Fairfax County Public Schools - Controversy Over Disciplinary Policies

Controversy Over Disciplinary Policies

Fairfax County Public Schools and Superintendent Dale have been criticized for the Fairfax County school system disciplinary process, which has been blamed for the recent suicides of two students: Josh Anderson, of South Lakes High School, took his life in March 2009, and Nick Stuban, a "model student" at W.T. Woodson High School, committed suicide on January 20, 2011. Stuban's family said that his spirit had been crushed in his experience with the disciplinary process. In February 2011, responding to the criticism by County Supervisors Catherine Hudgins and Penelope Gross, Dale maintained that the disciplinary policy did not constitute "zero tolerance" and said that Hudgins' statements associating the disciplinary process with the suicides "for the purpose of furthering a falsehood" was "unconscionable and a blow to those who have already suffered great pain."

Read more about this topic:  Fairfax County Public Schools

Famous quotes containing the words controversy and/or policies:

    And therefore, as when there is a controversy in an account, the parties must by their own accord, set up for right Reason, the Reason of some Arbitrator, or Judge, to whose sentence, they will both stand, or their controversy must either come to blows, or be undecided, for want of a right Reason constituted by Nature; so is it also in all debates of what kind soever.
    Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)

    Unfortunately, we cannot rely solely on employers seeing that it is in their self-interest to change the workplace. Since the benefits of family-friendly policies are long-term, they may not be immediately visible or quantifiable; companies tend to look for success in the bottom line. On a deeper level, we are asking those in power to change the rules by which they themselves succeeded and with which they identify.
    Anne C. Weisberg (20th century)