Ripley County Schools, Probation, Courts Team Up For Suspension Alternative

By Mike Perleberg Ripley County school superintendents, probation department, courts, the Tyson Fund, Rising Sun Regional Foundation, and Tyson Activity Center are working together to establish the RCATS alternative suspension program for students. Photo by Mike Perleberg, Eagle Country 99.3. (Ripley County, Ind.) – No longer will students who get suspended from school in Ripley County get a vacation from school. Starting in January 2016, they’ll be required to serve their days out of school in the new Ripley County Alternative to Suspension program or face a judge. As of Monday, all school boards in Ripley County – Milan, South Ripley, Jac-Cen-Del, and Batesville – have agreed to participate and share in the cost of RCATS at the Tyson Activity Center in Versailles. The new alternative program for high school and junior high school students is modeled after a similar program which South Ripley Community Schools superintendent Rob Moorhead helped create in Dearborn County in 2008. “We’re looking at short term suspendable offenses here,” Moorhead said while leading a meeting of county superintendents in Versailles on Wednesday. “They will be required to report there from 8:30 until 11:30 in the morning where they will do their homework sent from their teachers at school. From 11:30 until noon they’ll eat a sack lunch. Noon to 2:30 they’ll do community service activities.” High school and junior school principals are on board with the program, Moorhead said. Batesville Community Schools superintendent Jim Roberts said it has always been an issue for school administrators to decide if suspension is the best course of action for students who break the rules. “Suspension seems like the right thing. You send them home, but how productive that is is always a little bit compromised, because they are away from school not accomplishing their credits or probably not doing a whole lot,” he said. The cooperative program will provide two major benefits to the students and their parents. Currently, students on suspension are not permitted to complete coursework during their suspension, which RCATS will allow. Milan Community Schools superintendent Paul Ketcham said students do not always feel motivated to complete the work if it won’t count towards their grade anyways. “That will help academically to keep students on track,” Ketcham explained. “Suspension is a double whammy on a kid because they are out of school. This is a nice way to keep them from getting further behind when they are probably behind anyway if they are having behavior issues,” Jac-Cen-Del Community Schools superintendent Tim Taylor said in echoing Ketcham’s sentiment. Second, parents of suspended students will benefit from RCATS in that they won’t be forced to leave their punished child home unattended or have them tag along at work. The students or their parents will, however, be responsible for transporting them to Versailles to serve their time. The Tyson Fund awarded the program a grant for almost $4,000 for a video surveillance system at Tyson Activity Center so that recordings can be made of students’ behavior during their suspension and any potential acting-out would be documented on video. Students who continue to exhibit bad behavior while in the alternative suspension program, those who skip it all together, or those who commit an act worthy of it will face Ripley Circuit Court Judge Ryan King. He called RCATS a quadruple win for students, parents, schools, and the community. “If there are certain students who need to come to court right off the bat to maybe set the tone or anything like that, I’m always open to that,” King says. “Whatever the court needs to do, the court is willing to do to help the schools.” Judge King said he does not see student cases becoming a drag on the court. A judge in Dearborn County told him that he has only sees a couple cases arise from that county’s ACDC program. Moorhead added that a student will never have to go to before the judge as long as they do as they are told to do. The Ripley County Probation Department will supply the community service activities and transportation to those activities. Shannon Schmaltz, director of court services for the department, said that the work will be have a project base with non-profits or picking up trash. He said he is welcoming requests from organizations who may need help. While Moorhead spearheaded the project, he shared credit with the other superintendents, the judges, probation department, Tyson Fund, Rising Sun Regional Foundation, and the Tyson Activity Center. Ketcham touched on the unique form of cooperation between Ripley County’s four public school districts. “We say ‘What works best for kids?’ Because a kid in my school today might be in Rob’s school or Jim’s school tomorrow, or vice versa. So it benefits us to educate all kids to the best of our ability,” he said.