Brownsville School Board ends in-school suspension program
BROWNSVILLE – The Brownsville Area School Board voted Thursday to terminate the district’s in-school suspension program, due to lack of funding, a move the high school principal said would lead to more out-of-school suspensions. According to Superintendent Dr. Gerry Grant, the in-school suspension program was funded through a $12,500 Safe and Drug Free Schools grant, but grant administrators have said the money is meant to fund “preventative” programs. Grant said the in-school suspensions are “after the fact” and not considered preventative in nature. Grant said the program would cost about $6,000 to continue for the rest of the year.
When discussing other matters, members of the board said several times that they want to stick to the budget.
But, Director Andy Dorsey, who was the only director to vote against terminating the program, said he thought in-school suspension was worth continuing, even if the district has to go outside the budget.
“Is $6,000 worth keeping our kids in school? I’ve seen the board spend money before on items not budgeted for such things as sports. I think this program is more important to the kids. Maybe this is something we may want to consider,” he said.
Dorsey said he has worked with at-risk teens, and it’s “more advantageous” to keep them in school.
“Some kids look for a reason to get out of school,” he said.
Debra Suba, director of curriculum, said that she and Principal Rick Gates would work together to come up with an alternative program. She said she would submit a proposal at the next meeting.
Gates said, though, that without an in-school suspension, the district would have to revert back to the way it did things in the past and give out-of school suspensions.
“We’re going to have a lot more suspensions,” he said.
Director Stella Broadwater asked why the issue hadn’t come up earlier, to give the board time to come up with an alternative solution, but Grant said the matter had been mentioned.
“The board is always the last to know,” Broadwater said.
In another matter, Dorsey brought up an issue involving the calling of substitute teachers and janitors. Dorsey said the district has a long list of substitutes but is calling in substitutes that have not been approved by the board.
He pointed out that a substitute janitor was paid $280 and a substitute teacher $245 for services, when neither was approved by the board to work in the district.
He asked if the two were related to anyone in the district.
Grant said the substitute teacher is related to a secretary in the district.
President Rocky Brashear said the board needs to look into the situation and talk to the person in charge of calling the substitutes.
After an hour-long executive session, the board passed Dorsey’s motion not to allow anyone to work in the district without board approval.