TRI In The News

Judge Upholds Discipline Decision

5/25/2011

TRI IN THE NEWS:JUDGE UPHOLDS DISCIPLINE DECISION

From The Free Lance-Star
Original article available here.

Spotsylvania Circuit Judge Joseph J. Ellis said each person in the courtroom yesterday could have had a different opinion of how to discipline a teenager who spit plastic balls at classmates in December.

"When one first hears the facts of the case, the reaction is: What were they thinking?" Ellis said.

But he said that's not what he was left to deal with in deciding whether to uphold the actions of the Spotsylvania County School Board, which suspended Spotsylvania High School freshman Andrew Mikel II for the remainder of the school year.

By state law, Ellis' ruling was limited to assessing whether the board exceeded its authority, acted arbitrarily or capriciously, or abused its discretion.

After 130 minutes of testimony and legal argument, Ellis called a recess to review documentation including Andrew's grades, SOL scores, attendance record, discipline record, and the steps of the discipline process. Ninety minutes later, he upheld the School Board's action but shared that he might have acted differently had it been his call.

"I will concede it was arguably harsh and more than I might have done, but that is not the test," he said.

He dismissed the petition brought by Andrew's father and argued by Spotsylvania attorney Andrew Flusche on behalf of the Charlottesville-based Rutherford Institute.

Rutherford founder John Whitehead had criticized the division for a "zero tolerance" discipline policy, but that phrase wasn't used during yesterday's hearing.

Instead, Flusche argued that Andrew's actions should have been dealt with under a different section of the county's Student Code of Conduct, not the one covering weapons and violent conduct.

He noted that no students needed medical care after Andrew struck them with small plastic balls meant for a toy gun. He also argued that no students felt threatened or intimidated by his spitting of the balls through the plastic tube of a ball-point pen on Dec. 10.

But School Board attorney Jennifer Parrish said the section on violent criminal conduct applied because three girls were struck by the balls, which constituted battering, which is covered by that section.

That conduct allows for a 365-day expulsion, but the board chose instead to give Andrew long-term suspension, from Dec. 10 until the school year ends June 10.