Bill seeks new school referral policy

Lawmakers want system to better track unruly students

By LIAM FARRELL, Staff Writer

Published 02/04/10

Two local state senators want county schools to implement a new referral policy to ensure better accounting of disciplinary problems, but education officials said they are already moving to address the concern.

Sens. Bryan Simonaire, R-Pasadena, and Ed Reilly, R-Crofton, have proposed a bill to require the county Board of Education to develop a policy by March 31, 2011, to account for all office disciplinary referrals issued in public schools. Each referral would have a unique number and a copy would be provided to the individual submitting it.

The policy would go into effect in the 2011-2012 school year, and the General...

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Real Numbers - 2010-02-04 20:56:25

Just a thought...

The county schools already keep a count on how many referrals are written in a year. Most schools have meetings just to talk about referrals and the students who are receiving them. Usually, if a teacher writes a referral, the administrator informs the teacher what actions were taken and records the actions on the referral and gives a copy to the teacher. I guess I am still curious as to what the purpose behind this bill really is. Seems vague. What would assigning a serial number to the piece of paper accomplish for safety? The article fails to make the connection between a serial number on a referral and school safety.

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Theresa Currier - Severn, MD - Karma: Neutral