Sunday, May 31, 2009
In reference to the article in the May 28 Loudoun Extra, "Did the Punishment Fit the Wine?", I want to make it clear that we parents of suspended Dominion High School students are not complaining about our children having been caught in violation of the school district's zero-tolerance policy.
We were initially aggrieved not to have been presented with all the facts by the high school. Subsequently, we remain most unhappy with the means that the French teacher and the assistant principal who chaperoned the trip used to gain information about the alleged infraction of school policy.
Specifically, they woke children from their beds, forced them into signing statements before releasing them, in their nightclothes, in a hotel lobby, and even removed phones from hotel rooms to prevent them from calling their parents. The principal upheld the decision by his assistant principal to suspend only 10 of the students, despite the same evidence that showed other children had also violated school policy.
Parents spoke out at the School Board meeting Tuesday to ask for an investigation into how Dominion High School mismanaged Loudoun County public schools policies 8.2 (investigations) and 8.35 (zero tolerance).
Linda Hollingsworth, Great Falls
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