Along with all the other paperwork associated with the start of a new school year, Bristol father Mark Sausanavitch remembers filling out the form that went with his son's high school handbook.
So it was a great surprise to Sausanavitch when he got a letter in the mail from Bristol Eastern High School last week saying that his son would get a Saturday detention if he didn't sign the form and return it right away.
"Failure to return this form will result in Saturday Detention/Suspension until the form is received with the required signatures," the letter, sent by Assistant Vice Principal Daniel Viens says. It says the form was due Thursday and the first assigned detention is February 9.
"I almost choked," said Sausanavitch. "I'm taking this as a threat."
[Click here to see a PDF of the letter.]
Sausanavitch said his son, a senior, returned the form last fall when school started.
"I know he did. I signed it," Sausanavitch said.
Sausanavitch said he was so upset that he phoned school administrators and district officials to complain.
"My son is a straight-A student," said Sausanavitch. 'I've never had any problems."
The letter "a threat against my child's future, a threat against his academic record," Sausanavitch said, "all because a handbook wasn't signed? I have a problem with it."
He was told, Sausanavitch said, by school officials that the lack of a signed handbook form in a student's file was an impediment to a disciplinary case.
"They could not expel somebody because the paper was not in his file," said Sausanavitch.
Viens said he never intended the letter to be taken as a threat.
"We needed to get a copy of their signature and their parent's signature," said Viens. "The intent was to get those signatures back in. I don't threaten. That's not me."
The signatures, Viens said, show that the student and the parent are aware of school policy. Everyone has to sign it, he said.
"All the rules and regulations of the school are in the handbook," said Viens. "If there's ever an issue, a student can't say, 'I didn't know what the rules were.'"
This is the first year that parents have also been required to sign the handbook, said Viens. He said that change is in response to the district's legal concern about whether a student's signature alone is enough.
Viens said the demand for the signatures has nothing to do with a recent fight at the school.
The handbooks, with the signature form on the last page, are handed out at the beginning of the year, said Viens. He said many were returned, but they were missing the form from about 400 students.
Letters were sent to parents in the mail, Viens said, asking for the prompt return of the signed form.
As of Thursday, about 300 of the 400 were returned, said Viens.
Viens said he heard from four parents after the letter went out. Two of them were very upset, said Viens, including one who had difficulty communicating.
"They thought their child was in trouble," said Viens.
It's not clear that anyone will end up in detention.
"We would look at each case," said Viens of students who fail to produce the signed form. "I would call the student in to find out what's going on."
Bristol Eastern has 1,320 students, said Viens.
Viens said the school gives every student a copy of the handbook each year. There are minimal changes from year to year, he said.
When asked whether the handbook is online, Viens said the school's website is being updated. He said posting the handbook is a good idea.
Viens said he also would consider distributing the full handbook only to freshmen and other new students in the future, and handing out a single sheet of paper with just the changes on it to the returning student body.
A change like that could save the school a lot of money on printing, Viens said.
The handbook for teachers is already relegated to an electronic version, said Viens, and the school no longer prints that each year.
Sausanavitch said the handbook issue shows that the district's plan to create two new, 900-student, K-8 schools is misguided.
"I kind of think it's a joke. Nine hundred students in a school. It's just the stupidest thing you could possibly do," said Sausanavitch. "We can't even handle the high school we got now."
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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
8 comments:
Sign the form. A 900 School plan has nothing to do with signing the form. Besides, your son is a straight A student in a 1300 student school. It worked for him.
Oh, the indignation! When will such bad things stop happening to such good people? Not exactly Abu Ghraib.
The BOE needs to expand their plan and build them a new school, that will solve everything.
I like the idea of reducing the number of student handbooks by issuing one to all the new students and giving the returning students only the updates. This will save resources -- and money.
Good for Viens to take up that plan!
The letter was in fact a threat. Whether the threat was justified, well, I doubt it. But it was a threat. Sign the form or your kid goes in the pokey.
Rules are rules. Too many parents over react to situations regarding their children. If he was (or is) a A student you would think he would have enough sense to obey the rules.
Apparently some jerk wad @ the school 'lost' the form so they threaten this poor kid w/ suspension .
Kinda reminds me of the city's handling of blight . I hope his house is still standing when he gets home .
I would have to agree that it would have been appropriate for the school to send home a reminder note first but this is hardly an issue to devote this much time into.
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