Stories about kids in the school who have been caught with drugs circulate faster in the halls than viral YouTube videos. Gossiping in school usually revolves around the consequences, but rarely do students discuss whether these kids should be given a second chance.

Many parents are advocating changing numerous aspects of the Fairfax County Public Schools disciplinary procedures. Some of these reforms include a creation of a “second-chance program”. This program is for first time drug or alcohol offenders and would require the school administration to notify parents before their child is questioned along with giving the student academic support if they are suspended.

The main goal of the “second-chance program” is to give students a chance to learn from their mistakes, and come up with ways to avoid being in the same situation again. Another key factor in reforming the disciplinary procedures is developing different tiers of consequences. These different tiers would avoid schools from automatically suspending and expelling students right away. Some examples of consequences in these different tiers include first time drug and alcohol offenders being required to attend Alcohol and Other Drug’s seminar, and subsequent offenders should be suspended from school as opposed to automatically expelled.

The board is also looking into changing the way they handle students with disabilities. Committee members recommended that a new section for students with disabilities should be added into the Student Rights and Responsibilities hand book.  This would allow the board to alert the way they handle these specific situations.

With many parents pushing for change, the members of committee are looking to improve the way Fairfax County Public Schools handle drug and alcohol disciplinary procedures, possibly affecting a great number of students.