.va.us and click the BoardDocs link.
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