CitySLUSD Liaison Highlights 2007 1001

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j CLvI ~..~ ~,, ~;~ r~ ~ (-~,J ~ ~ 27 I b ~~ San Leandro Kicked Out 27 Students Last Year By Amy Sylvestri San Leandro ~'imes The San Leandro Unified School District expelled signifi- cantlymore students than neigh- boring districts last year. During the 2006-2007 school year, 27 students were expelled out of a total enrollment of 8,724. In comparison, the Castro Valley Unified School District expelled 17 students out of a total enroll- ment of 8,722 and the Alameda District expelled 12 out pf an enrollment of well over 10,000 students. Despite the large number of students that were expelled in San Leandro last year, David Lorden, Director of Student Sup- see EXPULSION, page 12 Expulsion: Students can return to class continued from front page port Services for the SLUSD, feels the district is moving in the right direction. "The good. news is that the year before last, we had 82 ex- pulsions," he said. "We attribute the decrease to early interven- tion." Of the 27, two students were expelled from McKinley El- ementary, one from Roosevelt, one from Washington, one from Bancroft Middle School, seven from John Muir Middle School, and 15 from San Leandro High. At the elementary level, Lorden explained that at leasC one of the expulsions took place over a BB gun being used, though he refused to disclose the specific causes for expulsions at each school. Lorden had to be called over 20 times over athree-month pe- riod to get the information for this story. The San Leandro district has a "zero-tolerance" policy and mandatory expulsion for bran- dishing aknife; possession of a firearm, selling narcotics, sexual assault, and possession of an ex- plosive.But Lorden said that the most common reason for expul- sion were progressive discipline problems, usually repeated inci- dents of fighting. The process for expulsion begins when a principal recom- mends expulsion to Lorden. If it is determined that the incident has nothing to do with a student's disability, Lorden, the school's principal, and the student's parents meet within five days for both sides to state their cases. A panel hearing may then be called in front of three or four district administrators to present any witnesses or evidence in their defense. The panel then makes a recommendation to the school board and the school board makes a final decision re- garding expulsion. Lorden said that in most cases, the parents of a student agree to forgo the process and wave the trail by simply agree- ing to an expulsion. After a decision has been made, a student is usually given a one-or-two semester expulsion, see EXPULSIONS, page 28 Expulsion: continued from page 12 never lasting more than a cal- endar year. Younger students are often just expelled from a particular school and another place is found for them. in the district. Older students are often as- signed to community day pro- grams, where they must meet the behavior, attendance, and aca- demic goals set in the terrns of their expulsion. Others enroll in home schooling. After the term of the expul- sion is up, [he student faces a kind of parole board. If the stu- denthas been found to have com- pleted his or her alternative school satisfactorily, he or she is allowed back into a school.. "We take the student back in front of the.board,"said Lorden. "And depending on their behav- ior in the program, we recom- mend that the expulsion end or continue."