School Discipline Under Review In Bedford

BEDFORD, NH — Officials at the Bedford School District are reviewing policies regarding discipline. This month, the School Board gave the superintendent authority to suspend students for longer than 10 days, but the negative academic impact of longterm suspensions was put into question. Board members and school administrators are looking to incorporate stronger early intervention while relying less on suspensions.

"We just have a tough school, not in a bad way, but if you miss three days, five days, 10 days ... it's just really hard to recover from that," said Bedford High School Principal Bob Jozokos.

Jozokos said he and two other administrators are reviewing the school's discipline policy with the goal of reducing the lengths of suspensions. A new policy proposal has not yet gone before the School Board. Jozokos said while suspensions are a natural consequence for heavy offenses — such as bringing a weapon into a school or selling drugs — there are smaller offenses for which students get suspended, causing them to miss classroom time.

Among the frequent reasons for suspensions in the past year has been vaping, according to Jozokos. Educating students ahead of time can prevent a need to suspend a student, he said.

Meanwhile, this month the School Board gave the superintendent authority to issue suspensions for longer than 10 days. This is an authority traditionally approved by the School Board each year, but on Aug. 12, it also stirred a discussion regarding suspensions having a negative impact on students academically.

School Board Chairman Jay Nash said he would like to get away from the "archaic" methods of discipline.

"We don't want to send anybody home, if we can help it," said Nash. He said with issues such as vaping, he would like to see a more regular discussion in the classroom to teach students about the consequences, "not only for their health, and the community, but hey — you can get kicked out of school."

Superintendent Michael Fournier said it's been rare for him to use the authority to suspend students longer than 10 days, and school principals already have that authority without annual permission from the School Board. Fournier said that last year, he issued a longterm suspension after speaking with a student's family. That suspension, he said, allowed time for the issue to be brought before the School Board before that student returned to school.

Fournier's authority allows him to suspend students for up to 20 days, he said. The School Board is expected to review the proposed policy change on discipline at a future meeting.