By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT — As work continues on revising the Student Discipline Policy, the Board of Education’s seven members are divided on what role the loss of privileges should play when assigning consequences for hate-based behaviors.

Some are reluctant to strip offending students of extra-curricular activities or leadership roles beyond time served in suspension, saying it flies in the face of the school district’s restorative-practice efforts.

“Either we welcome children back or we don’t,” board Chair Lee Goldstein said during a three-hour discussion last Thursday.

Others worry about the message that a full restoration of privileges sends to both victims of bad behavior and the student who committed it.

“I am trying to understand how someone who represents our school in a big way, is a leader and commits an egregious offense, hate-based conduct — I don’t understand how they, at the end can go back … to a leadership role and representing the district?” said board member Kevin Christie, chair of the policy committee that drafted the Student Discipline Policy and accompanying Code of Conduct.

The board is crafting the new disciplinary policy and code, in part, to address a number of hate-based racial and religious attacks on students reported recently in the district.

The ongoing issue was brought to light in February when Dr. Carol Felder and her husband, Richard Anderson, who are Black, spoke at a board meeting about racist comments directed by other students toward their high school- and middle school-aged daughters since moving to Westport.

The family moved to Westport because of the school system’s outstanding reputation.

Felder told the board she now regrets the move, but is here to stay and demanded that school officials do more to ensure all students in the district are safe.

“I want to be on the record that I do support loss of privileges for hate-based crimes and protective-class harassments,” Felder said Thursday.

The draft policy and code covers 59 possible infractions students might commit — from skipping school to bullying to bringing a weapon to school — along with a host of potential consequences based on grade level, how often the offense has occurred and administrative discretion.

While the hope was to get the school board’s stamp of approval soon so that the new policy and code could take effect in the fall, the board signaled last week they have issues to resolve.

All board members raised their hands when asked if a community conversation should be scheduled on the topic.

In addition to hearing from aggrieved parents and students at every board meeting since January, board members say they have been getting emails and calls from parents on both sides of the issue.

“The community is split on this,” said board member Jill Dillon.

“We can’t sit here and have these conversations every two weeks,” said parent Tara Welch during the public comment portion of the meeting. “There is a racism problem in Westport. You need to accept it and find a way to fix it.”

Later, Welch added that parents should not have to continue to push for what children deserve, which is to feel protected.

The Greater Norwalk NAACP plans to hold a town hall session to discuss the topic of racism in Westport at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 9, at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 10 Lyons Plains Road.

Additionally, a group that has grown to 46 parents has created a website — KindWPS.com — and launched an online petition demanding what they call meaningful change in the district’s Code of Conduct.

Their plan would require students who harass protected-class students to earn back privileges by showing they have learned from their mistakes and also would allow anonymous reporting of incidents.

While the parents say the Code of Conduct is not enough to prevent the root cause of hate speech and actions, it can serve as a tool in educating students.

Code of Conduct as a deterrent?

Supt. of Schools Thomas Scarice said students do lose privileges as a consequence for Code of Conduct violations.

Additionally, students who participate in sports face another set of rules that could cost them playing or practice time.

District Athletic Director A.J. Sarullo told the board it has not happened during his tenure, but there are situations where permanently removing a violator from a team captainship would be appropriate.

“But the way I look at it, [our job is] to make the student athlete better. To ensure the action is not repeated,” Sarullo said. “I am not sure leadership removal accomplishes those things.”

Assistant Supt. Mike Rizzo said the potential for removing additional privileges has also been built into Code of Conduct language.

Dillon said the language leaves too much room for inconsistent application. Protected-class harassment should be a carve-out, she said.

Scarice questioned if permanent privilege removal is an effective deterrent.

“When a kid does something, they are fairly sure they are going to get away with it,” Scarice said.

When a student is expelled, sometimes for up to a full calendar year, Scarice said it has been his practice to challenge the student to come back to school and be a leader. He added that he wouldn’t be able to say that to an offender if restoration of privileges is off the table.

Christie said while he appreciates the balance between consequences and restorative actions, the pain and impact of what victims go through may take longer than a few days of suspension or a restorative conference to resolve.

A lot of questions were asked by board members about the role the district’s restorative-practice initiative plays in process.

Two district teachers have received training on conducting voluntary restorative-conferences held when incidents occur. Others are in line to get the training.

Before any conferences are convened, restorative conversations with offenders take place. They could be big, could be small, but are not voluntary, the board was told.

The idea is to talk to a student who has broken a rule, find out what happened and get them to take ownership.

“It always starts with a discussion,” Christina Cincotta, an assistant principal at Staples, told the board. “Some students say they just want to apologize.”

Those, Cincotta said, can just be words.

When a restorative conference takes place, Cincotta said they can be uncomfortable. “Having to relive something you are not proud of,” she said. “You are not getting off easy [by agreeing to a conference].”

Administrators say conference participation can reduce the consequence students face, but they are not sold to students in that way.

“The value of a well-done discussion is far greater than a student sitting in or out of school suspension another day,” Cincotta said.

Board Vice Chair Dorie Hordon said she likes the idea of restorative practices in a learning environment. “For me, its what kind of a community are we,” she said.

Hordon said she and her children are minorities and have experienced racism. “I ask them if they are a forgiving person. Does the kid understand the gravity of what they’ve said to you,” she said.

Board member Abby Tolan said the Code of Conduct won’t fix racism in the community, but that restorative practices can help.

During the meeting, Hordon also questioned language in the document that talks about equitable discipline.

The idea is to reduce the disproportionality of students of color affected by the code.

Hordon called “equitable” a polarizing word and said she wasn’t comfortable supporting the document without a definition specific to Westport.

Rizzo said the term could be changed to “free of bias.” Hordon said she was okay with that.

Freelance writer Linda Conner Lambeck, a reporter for more than four decades at the Connecticut Post and other Hearst publications, is a member of the Education Writers Association.