New VVSD Discipline Approach: Service, Not Suspension

Starting next fall, Valley View middle school and high school students who commit suspendable offenses will have a choice when it comes to discipline.

On Monday, Dean’s Office Department Chair Nick Detman presented plans for an expanded Alternative to Suspension (ATS) program to the board of education.

The program has been in place at BHS for four years, Detman said, and has helped prevent some students from becoming repeat offenders.

At BHS, 91 percent of the students who have entered the ATS program have completed it, Detman said. About 80 percent of those teens have not had any new offenses since finishing ATS.

Next school year, ATS will expand to and all five district middle schools as part of a shift from a punitive to a therapeutic program.

Instead of getting several days off school—which doesn’t strike some student offenders as punishment, Detman said—pupils who choose to participate in ATS will instead have an alternative that will keep them in class.

“Usually (it’s) community service,” he said. At BHS, teens often work with local groups to benefit the community.

“Our rule is that for every day of suspension, you would have three hours of service,” Detman said.

Another option for students who receive a 10-day suspension is the Success Academy, which pairs them with volunteer opportunities with organizations including Heart Haven Outreach, Guiding Light and the Bolingbrook Park District. Success Academy students are required to complete 30 hours of service and must adhere to a dress code during the program.

As the program expands to other campuses, teens will continue to work with Success Academy and Guiding Light, according to Romeoville High School Principal Yolanda Jordan, who will oversee the program at RHS. Jordan said she hopes the Romeoville Recreation Department will also provide an outlet for teens to serve.

The goal of the program is simple, according to Detman: To keep kids in school.

“It’s common sense,” said BHS Principal James Mitchem, who will take the reins as the new Valley View superintendent in July. “When kids are in the seat with a teacher in front of them as opposed to on the street, there’s instruction that is taking place.”

ATS’ therapeutic component also addresses the core issues that lead to misbehavior, he noted—something punishment alone doesn’t do.

“Currently we have a punitive system … suspension doesn’t change inappropriate behavior,” Detman said, and has a negative impact on student achievement. It also increases the chances that a student will drop out, he added.

Mitchem said the program has helped boost achievement for at-risk students.

In reviewing data from the first two years of the program, “I looked at the actual grades (of the participants),” he said. “There was an improvement in their grades … after successful completion of the program.”

Assistant Superintendent for Administrative Services Gary Grizaffi said it’s too early to say how much it will cost to implement the program at RHS and the five middle schools.

“I think tonight was really a gauge to see how (the board) felt about ATS,” he said. Now, faculty members will began exploring the costs associated with expanding the program.

“I really don’t know what it’s going to shake out to be,” Grizaffi said.

Board member Mike Evans said he’d like to see the student achievement data from BHS.

“We need to see those resources,” he said. If the numbers show concrete proof of the program’s success, he added, “Hey, find the money (and) make it work.”

Board president Steve Quigley called the program “great stuff,” saying one of the worst things about being a board member is having to sign off on student expulsions.

“That’s the most heartbreaking part of being a board member,” he said.