
DATE: Monday, October 20, 1997              TAG: 9710200038

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LORRAINE EATON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   83 lines

SUSPENDED STUDENTS HIT THE BOOKS, NOT THE STREETS, WITH NEW HORIZONS

If only he had been suspended a few weeks earlier, the 13-year-old could be watching TV right now or just hanging out in the street.

Instead, he's hunched over a book at the Southside Boys and Girls Club, just like his classmates over at Lafayette-Winona Middle School, which recently suspended him for fighting. Later, he'll head across the hall to work on social skills - stuff like conflict resolution and anger management.

In short, the party's over.

For Norfolk students, out-of-school suspensions no longer guarantee a span of free time. Instead, parents can opt to send their children to New Horizons, a free program started this month to keep suspended kids in the books and out of trouble for the term of their punishment.

``This program is a strong asset for parents, schools, and mostly for kids,'' said Elwood ``Coach'' Williams, executive director of the Southside Boys and Girls Club, where the program is housed. ``It protects them from the negative things that (unsupervised) kids get into.''

Norfolk school officials authorized 13,157 out-of-school suspensions in the 1996-97 school year. The suspensions, ranging from one to 90 days, resulted from a variety of infractions - fighting, falsifying notes, cussing, smoking, showing disrespect. Outside of school, these at-risk students frequently end up unsupervised with hours of idle time on their hands. Working parents often end up worried about their children getting into more trouble.

In April, scores of students and some parents at the Norfolk Youth Forum recommended abolishing out-of-school suspensions. But it's doubtful that will happen.

``We can't do away with them because we need to have as many opportunities for discipline as possible,'' said Norfolk Councilwoman Daun S. Hester, who is a coordinator of student affairs for Norfolk Public Schools. ``Now we can continue to do that and children will have a safe place to go. And parents can be comfortable about that when they are at work.''

The joint effort between Williams' club and the city's schools provides a sort of middle ground between regular school and suspension. Two teachers at the boys club receive information from participants' home schools and they work one-on-one to keep students caught up on their school work. They said that the students respond well to the individual attention.

During social skills classes, small group sessions with a trained youth counselor, students learn to work in groups, to respect one another and to take responsibility for their behavior.

``One of the things we really want them to do is to transfer what they do here to a school setting,'' said Andre Turner, the skills session facilitator.

In between, students disappear into Williams' cluttered office for some straight talk about life and school and how, without an education, life undoubtedly will be grim.

``I think it's great that they have a program where he can . . . learn,'' said Cynthia Howard, whose 14-year-old son attended the New Horizons program last week. If not for New Horizons, she would have had to take her son to work with her during his suspension.

In the first week, 12 students attended New Horizons. The youngest was a third-grader who had been disrespectful to her teachers. The oldest was in high school and had been in a fight.

Four students left the program and returned to school on Thursday, and five new ones were expected, although only three showed up. The club gets more referrals daily and can handle 30 students at current staffing levels.

Eventually, Williams would like to see the program attract 100 students a day from all over the city, although that will require additional teaching staff, transportation and additional funding.

The cost to operate New Horizons for a school year is $150,000. Initial funding came from the United Way, the city of Norfolk, Norfolk schools, The Virginian-Pilot and CHINS, a court program for children in need of protective services. The program has enough money to operate through March, Williams said.

The program will be evaluated and possibly expanded, Hester said. Already students are giving it positive, if not enthusiastic, reviews.

``It's kind of hard,'' said one 14-year-old. ``They stay on your case. They want you to have respect and manners.

``My goal now,'' said the student, who was suspended for fighting, ``is to just calm down.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MARK MITCHELL/The Virginian-Pilot

Jainet Crawford, left, tutors James Howard while Tawanda Harding

helps Clarence Brown at New Horizons, an alternative for suspended

students. KEYWORDS: NORFOLK SCHOOLS NEW HORIZONS PROGRAM SUSPENDED

STUDENTS