Commentary: Suspension and Expulsion policy

Danny Langhorne
Editor-in-Chief
Homecoming was the perfect example of the unequal level of justice at Santa Barbara High School. The administration suspended nine individuals for five days and two people being reccomended expulsion for being toxicated at a school event. The administration put memos in the student and video bulletins that said that breathelizer tests would be condconducted at the dance as well. So even with this ample warming people still decided to show up to the dance drunk. Many of these students come from families of high socioeconomic status and have the resources to fight the district overs these kinds of punishments. Mr. Capritto claims that he does not talk with lawyers about the punishment he adiministers. According to him if parents want to get lawyers involved they have to talk the school district.
According to Capritto parents vented their frustration with their children towards him and his rules, but he reminded them that he hadn’t done anything wrong and that it was the kids that had messed up. Despite the administration’s leniency, in terms of not handing intoxicated students over to the police, a couple parents argue that their student’s civil rights were violated because the police were not courteous enough while breathelizing their kids.
Those students who are faced with possible expulsion are doing so because they have been caught intoxicated before at other school events. Currently their fate is being decided by a committe at the school district. But if these students were gang members wouldn’t they have already been expediantly expelled. The school’s job is to provide a safe learning enviornment but when students decide to break the law by drinking they are also deciding as adults to break the rules.
The bottom line is that someone almost died at homecoming when they had an adverse reaction when they took medication before drinking alcohol. The administration needs to prevent potentially deadly situations from occuring by making it clear to students that there will be serious ramifications if they come to school drunk and that is exactly what they are doing with the suspensions.
Dr. Capritto’s underlying message for students was “At any school wide event don’t believe you can come under the influence because you will face the consequences for that choice.”