While suspensions are on the rise in the Aromas-San Juan Unified
School District, expulsions have dropped in recent years.
Anzar High School discipline coordinator Marilyn Breiling said
the increase in disciplinary action is because of a more consistent
definition of offenses and consequences.
While suspensions are on the rise in the Aromas-San Juan Unified School District, expulsions have dropped in recent years.
Anzar High School discipline coordinator Marilyn Breiling said the increase in disciplinary action is because of a more consistent definition of offenses and consequences.
The school’s discipline matrix outlines 22 offenses and three steps taken for an offense. Offenses include swearing, false fire alarm, fighting, possession of drugs, vandalism and sexual harassment. Consequences include parent notification, detention, suspension and expulsion.
Before the outline, advisors would handle disciplinarian issues, leading to various interpretations and inconsistency.
“I think it (the matrix) makes it look like there are more (suspensions),” Anzar Principal Charlene McKowen said. “I don’t have a feeling kids are being naughtier.”
Currently, Anzar High School has had 33 cases of suspension, with 36 occurring the past school year. Also, there have been four cases of expulsions from the campus this school year, according to Breiling.
The school utilizes a campus supervisor that helps keep an eye on students and handle disciplinary issues, McKowen said – which can also explain an increase in suspensions.
Anzar is the only school in the district that has had to expel students, said Superintendent Jackie Munoz.
“The K through 8 schools don’t have expulsions – unless the offense is atrocious,” Munoz said.
In the ASJUSD, expulsions have decreased from 13 during the 1999-2000 school year to 10 the following year and then to four the past two years. However, district suspensions have increased from 27 in 1999-200 to 63 to 87 last year and to 57 six months into the current nine-month school year.
The increase in suspensions at Aromas School is attributable to the new principal, Munoz said. Mary-Ann Tucker is insistent on “establishing a breaking point with kids,” Munoz said.
The district’s zero-tolerance policy is very clear, Tucker said. She said last year’s spike in suspensions – from 12 to 29 – at Aromas was because of a “very large eighth-grade class.”
Also, Tucker said more schools nationally are taking cases more seriously since the shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado in 2000.
At the elementary school level, suspensions are related to vandalism, use or possession of marijuana and paraphernalia.
At the high school level, most suspensions come from defiance and behavioral issues, Breiling said. Several cases of suspensions and expulsions come from drug and alcohol use, she said. Anzar has an automatic five-day suspension for participating in a fight – a controversial policy, but one that has been effective, McKowen said.
“There are so very, very few fights on campus,” she said.
It’s important to note that students have been involved in multiple suspension cases.
Cases that fall under expulsion are mandated by the state education code. The district Board of Trustees makes the final decision about whether to expel a student. If a student possesses, furnishes or sells a dangerous object or any kind of weapon, they are required by the state to be recommended for expulsion. There has never been a case of a student bringing a weapon to school in the district, Munoz said.
If a student is expelled from the district, they must attend an alternative school in the county – usually Pinnacles Community School.
The distance and transportation can be hardships on students, but Munoz said the community has been very supportive of the no-tolerance policies at the schools.
