05.23.05

MEDIA ADVISORY

May 23, 2005
CONTACT: Mike Frontiero
School of Education
Phone: (804) 827-2415
E-mail: mdfronti@vcu.edu

VCU TO HONOR SUCCESSFUL STUDENT DISCIPLINE EFFORT MAY 25

U.S.-funded program ordered community service for nearly 1,400 high risk, suspended or expelled elementary & secondary school students

Nearly 1,400 students suspended or expelled from Virginia public schools over the last two years could have passed the time breaking into homes, shoplifting and vandalizing neighborhoods. Instead, they performed community service under a state program developed and coordinated by Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Education.

The Virginia Community Service Program for Suspended/Expelled Students – established in 2002 with a $1.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education – ends Wednesday, May 25, with an awards ceremony in Richmond from noon to 2 p.m. at the Sheraton West Hotel, 6624 W. Broad St.

In February, the program was featured at a national conference on alternatives to expulsion, suspension, and dropping out of school. To view the presentation, click here.

Participants spent more than 37,000 hours washing school buses, reading to nursing home residents, and doing other community service work to keep them out of trouble. To see more examples of community service performed, click here.

“The problem was suspended and expelled students were out on the streets and disconnected from their school for several days or months,” said Sara Jo Williams, director of the VCU Center for School-Community Collaboration. “When that happens, the crime rate goes up.”

According to the most recent report by the Virginia Department of Education, more than 398,000 student suspensions and expulsions were recorded in the 2002-2003 academic year. The year before, more than 16 percent of all Kindergarten through 12th grade public school students were either suspended or expelled. To view the report, click here.

The program’s goal was to provide suspended and expelled students with meaningful activities to occupy their time during their absence from school, help them avoid negative behavior, and to teach them the value of service to others and their communities. It was part of a federal effort to enable states to implement and develop programs that require suspended or expelled students to perform community service.

“Preliminary results indicate positive changes in the students who completed the program,” said project evaluator Anne J. Atkinson, Ph.D., with PolicyWorks, Ltd. “Most said they liked their community service experience, community service is important, and might do volunteer work in the future.”

Vivian Gravette’s 15-year-old son entered the program in April after his Fairfax County high school suspended him for participating in a mob assault on another student. “It’s an excellent program,” she said. “It gives him something to do while he’s out of school. Otherwise he would have been home sitting around with nothing to do through the end of the school year.”

Pam Heartsock’s 17-year-old son entered the program in November after his Wise County high school suspended him for drug distribution. “Other than to ground him, I wasn’t sure how to talk to him about what he did,” she said. “The program has helped me communicate better with him and provides other people he can talk to for advice besides me.”

The center developed and coordinated the program with public school systems in Accomack County, Albemarle County, Augusta County, Bristol, Buckingham County, Fauquier County, Fairfax County, Franklin County, Isle of Wight County, Petersburg, Portsmouth, Powhatan County, Shenandoah Valley, Southampton County, Stafford County, Staunton, Waynesboro, and Wise County. Partnerships were developed with over 200 community agencies and organizations, including local Boys and Girls Clubs, Meals on Wheels, and sheriffs offices.

The more than 1,370 program participants ranged in age from seven to 19 years old. Most were white, male and in sixth, seventh and eighth grades. More than 65 percent had established or emerging patterns of problem behavior. For more findings on the program, click here.

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About VCU and the VCU Medical Center: Located on two downtown campuses in Richmond, Va., Virginia Commonwealth University is ranked nationally by the Carnegie Foundation as a top research institution and enrolls more than 28,500 students in more than 170 certificate, undergraduate, graduate, professional and doctoral programs in the arts, sciences and humanities in 15 schools and one college. Forty of the university’s programs are unique in Virginia, and 20 graduate and professional programs have been ranked by U.S. News & World Report as among the best of their kind. MCV Hospitals, clinics and the health sciences schools of Virginia Commonwealth University compose the VCU Medical Center, one of the leading academic medical centers in the country. For more, see www.vcu.edu.

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  Mike Frontiero
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  mdfronti@vcu.edu
  804.827.2415
  P.O. Box 842020
  Richmond, Va. 23284-2020