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Policy committee separates suspension and expulsion into standalone policy, discusses due-process and post-expulsion education
Summary
Policy 233, a new district policy on suspension and expulsion, was discussed. Committee members asked for clarity on informal hearing procedures, parent participation, accessibility of PA-code language in policy text and automatic educational services after expulsion. No vote taken; administration will refine language.
The Kennett Consolidated policy committee reviewed a newly drafted Policy 233 on suspension and expulsion on April 28, moving material that had been in the code of student conduct into a separate policy and discussing due-process protections and how the district provides continued education for expelled students.
Cassandra Jones, director of pupil services and supports, said, "So this is a new policy for us. Much of this information was previously included in policy 2 18 code of student conduct ... much of the model policy was kept intact. However, you will see revisions, that the administrative team is recommending." The draft adds restorative-practice language and purpose language addressing fair treatment in disciplinary processes.
Board member Latoya Myers asked whether parents may participate with the student in informal hearings and whether the informal-hearing procedural protections that reference the Pennsylvania code should explicitly extend to parents; Jones said the district encourages parent participation and uses a set of guiding questions in informal hearings: "We really encourage participation. We want the parents to be, you know, sharing information and asking questions and, we certainly are encouraging the student, to participate as well."
Members debated whether the policy should reproduce statutory procedural language verbatim or instead reference the Pennsylvania code so updates to state law would not be missed. Some members favored including the full procedural text in policy for accessibility; others noted it duplicates the code of student conduct and raises maintenance concerns.
The committee also discussed post-expulsion education. Several members urged the district to take responsibility for arranging educational services for expelled students rather than relying on parents to secure programs; Jones said the district currently sets up educational programs and agreed to clarify policy language to reflect that practice.
No formal action was taken. Committee members asked administration to refine the policy language for clarity, consider accessibility for parents (including translated materials), and return a revised draft for further review before forwarding to the full board.
