From Staff Reports
OAKLAND — New student discipline regulations recently adopted by the Maryland State Board of Education may have a $200,000 to $250,000 impact on the Garrett County school system, according to Jim Morris, supervisor of Research, Evaluation and Information.
“At this point, we are just beginning to determine how our local jurisdiction will respond in order to comply with these new regulations and several questions remain to be answered and clarified,” said Morris. “Certainly GCPS (Garrett County Public Schools) will have to revise the discipline and associated policies to be compliant with the state board’s new discipline regulations.”
The regulations require local school systems to adopt policies that reduce all suspensions and expulsions of students; eliminate any disproportionate or discrepant expulsions or suspensions of students; and meet additional reporting and timeline requirements. Expulsions would only be permitted when a student poses an imminent threat of serious harm to other students or staff, according to Morris.
Extended suspension (longer than 10 days) would be permitted when a student has engaged in chronic or extreme disruptive behavior. The aforementioned discipline responses along with both short- and long-term suspensions will require that the school system provides both comparable educational services and behavioral support services as well as counseling during the period of the expulsion and/or suspension.
Currently 22 of 24 school systems within the state have alternative education sites that could provide these services but Garrett County doesn’t have one, according to Morris. The school system will likely be required to create alternative placement sites for students who require an alternative education program outside of their school.
