Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : School Authorities Urge Alternatives to Suspending Students : Education: Law enforcement officials support the plan, which may even require parents of troublemakers to spend a day on campus.

For some students who are suspended from school, the time spent outside of class is like a free day off, said local authorities who will soon begin revamping policies with an eye toward getting tough on campus troublemakers.

Both school and law enforcement officials are aiming to create a new supervised suspension program that may even call on parents of suspended youths to do time alongside their child.

Under current policies, a parent or guardian is required to be at home with a suspended student, but many times the adults are at work or just don’t care, said Newhall School District Supt. J. Michael McGrath. It is not uncommon for youths to return to class with an elevated status among their peers, he said.

Typically, students are suspended for one or more days for offenses such as hitting another student or verbally abusing a teacher. Expulsions are reserved for the most serious offenses, such as bringing a weapon or drugs to school.

“For some kids a suspension is a terrible shock,” McGrath said. “For others it’s, ‘Ho-hum,’ and it’s ‘Ho-hum’ for their parents.”

As juvenile and gang problems in the area have increased over the past several years, officials have felt a need to review the suspension policy, said Cecilia Burda, head of the volunteer Santa Clarita Valley Anti-Gang Task Force.

“We’ve finally gotten to the point where we have a lot of kids on the street because they’ve been suspended,” she said. “They’re at the park, they’re at the convenience store, they’re at the mall. Sending them home is not the answer.”

Several officials said, however, that the number of suspensions is holding steady or even declining at some schools. At William S. Hart High School, for example, there were 262 suspensions during the 1992-93 school year, a 9% decrease from the previous year, said Principal Laurence Strauss.

Nonetheless, concerned officials have formed a volunteer committee headed by McGrath, who hopes the panel will devise new policy recommendations by next fall. Leaders hope the plan will be adopted by all five Santa Clarita Valley school districts.

Officials want suspensions to carry some type of learning experience or punitive action. One suggestion calls for making students pick up trash on campus or at city parks. Another idea would create a program similar to traffic schools, where students would watch and listen to anti-gang lectures and videos.

And some have even suggested that the youths’ parents be required to attend the classroom sessions, or the student will face expulsion. McGrath said the embarrassment factor of parental involvement has already proven effective in his district, where parents can sometimes spend a day at school instead of having their child suspended.

“I tell you something, boy, it changes the kid’s behavior,” he added.

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Some educators question whether such policies would effective.

“I don’t see it working without a lot of supervision, which is a lot of money,” said Jon Curwen, principal of Sierra Vista Junior High School.

A supervised suspension policy might help students who abuse the current system, but there is no foolproof way to determine who those youths are, Strauss said.

“I don’t think there’s a great deal of research or investigation that goes into ‘What did you do during those two days?’ ” he said.

Forcing a student to listen to lectures or watch instructional movies might help in the short-term, but won’t necessarily solve the long-term problems that caused the student’s misbehavior, Strauss added.

Students at Jereann Bowman High School, a continuation school for students who have gotten into trouble at regular high schools, voiced mixed reactions to the proposals.

Mike Ortolano, 16, who was suspended several times while attending Verdugo Hills High School, said trash pickup would probably be an effective deterrent. He said he would attend supervised lectures and movies, but probably wouldn’t pay much attention to them.

And he certainly doesn’t want his parents to attend.

“I just wouldn’t go,” he said. “It’s sort of embarrassing to begin with, and I just wouldn’t want them there.”

Darrel Johnson, 17, said he objects to making parents participate because “they’ve got jobs, and if they come here they can’t go to work to get the money needed to live.”

State education officials said there are similar programs in other districts.

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About 80% of the 152 schools in the San Diego Unified School District have an in-school suspension program for students who commit minor offenses, said Bob Hampel, who handles the district’s disciplinary hearings. The program started up four years ago in response to concerns about rising suspension rates.

One high school in the district also requires parents of vandals who are suspended to show up with their child for evening or weekend cleanup, Hampel added.

“It’s a punishment in making the parents aware of the problem,” he said.