By KATHERINE PETERSEN
Expulsions have almost doubled over the past three years in the high school district.
During the 1993-94 school year, the district expelled 33 students. Last year that number shot up to 64. There have been 25 expulsions so far this year, said Harry Bettencourt, director of curriculum and public services for the Fremont Union High School District.
The most dramatic increases occurred in the categories of possession of weapons (which rose from 17 instances to 29), causing or attempting injury to another student (from six instances in 1993 to 18 last year) and robbery or extortion (from no occurrences to eight).
"Some kids feel like they have to have a weapon for protection. We're always trying to figure out what supports we can put in place so students don't have that feeling," Bettencourt said. Some students might believe they will need the same level of protection at school that they need around home if they come from a more dangerous neighborhood, he added.
Most of the weapons expulsions tend to be over pocketknives or steak knives that students have brought for an innocuous purpose, Bettencourt said.
"A student might have gone on a fishing trip and forgotten to take the pocket knife out. But we've had some really ugly stuff too that is clearly intended to be used for protection or to attack someone," he said.
One student was expelled for having a butcher knife in the trunk of his car, which he said he used to splice speaker wires on his stereo. Another was caught with fighting sticks; that student claimed that he used the sticks to protect himself when he went to east San Jose, Bettencourt said.
Students who are caught with weapons are almost always expelled immediately because of the district's zero-tolerance policy, but a student won't necessarily be expelled for having a fight unless another student is seriously injured, Bettencourt said.
Randy Okamura, president of the school board, said he wrestles with his conscience when trustees discuss student expulsions in closed session. He has the toughest time making a decision when a student has an immaculate academic record but is compelled, for whatever reason, to bring a weapon to school, he said.
"Basically, do you adhere to the zero-tolerance policy? Is possession of a pocketknife grounds for dismissal? If the student's behavior is so reprehensible, it makes it easy," Okamura said.
Board members do not know who the students are when they make decisions. Bettencourt blacks out all identifying information about the student before giving his report to the board.
Students who are expelled from the district can be sent to another district or be placed in an independent study program or community school program offered by the Santa Clara County Office of Education. If they are 16 or older, students can participate in a community college program, Bettencourt said. Some parents turn to private schools, he added.
"We're not going to abandon them. We find an educational placement that's appropriate so they can learn from their errors and come back to the district and succeed," Bettencourt said.
Before students can return, they must show evidence of positive academic achievement, positive attendance and the ability to follow rules, Bettencourt said.
"Kids usually come back and are very successful," he said.
Students have every opportunity to know the consequences of their behavior, from handbooks to presentations by administrators to skits performed by drama groups.
Principals can suspend a student for up to five days while Bettencourt contacts the family and prepares a report for an administrative hearing. The hearing panel then makes a recommendation to the board based on student's testimony and other materials.
Students can be expelled for a minimum of the remainder of a semester to a maximum of one year for possession of a firearm, Bettencourt said.
Bettencourt did not have data available on expulsions by school because the district doesn't track them that way.
"We look at expulsions from a district perspective, not from particular schools or programs," he said.
He expressed concern about the increase and the district's determination to bring the numbers back down.
"We spent considerable time examining the kinds of programs we have in place and what we can add for a positive school climate," he said.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, March 19, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.