Schools set schedule, handle discipline issue
A rather short regular meeting of the Rogers City School Board of Education gave way to two long executive sessions Monday night, the first dealing with teacher contract negotiations and the second a suspension of a junior high school student. In the regular session, the board finally set the calendar for the remainder of the school year, with graduation planned for June 3. The calendar had not been set, due to the fact that no contract exists for the current school year between the school board and the teachers? union. Other dates of interest include a mid-winter break beginning Friday with school resuming Tuesday, an early release March 6 for a professional development day and the end of the marking period coming March 23.
School dismisses for Easter break at 3 p.m. April 5 with school resuming Monday, April 16. The last day of school is set for Wednesday, June 6 when class dismisses at 12:05 p.m. The board set Tuesday, May 8 as the date of the annual school election. The seats of board members Richard Hanson and Scott McLennan expire and voters will vote on the 18 mill foundation funding. Following brief reports by superintendent Paul Mancine and principal Deb Jones, the board dismissed into executive session after only 20 minutes in open session.
AT THAT TIME, the board went into its first executive session to discuss the teachers? contract. When it reconvened into open session, no action was taken. The teachers have been working without a contract the entire school year. The second executive session ended after about an hour of deliberations behind closed doors. While several invited parents waited in the high school library, the board met in a classroom across the hall to discuss possible disciplinary action against a male junior high student. When the board came back into open session the fate of the student had been decided.
Board president Mike Marx read the following statement: ?IT IS THE determination of this board of education that at the hearing on February 12, 2007, it was established by a preponderance of evidence that (the said student) violated the code of student conduct as more particularly set forth in the superintendent?s suspension recommendation. In particular, the board of education finds that the student did, in fact, intimidate and threaten his co-students. ?Accordingly, the student is suspended from the Rogers City Area Schools for the remainder of the 2006-2007 school year. Said student may apply for reinstatement 30 days prior to the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year. Reinstatement will be at the discretion of the administration with concurrence of the boar
The resolution passed by a 7-0 vote of the full board. The incident stems from an alleged threat against fellow students named on a list. Parents of some of the students named on the list were in attendance at the board meeting but did not comment during the period designated for public input at the beginning of the meeting. According to the board policy handbook published at the website of the schools, ?the Board will not tolerate any gestures, comments, threats, or actions to a student which cause or threaten to cause bodily harm, reasonable fear for personal safety, or personal degradation.?
THE BOARD spells out what happens in a suspension in its handbook: ?A student and his/her parent or guardian must be given written notice of the intention to suspend or expel and the reasons therefore, and an opportunity to appear with a representative before the board to answer the charges. The student and/or his/her guardian must also be provided a brief description of the student’s rights and of the hearing procedure, a list of the witnesses who will provide testimony to the Board, and a summary of the facts to which the witnesses will testify. ?At the student’s request, the hearing may be private, but the board must act publicly. The board shall act on any appeal, which must be submitted in writing, to an expulsion (Policy 5610 and/or Policy 5610.01), to a request for reinstatement (Policy 5610.01), or to a request for admission after being permanently expelled from another district (Policy 5610.01).” The name of the student was not made public at the meeting.