School Districts to Provide the Names of Students Disciplined to the State

[Maine-ah]

http://www.villagesoup.com/Government/story.cfm?storyid=146079

ROCKLAND (Feb 13, 09): Maine School Administrative Districts 5 and 40 will provide the state with the names of students who have been disciplined.

The SAD 5 board -- representing Rockland, Owls Head and South Thomaston -- voted Thursday night, however, to send a letter of protest to Maine Department of Education Commissioner Susan Gendron.

The vote came after Superintendent Judy Lucarelli warned the board that if the district did not provide the names, the district could be penalized by a reduction in state aid.

The SAD 40 board also grudgingly reversed itself Feb. 5 and agreed to comply with the state demand for the names. The SAD 40 board -- which covers Waldoboro, Warren, Union, Friendship and Washington -- had voted Jan. 22 to inform Gendron that it would replace the names of the students with numerals or letters.

(snip)

The Five Town CSD, SAD 28 and SAD 40 are working with the Maine Civil Liberties Union to oppose the law. MCLU staff attorney Zachary Heiden argued in a letter to the state that Maine law prohibits the disclosure of personally identifiable information about children. He also debated the DOE's interpretation of federal law.

[wavesofeuphoria]

1. Lemme guess ...

a provision stipulated by NCLB? :eyes:

[Maine-ah]

4. I don't know if it's part of NCLB

quote from the article:

The debate rests on a relatively new -- over the past few years -- requirement by the state that asks schools to report the names of students associated with any of 39 reportable incident types that result in disciplinary action that rises above a minor level, including in-school and out-of-school suspension of a half day or longer.

Those 39 incidents include those related to tobacco, alcohol or marijuana use, and those that result from assault, harassment, hate crimes, theft, truancy, vandalism, as well as "other school code violations."

[PA Democrat]

8. "other school code violations"............

Like dress code violations, inappropriate language, skipping class....?

Is there anyone who DIDN'T violate some school code at some point during high school? This is getting ridiculous.

The problem with reporting this type of crap is that once the records are out there, you need to worry about who will gain access like colleges or potential employers for example.

[madrchsod]

2. have to track those "bad kids"

so they can be screwed for the rest of their lives by being "bad kids" in school. tracking kids in school is a nasty habit the adults in education have fallen into.

[saltpoint]

3. Self-important, power-hungry, no-dick administrators absolutely

missing the point of public education.

[fight4my3sons]

5. what? !

I thought they decided NOT to do this. It is so wrong on so many levels.

It is sad that the state is making the districts do this by holding money over their heads.

Five Town CSD, SAD 28 voted against the consolidation so they might have a little more ground to stand on.

[Maine-ah]

6. hey woman!

how ya doin?

Do you know who came up with this law? I think we need to make some calls, or write the asshat some letters. This is BS.

[fight4my3sons]

10. Hey you!

I don't know who came up with the foolish law. I agree with you about the calls and letter writing though. :)

When is it going to warm up so we can hit the playground? I've got cabin fever running rampant over here! :P

[LiberalFighter]

7. They should include Bush, Cheney, Rove, Libby, Gonzales and others in the list.

[surrealAmerican]

9. This puts the school in a terrible position.

Now if they sincerely want to protect their students, they'll have to neglect discipline entirely.