Expulsion: Severe but Reasonable

The Los Angeles school board’s tough policies of mandatory expulsion put students on notice: Drugs on campus are grounds for dismissal, as is physical violence against teachers or other school employees. Those policies will take effect April 1. Carrying weapons became grounds for dismissal last week. The rules will apply to areas near school grounds and to off-campus school activities.

Excluding a student from school, the strongest punishment available to authorities, is severe but eminently reasonable--the goal being to protect students and teachers and to create an orderly environment on campus, the only atmosphere that is suitable for learning.

The problems warrant severity. Students or intruders attacked 231 teachers in Los Angeles schools last year. Also, 145 students got caught with guns at school, and 574 with knives. Close to 500 students were caught with drugs by undercover police officers.

Students need rules in order to develop self-control and responsibility for their actions. Most children learn to respect rules and others at home. The values are only reinforced at school. Youngsters who face no such demands at home, those who are allowed too much freedom or whose mischief is excused, have less chance of a productive future. If they are lucky, they learn these values at school.

By making the expulsions automatic--subject only to review by an expulsion committee, with the school board as the court of last resort--the school board has prevented any uneven application of discipline. In the past, some students avoided expulsion because their parents knew their way around the system or hired lawyers. That was unfair to students who were expelled for similar or lesser offenses. Now all students will receive the same punishment.

Expelled students will be barred from their campuses. They will attend special “continuation schools,” but can work their way back into their regular schools.

It’s too bad that expulsion is necessary. The best educators work to keep youngsters in school, not to put them out. Expelling troubled youngsters won’t resolve all their problems. But no youngsters can be allowed to create chaos at school. Even they, the troubled students, like their fellow classmates who behave, deserve a safe place to learn.