OXFORD – SAD 17 is tough on students who break the rules.

A tough policy doesn’t mean the district turns its back on offenders, though, school officials say.

Expulsion rates at SAD 17 in grades 7-12 are more than double the state average over the past three years.

Since 2000, an average of one student in every 557.3 has been expelled statewide, according to Maine Department of Education statistics.

In contrast, SAD 17 has expelled one student in every 200.

“From my perspective, the principals’ perspectives and the board’s perspective, we’re going to do what’s necessary to keep a safe and orderly environment, and if our number is higher than the state average, that’s irrelevant to us,” Superintendent Mark Eastman said.

“Our interest is the safety of our kids, and in many cases we may be more stringent than other school districts,” Eastman said. “I hope the attitude out there is that people are supportive.”

Eastman gave a study covering the past three years to the board last week.

Chairman Dale Piirainen said deciding on expulsion is one of the most difficult actions the board faces.

“One of the primary responsibilities of a board is to ensure schools have an atmosphere where kids can get an education,” Piirainen said. “When a student is brought before us where his actions have put safety and utility of a school at risk, it’s difficult to think that we are going to deprive that student of an education. But we have a responsibility to the hundreds of students in that school – that’s why it’s difficult.”

Many are readmitted

He said board members are helped by having an effective protocol in place for considering readmission of expelled students.

“We’ve been relatively successful in getting kids who have made mistakes back in school,” Piirainen said. “We have lost very, very few and I think that’s important.”

Eastman said the study was done so the district could track the number of expulsions and look at the readmission rate and graduation rate.

“We want to know that if we expel a student, does that represent the formal end to his education? Or is it just a bump in the road?” Eastman said.

In the past three years, the study showed that SAD 17 has readmitted 22 of the 27 students who have been expelled.

Of the 11 students who were expelled and returned to class in 2000-2001, three have graduated, one received a general educational development diploma and seven are still enrolled in school.

One of the four students expelled in 2001-2002 has graduated. Three are underclassmen.

The eight expelled in 2002-2003 are all underclassmen.

Piirainen said board members have a clearer idea of the importance of an expulsion than even the student going through it.

Community service, too

“We understand what it is this person is going to be missing,” Piirainen said. “One common thing you hear during the readmission hearing is that they have come to understand how important it is to get an education.”

SAD 17 policy requires that expelled students receive counseling, do community service and prove that they have kept their education up during the expulsion in order to be readmitted.

Eastman said the students have to give evidence of being ready to come back, must have tutoring or correspondence courses and make up whatever was lost during that time.

Eastman said the community service component is necessary for the students to demonstrate, in a good-faith way, that they have been using their time productively for the community at large.

He said the district has a grant that can provide monetary help to expelled students for counseling and tutoring.

“The message we send is that students need to realize that there are consequences to their behavior and that if their behavior is serious the consequences are serious,” Eastman said. “Our hope is that they learn to control their behavior while in an environment where the penalties are less than in an adult world.

“We’re teaching valuable lessons for life,” he said.

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