District eyes alternative discipline for 1st drug offense

BENTONVILLE — Students caught with drugs at school could avoid expulsion if they complete a substance abuse program in addition to a 10-day suspension, under a proposal the School Board likely will vote on this month.

The restorative discipline plan, as School District officials are calling it, would apply to first-time offenders.

The proposal comes at a time the district is seeing a sharp increase in the number of drug-related offenses among students — from 42 during the entire 2017-18 school year to 75 as of Jan. 12 this school year, according to Don Hoover, executive director of student services.

School administrators say the vast majority of the cases involve possession or use of vaping devices containing THC, the main psychoactive compound in marijuana.

Currently, students caught possessing or using drugs on a school campus for the first time are subject to expulsion for one semester. During their expulsion period, they may attend online school or the Regional Educational Alternative Program, which is for students who have had discipline issues at their home campus.

Students who are expelled are being cut out of upper-level academic courses and losing the chance to participate in school-related activities that keep them engaged in school, Hoover said.

“There’s lots of things involved where a child’s pathway can be changed from where they might want to be and want to do,” Hoover told the board during its Jan. 19 meeting.

Hoover suggested instituting a substance abuse program these students would attend at school on a Saturday — along with a parent, guardian or other trusted mentor — to educate them on the dangers and consequences of drug use. That would be in addition to serving a 10-day, outof-school suspension, he said.

The program would be about seven hours long, he said, adding a team of administrators, counselors, deans and school resource officers

have been working on the proposal.

“I think the idea is we can stop this with students who have made this decision, educate them, give them a chance to maybe not do this again, and show them through this program the perils, the longevity of this poor decision right now. It is sad when you see a student close the door on so many things over one bad decision at 15,” Hoover said.

Students with more than one drug offense on their record and those who distribute drugs to multiple people on campus wouldn’t be eligible for the program, Hoover said.

Bentonville is the only school district among Northwest Arkansas’ largest four districts recommending expulsion for first-time offenders who use, possess or are under the influence of illegal drugs, Hoover said.

In Rogers, for example, a first drug violation results in a 10-day at-home suspension, but it can be reduced to five days if the student completes a drug/alcohol assessment, a parent conference takes place, and a non-use contract is signed by both the student and parent or guardian, according to Rogers’ student handbook.

The Bentonville board’s discussion of the matter took about 40 minutes, with members asking numerous questions.

Kelly Carlson, board president, expressed skepticism about diminishing the punishment.

“When you make poor choices, you want to learn early in your life that it was a poor choice and it has consequences,” Carlson said.

Hoover estimated 20 of the district’s 400 offenders over the past five years were repeat offenders, a fact which Carlson said indicates there may not be anything wrong with the district’s current policy.

Jennifer Faddis, a board member, suggested drawing distinctions between the kinds of drugs that kids might have and implementing consequences appropriately.

“You could have ADHD medicine versus snorting coke in the bathroom. That’s quite a different consequence scale,” she said.

She added, as a therapist, she likes the idea the administration is proposing. The frontal lobes of a teen’s brain, she said, aren’t fully developed, “and they do make stupid, bonehead choices sometimes.”

Board members also questioned whether a student’s first offense, if committed in junior high school, would carry over to high school, or whether the count resets after that transition. Superintendent Debbie Jones said that would be something the board could decide.

The board’s next meeting is scheduled for 5: 30 p. m. Feb. 21 at the Administration Building, 500 Tiger Blvd., Bentonville.