FFX Schools Chief, Stuban Parents Differ Over School Discipline Process

The Fairfax County schools superintendent  urged the family of former W.T. Woodson High School student who committed suicide to focus their reform efforts on the state's zero tolerance policies.

The Monday letter from Superintendent Jack Dale  seems to fly in the face of his that Fairfax County Public Schools do not have a zero tolerance policy.

"You might be interested to know that many student discipline laws passed by the Virginia General Assembly compel us to take certain actions with given infractions – invariably, the law requires us to expel a student from his/her school," he wrote in his Monday letter to the parents of Nick Stuban. "For example, most drug and weapon related infractions require an expulsion from school."

He went on to say that FCPS staff and the school board try to find alternative placement for such students.

His response came hours after  The Washington Post published today  a story about a letter from the Stubans, crafted by the president of The Rutherford Institute, a non-profit organization that provides free legal representation for those in need. The family said that their son was not treated "fairly and reasonably" and directly connected his suicide to the county's "inhumane, impersonal, overly harsh and draconian" discipline policies.

"The state code seems to have ‘zero tolerance’ for certain infractions," Dale wrote in his response. He went on to suggest that maybe the state code dealing with due process should be reviewed.

The Washington Post published a stirring Sunday article about the Stuban family, the Fairfax disciplinary policy, and how other area school jurisdictions treat similar infractions. The Washington Post reports that Nick Stuban signed a confession saying he bought a legal marijuana-like substance at school before his parents even knew he was in trouble.

Despite widespread dissatisfaction with standing disciplinary policies, the state seems no closer to reform. Yesterday the Virginia Senate dropped a bill that would require school staff to notify parents whenever their child faces suspension.

At last week's McLean PTSA meeting about a dozen parents talked at length with Dranesville school board member Jane Strauss and  about their concerns that the schools' zero-tolerance policy  was too rigid and uncaring. Strauss denied the existence of a zero tolerance policy and echoed Dale's former assertions that every infraction is treated on a case-by-case basis.

Due Process of Law?

The Stuban letter reveals a frustrating run-in with the FCPS disciplinary system. Nick was charged with possessing an "imitation controlled substance," something that is not illegal and not prohibited by school rules. His family was deterred from seeking legal counsel by hearing officials, who allegedly claimed the move to seek legal help would be viewed as "adversarial."

It is difficult to confirm the Stubans' experiences as informal notes serve as the only detailed records of the hearing process. What's more, these notes allegedly end whenever the hearings take a "decidedly unprofessional tone."

But Sue Anderson, the mother of a former South Lakes student, tells a similar tale. She too was warned against bringing a lawyer to her son, Josh Anderson's, first hearing process.

"The questioning started out in a reasonable way but as the meeting progressed and Josh was not showing forth the type of responses they wanted, it became more and more confrontational, which caused him to shut down even more," she writes in her blog, "Remembering Josh." "We did not feel good about Josh's chances after this meeting."

When the family consulted a lawyer on their second disciplinary run-in, they received grim news. They were told that Josh's expulsion from the county school system was pretty much a done deal. Josh killed himself the day before his hearing.

A Growing Issue...
Debate over the effectiveness of FCPS discipline policies has taken over news reports and PTSA discussions.

Fairfax Underground's forum discussion on the topic has sparked over 15,000 comments.

Read Fairfax City Patch's coverage of this issue:

(Feb. 14)
(Jan. 24)

What's the next step? How should school officials address this call for discipline reform? What do you want to see changed? I