October meetings scheduled

Memo from the district office:

TO: BOARD MEMBERS ADMINISTRATORS

FROM: LAURIE MILLER

DATE: SEPTEMBER 18, 2009

RE: UPCOMING BOARD MEETING, COMMITTEE MEETING – OCTOBER 2009

(Thursday) October 8, 2009

Policy Meeting

6:00 PM – Shohola Elementary School Cafeteria

Work Session

7:00 PM – Shohola Elementary School Cafeteria

(Thursday) October 22, 2009

Regular Board Meeting

7:00 PM – Shohola Elementary School Cafeteria

August meeting recap

• August agenda on BoardDocs
• Video from the meeting from the Pike County Youth Coalition
• Delaware Valley holding its own despite state budget impasse from PoconoNews.Net

March budget, safety and policy meetings now podcast

Listen exclusively here on RB for DV to the March 12 budget, safety and policy committee meetings.



Have iTunes? Subscribe to the podcast and get the latest episodes downloaded to your iPod from the iTunes podcast directory

Or listen in on the RB for DV podcast feed

More on the profanity policy

From the Times Herald-Record:

Delaware Valley High School in Milford, Pa., has instituted a fine for students who use profanity and refuse to quit.

"This isn't for somebody who stubs their toe and blurts out something," says Joseph Casmus, principal for grades 11 and 12 at Delaware Valley.

"This is for the student who will direct profanity at staff and won't quit when told."

The school police officer has been asked to arrest those students and charge them with disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor with fines up to $300.

So far, the policy hasn't been used on anybody, but Casmus is hoping the prospect of a fine will keep students' language within the bounds of polite society.

Oct. 9 meeting cancellation (finally) announced on district Web site

On the community bulletin page of the dvsd.org Web site, the district has announced the cancellation of the Thursday, Oct. 9 meetings, just three days prior to the meetings. No postponement date is listed.

On the school board's page, John Wladar is still listed as a member of the board, and the Oct. 16 meeting, which was cancelled last month, is still posted as taking place. 

BREAKING NEWS: Update - Oct. 9 meeting BACK ON

According to an e-mail from superintendent Candis Finan to the board members, the Oct. 9 meeting is back on.

Bernard Marasa has family obligations which require him to be in Florida from Oct. 16 through Oct. 25 or beyond. The point is Bernard Marasa is not available for appointment on Oct. 23. Thus, we are back to our original plan on Oct. 9 of a 6 pm Strategic Planning meeting to discuss AP and a special meeting for the purpose of appointing Bernard Marasa at 7 pm.

Interestingly, I was told I was put at the bottom of the list of candidates because I said I may not be able to attend the meetings in October and November. Marasa is off to a good start of responsibly serving the students and taxpayers.

Sept. agenda, committee meeting minutes online

The district Web site has links up to the following .PDF files:

• Sept. 18 regular board meeting agenda
  
• Sept. 11 safety committee meeting minutes
• Sept. 11 board policy and legislative committee meeting minutes
• Sept. 11 work session minutes

These links can be found randomly on the Community Bulletin page and the Board Meeting Agenda/Minutes page.

Committee meeting podcasts now available- RB for DV exclusive!

Audio recordings from Thursday's safety and board policy and legislative committee meetings are now available for on-demand downloading.

How can you listen?

• Subscribe using iTunes
  
• View the RSS feed with your RSS Web browser or reader
• Use the player below:

Note: The first 15 minutes or so of the policy meeting are not included with the recording.

Safety and policy committee meeting agendas

Below are the agendas from Thursday's committee meetings (Sept. 11) in PDF format.

• Safety committee meeting agenda 
  
• Board policy and legislative committee agenda 
  

Safety, policy meetings tonight, board's Web site lacks info

The safety committee and policy and legislative committee have meetings this evening at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. at Dingman Delaware Middle School.

Details about tonight's meetings are missing or incorrect on the district's Web site.

• The board agenda/minutes page does not have agendas posted for the meetings; not to mention, it does not have minutes from the August meetings posted.
• The board meeting dates page does not have the meetings listed. It has a work session for 7 p.m. listed, which is incorrect.
• The community bulletin page does not have anything listed or posted for this evening.

Remind me again why our board's website can't look like this.

For that matter, why we can't have on-demand streaming video of the most recent board meeting? Does anyone actually go to a remote campus for the video conferencing? How much of the taxpayers' money is the board wasting on video conferencing to no one and paying three technology employees overtime for every meeting?

Your consolation prize: an anonymous source will be audio recording this evening's meetings, and the recordings will be available on the RB for DV podcast.

Meeting times announced in newspaper

The adjusted schedule of work session into committee meetings for next Thursday, Sept. 11, ran in the Pike County Courier this week. As mentioned earlier and on the sidebar of the blog:

On Thursday, Sept. 11, there will be work session/committee meetings at the Dingman-Delaware Middle School Cafeteria; including the Safety Committee at 6 p.m., Board Policy and Legislative Committee at 7 p.m.

On Thursday, Sept. 18, the regular monthly board meeting will be held at 7 p.m., at the Dingman-Delaware Middle School Cafeteria.

Presently, there are no agendas on the district's website, nor are there minutes from the Aug. 21 meeting.

Take note of work session switch

The Delaware Valley school directors announced at the Aug. 21 school board meeting that work sessions will now be replaced by committee meetings. The September schedule is as follows:

• 9/11 - Safety committee meeting - 6 p.m. - DDMS cafeteria
  
• 9/11 - Policy and legislative committee meeting - 7 p.m. - DDMS cafeteria
  

Remember to check out the unofficial Google calendar of DV events by Bill Greenlaw.

PoconoNews.net mentions PCYC survey on sex ed

Read more on PoconoNews.net

More on the PCYC blog can be found here.

Finan interviewed in story about Philly school's new drug testing policy

Delaware Valley superintendent Candis Finan was interviewed in an article about the Central Bucks School District's plans to institute a random drug testing policy. PhillyBurbs.com interviewed Finan to get an understanding of DV's drug policy by comparison.

Candis Finan, superintendent of Delaware Valley School District in Pike County, was able to provide a little more data about the success of her district's drug-testing program, but not much more.

The district has had a student drug-testing program since 1998, shortly after a student was caught in the high school parking lot with heroin.

The school district has one of the most comprehensive student drug-testing programs of the districts surveyed. Students in seventh through 12th grade who participate in extracurricular activities and students who drive to school must submit to drug testing.

All of the students who drive or participate in yearlong activities are tested at the beginning of the school year. Students who participate in seasonal activities are tested at the beginning of the season. And all of the students in the testing pool are tested randomly throughout the year.

Finan said the district tested 1,600 students in 2007-08 school year, and nine tested positive for drug use.

The district tested 1,400 students in the 2006-07 school year, and four tested positive.

In all the years the district has had the drug-testing program, Finan said, only one student has ever tested positive a second time.

Finan said the students who participate in extracurricular activities and drive to school are the leaders of the school; and by their refusal to use drugs, they become role models for the others.

“I believe it works. I believe it is clearly a deterrent to student drug use,” Finan said.

“Is (drug use) going down? I wouldn't have figures to support that. The students who wish to participate in activities clearly are not using drugs, I can tell you that.”

Due process hearing questioned on PCYC blog

Pike County Courier reporter and Pike County Youth Coalition executive director Nick Troiano disputes the fairness of due process expulsion hearings in a recent blog post on the PCYC website.

While I certainly agree with the desire to ensure due process expulsion hearings are conducted fairly, I'm unclear on what Troiano's proposition is to fix the issues he brings up. 

By his suggestion, every time a student is punished at a school his or her Constitutional rights are violated. Does the school district offer a lawyer to every student who breaks the dress code or listens to an iPod in class? And how is Troinao's usual suggestion of more administrative discretion, which leaves the determination of guilt and punishment in the hands of one or two principals, a more fair and just method to punish students who bring drugs to school or are under the influence at school?

The due process hearing seems to better offer students the rights that Troiano mentions. 

I think the best thing any of us can do is ask at the next board meeting for a blow-by-blow account of how due process expulsion hearings take place. I also still firmly believe that taking action at the root of the societal problem is a better approach than arguing the policy. 

Opinion: I support the drug and alcohol policy

Though I haven’t specifically written it, I support the school board majority’s decision in tightening the zero tolerance drug policy to include alcohol cases.

I support the policy because it is one small step in eliminating the double standard society has for alcohol.

I support the policy because I support a safe school that does not tolerate students harming their own bodies with alcohol, much less potentially harming their sober classmates.

I support the policy because alcohol has no place in a professional environment, which is what school is and is what school prepares its students for. If you were drunk at work, you would likely be fired.

I support the policy because it calls for fairer justice than “administrative discretion.” It calls for a due process hearing.

I support the policy because it demands a fair, variable punishment: one day to permanent removal from the SOCIAL environment of school, while still receiving the EDUCATION every student is guaranteed, through homebound learning.

Students who are expelled can and do graduate or receive a GED on time. Students who are expelled can and do pursue higher education. Students who are expelled receive regular rehabilitation from the Drug & Alcohol Commission.

I support the policy because it secures the school district Safe Schools grant money.

I support the policy because students who are expelled are not repeat offenders.

And I support the policy because somehow, about 99.99 percent of the student body survives coming to school sober, without bringing in booze. They deserve an education free of illegal substances, which alcohol is, in an institution that entirely serves persons under 21.

Those are based on facts I’ve collected by listening to the administrators and board members at meetings, e-mailing them, and hearing from students who have been expelled.

In many ways, I view the policy as a dead issue that is not worth much debate and hype. There have been a few efforts reported on this blog to battle the extant policy, and–aside from stretching the facts–, they aren’t going to be effective at changing the policy because of the high-prioritized, firm position of the powerful school board.

And policy dissenters certainly aren’t going to alleviate the real societal problem at hand:

Drinking.

To solve that problem, we should all be working together on continuing to improve preventative and rehabilitation programs: not bickering policy that simply will not–and should not–change.

DV's drug and alcohol policy, straight from the handbook

Here is the full text of the policy in the student handbook, as it already exists (pages 23-24 of the high school handbook).

6. Drugs and Alcohol
The Delaware Valley School District will not distribute medications/drugs of any kind without the written permission of the primary care provider and the parent. When these conditions are met, only the school nurse will administer the medication. This includes, but is not limited to, such items as over-the-counter preparations; aspirin, Tylenol, Advil, caffeine pills, cough medications, cough drops, laxatives, antacids, vitamins, herbs, etc. and prescriptive medications. Prescribed medications/drugs of any type shall not be in the student’s possession and must be administered through the nurse’s office.

Any offense of the school’s Drugs/Alcohol/Drug Paraphernalia Policy will result in 10 days of out of school suspension, notification of the police, and referral to the superintendent for expulsion review. The student also must contact the Carbon-Monroe-Pike Drug and Alcohol Program for evaluation. The first visit must be made prior to the student's return to school. The student will be required to complete the recommended program. If a student does not complete the recommended program, recommendation for permanent expulsion may occur. The Superintendent will review the matter and shall, when appropriate, refer the matter to the Board with the recommendation to initiate expulsion procedures. Referral to the Board for expulsion proceedings shall be required in all instances where a student has possessed, transferred, used, or is under the influence of a prohibited substance. The student also will be referred to the Student Assistance Program (SAP) team.

Any student who comes onto school property or attends a school function who is in possession, distributes, uses, or is under the influence of prescription or non-prescription drugs, look-alike drugs, or alcohol shall be suspended out of school for ten (10) days. This includes drug or alcohol paraphernalia. The police will also be notified. A referral will be made to the superintendent for expulsion review. The student must also cooperate with the Carbon-Monroe-Pike Drug and Alcohol Program and the SAP team.

Students should not sell anything in school unless it has been properly authorized. Money should not change hands in school unless for school business and with proper authorization.

Distribution, transfer, and/or sale of drugs (either illegal, controlled, or prescription medication, look-alike drugs, alcohol, drug paraphernalia, or alcohol paraphernalia) on school property will result in a recommendation for expulsion as well as a recommendation for the individual to be barred for life from entering upon any property owned or operated by the Delaware Valley School District. The individual shall be considered a trespasser in the event of such entry and shall be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

The Delaware Valley School District reserves the right to take appropriate measures to secure the safety and well being of our students. These measures may include, but are not limited to, the following: use of drug-sniffing dogs in the building and/or district property.