Close Vote Brings

An Angry Reaction

From Parents

By BILL JONES

Staff Writer

The Greene County Board of Education voted 4-3 Thursday afternoon to uphold the punishment given to six South Greene High School baseball players who had been accused of consuming alcohol on a school bus while returning from an away game in March.

Board Chairman Kathy Crawford was joined in voting in favor of upholding the punishment by board members Kathy Austin, R.L. "Tom" Carpenter and Claude Weems Jr.

Tim Armstrong, the board's vice-chairman, and board members Richard Morrison and Rex Hopson voted against accepting an earlier ruling of a county school system disciplinary authority panel that had upheld the punishment.

Under school board policy, the county school system takes a zero-tolerance approach to situations in which students are found to be in possession of alcohol or other illegal drugs on school property, or who bring weapons on school property, or who assault school personnel.

Students who are considered guilty of zero-tolerance offenses are required to be expelled from school for a year. However, the director of schools is allowed to modify the expulsions on a case-by-case basis.

In the case of the six SGHS students, and a seventh student whose parents did not appeal the decision, Director of Schools Dr. Joe Parkins had previously reduced their punishment from a year's expulsion from school to requiring the students to complete the current school year at the county school system's alternative school on Hal Henard Road, and attend the alternative school for the first semester of the next school year.

Seniors assigned to the alternative school are normally not allowed to take part in graduation ceremonies at the high schools they attended before being sent to the alternative schools.

An appeals procedure is provided for students disciplined for zero-tolerance violations who wish to appeal their discipline.

Angry Reaction

The school board's vote sparked an immediate angry response by one parent, who put the board members who voted to uphold the punishment on notice that he plans to actively campaign against them.

Carpenter is the only one of the four board members who voted to uphold the punishment decision who faces an election challenge in this year's Greene County General Election in August.

Other parents confronted Director of Schools Dr. Joe Parkins and board members who voted to uphold the punishments before they made their way out of the meeting room.

Board members, Armstrong, Hopson and Morrison remained behind and spoke with the parents and supporters of the South Greene students for some time after the meeting.

Also after the meeting, Greeneville attorney Ronald E. Chesnut, who said he represented one of the students, said he was "shocked" that the board had not acted to reduce the punishments.

Chesnut and attorney William H. "Bill" Bell had attended the meeting and had sat with parents of some of the students. But neither was given an opportunity to address the board.

Also in attendance was County Attorney Roger Woolsey, who also did not speak or appear to take a role in a meeting.

After the meeting, angry parents vented their frustration with the board's action outside the building, where parents, students and their supporters milled about for some time.

More than 60 people, many of whom were supporters of the suspended students, had packed the boardroom at the James Parham Central School Office on West Summer Street for the 3 p.m. called meeting of the county school board.

Policy Explained

As the meeting opened, board member Rex Hopson said he wished to make a motion to allow parents of the suspended students to address the board.

But Crawford, the board's chairman, said the only motion that could be made was to either uphold the earlier ruling by a disciplinary hearing authority panel, or reduce the punishment, or grant a new hearing.

Board member Carpenter then made a motion to accept the disciplinary hearing authority's earlier ruling that upheld the suspensions of the students.

During ensuing discussion, board member Morrison, who is a former director of schools and a former high school principal, told his fellow board members that he didn't feel "the punishment fit the crime" in the case of the South Greene students.

Apparently directing his comments to the audience, Morrison said South Greene High School Principal Cindy Bowman had had no choice other than to suspend the players because possessing alcohol is a "zero-tolerance offense" under the Greene County School System's policies.

Morrison said Director of Schools Parkins also had "reduced the punishment as much as he could" under the same policy.

Parkins earlier had opted to allow the six students, one of whom is a senior, to attend class for the remainder of the current school year and the first semester of the 2008-09 school year, although at the county's alternative school rather than at South Greene itself.

Morrison Comments

Morrison said the fault lay with the zero-tolerance policy regarding alcohol that the board has adopted.

He also recalled that, while he was serving as principal of North Greene High School about 20 years ago, a similar incident in which students drank alcohol on a school bus took place at that school.

Morrison noted that the zero-tolerance policy did not then exist and that, after the students admitted consuming alcohol, he suspended them from school for three days.

Morrison subsequently told the board that, if Carpenter's motion to uphold the disciplinary authority's decision failed to pass, he planned to make a motion to reduce the baseball players' punishment to "time served."

Before a vote was taken, board member Rex Hopson said he felt South Greene High staffers "could have done things" to prevent the incident that led to the suspensions.

Hopson said he felt that only the students were being held accountable.

Before a vote was taken, board member Kathy Austin asked Director of Schools Parkins how many other students had been expelled for zero-tolerance offenses during the current school year.

Dr. Parkins replied that a total of 21 students, not counting the seven South Greene students, had been expelled for possessing alcohol, drugs, or weapons at school or for assaulting school staff members during the current school year.

Parkins indicated to the board that the punishments of the other 21 students had been handled similarly.

Statements By Parents

After the meeting adjourned, parents and other supporters of the six suspended students who had appealed their suspensions to the full school board complained to reporters about how the situation was handled.

Several parents complained that South Greene officials allowed the students to drive home after discovering that they had been drinking.

Several parents also said neither they, nor the players, denied that the boys had consumed alcohol but said they (the parents making the comments) felt the punishment handed out was too severe.

One parent, who said her son is a senior who will not now be allowed to take part in his class's graduation ceremony, handed out a written statement expressing her displeasure with the way she said a coach had handled the situation at the time of the infraction.

Case Background

Seven players were expelled from school for a year under the zero-tolerance policy by South Greene Principal Bowman after a March 18 incident in which they allegedly consumed alcohol while aboard a school bus returning from a baseball game at Happy Valley High School in Carter County.

The students had been caught by South Greene baseball coach Larry Hogan, who had been following behind the bus in his personal car, after the bus returned to South Greene High, Parkins said earlier this year.

Only an assistant coach, who had been driving the bus, had been aboard the bus with the students.

Parkins said Hogan later told him he had driven his own car because he was suffering from a back problem and believed the bus seat might aggravate the problem on the day of the incident.

As noted above, Director of Schools Parkins subsequently chose to allow the seven students to attend the county school system's alternative school for the balance of the current school year and the first semester of the next school year.

A disciplinary hearing authority panel composed of school system administrators and one retired administrator subsequently upheld the discipline that had been decided on.

The parents of six of the seven players subsequently appealed that decision to the full school board.

Dr. Parkins was said to be out of his office attending a conference this morning and was unavailable to answer follow-up questions about the case.