School districts use citations to solve discipline problems
By LESTER MURRAY news2@kilgorenewsherald.com

The old days of getting sent to the principal's office for a paddling is definitely over. These days students get sent to see a judge.

Kilgore Independent School District, like many school districts in Texas, have adopted policies referred to as zero tolerance.

Richard Stanley, school resource officer for KISD, said he writes an average of about 150 tickets a year to students on three campuses.

"The high school campus gets the most offenses, with approximately 120 a year. Maude Laird Middle School is next with 20 or so and, yes, there are citations written at Kilgore Intermediate School," said Stanley.

Stanley said two different types of citations are written - those from Chapter 37 of the State Education Code and those based on the Texas Penal Code.

Most of the tickets written are for disorderly conduct, others for fighting or just cussing, said Stanley.

"When a teacher has a problem in class and that problem no longer allows her to teach the rest of the class, then that teacher does a write-up which is sent to the principal's office," he said. "Those write-ups are then looked at by the principal to see if further action is required - in other words, administration action or criminal action."

Stanley said once the write-up gets to his office, if a criminal action has taken place a citation will be issued and that student, along with his or her parents must go to court. "Just because I get a write-up does not mean automatically the student gets a ticket; there might be no criminal action to be taken," said Stanley. "But if there is, I try and treat all students equally and fairly, so if I issue one citation to one student for a particular violation, then I will issue it to all."

It is up to the judge of the city municipal court to decide what punishment to take once the student gets to court. "Judge Patsy Haynes, City of Kilgore municipal judge, gets all of the penal code violations while Judge Talyna Carlson, justice of the peace for Gregg County, gets the Chapter 37 violations," said Stanley.

Judge Haynes said she explains to the student the available plea options. "I explain what a guilty plea is, a no contest plea or what the proceeding are if they plead not guilty," said Haynes. "A great many of the children that come before me plead guilty and I then asses each child as to what punishment to hand out."

Haynes said most students get community service and sometimes no action is taken. But, if a student is a repeat offender, fines may be dealt out to get the attention of both the student and the parents.

Haynes said some students believe that when a another student hits them, they can retaliate in self defense. That is not true on school property. "With the zero tolerance policy a student must report the incident to the nearest teacher, coach or administrator for them to take action, not the student," said Haynes.

If a child pleads not guilty, he or she has to appear in night court before Judge Glenn Phillips and the case is handled by the city prosecutor, Angie Konczak. "Once the case gets before Judge Phillips, it is handled like a regular court case. Witnesses will be subpoenaed, the prosecutor will question witnesses and if the child is below the age of 17, parents must also be present," said Haynes.

If a student is 17 years of age or older they can represent themselves as long as the charge is not a alcohol complaint said Haynes. "Once the case is heard, Judge Phillips will make the decision as to what punishment the student receives," said Haynes.

Students can get fines, community service or the case may be suspended if that is what the judge deems necessary. "Most of the time there are no fines handed out, unless a student has been before the judge before with prior complaints," said Stanley. "But just because that is not the norm, it doesn't mean a student cannot receive a fine up to $500 for being disruptive in class."

Stanley said if an offense is handled administratively, the student can get a suspicion, sent to the AEC (alternate education center) or both. "If a student receives a citation for a violation, that student can still receive administrative punishment," said Stanley.

One form of punishment that is used a great deal according to Stanley is community service. "Students might have to work at the recycling day, trash pickup or even shoveling manure at the Christmas Parade," said Stanley.

In his six years as school resource officer, Stanley said, the number of citations issued has remained fairly constant. But with a coming increase in additional resource officers at KISD, more violations could be possible.

Stanley said he understands the nature of the violators he deals with every day - teenagers - but things like swearing at teachers, fighting and behavior that disrupts the classroom cannot be tolerated.

Students are told at the beginning of each school year what they can and cannot do and what types of behavior will get them a citation, so action taken by KISD administrators or police personnel should not come as a surprise to anyone said Stanley.