The number of long-term suspensions and expulsions in Harford County middle and high schools has increased for the fifth straight year, according to a year-end report.
Students were suspended by the superintendent for more than five school days or expelled 729 times from the start of school in September until the end in June.
That's an increase of 99 cases from the 1993-1994 school year. About half the increase came from suspensions and expulsions in the county's alternative education program, whose numbers were included for the first time this year.
In five years the number of such suspensions and expulsions has more than tripled, increasing at a faster pace than enrollment. In the 1989-1990 school year, students were suspended or expelled 206 times by the superintendent.
During the same period, enrollment in middle and high schools increased by 21 percent, going from 14,335 in 1989-1990 to 17,366 in 1994-1995.
Harford administrators said they are not sure why suspensions and expulsions are increasing at such a pace.
The reason most likely is a combination of stricter discipline by administrators and increased misbehavior by students, said Deputy Superintendent Albert F. Seymour.
Most of the 47 suspensions from the county's alternative education program ordered by the superintendent were for 10 days or more. Students in the program already have been suspended or expelled from their regular schools and attend night classes in a strict, no-frills setting.
When a student is suspended or expelled, it is a school system failure, said school system spokesman Donald R. Morrison. But the measures are necessary, he said.
"We are going to guarantee a safe and secure environment, and we are not going to tolerate behavior that would detract from effective operation of the schools," Mr. Morrison said. "It is still true that 95 percent of our kids have never been involved in a serious breach of school rules" that caused them to be suspended.
A middle- or high-school student is suspended first by the principal, who can ban a student for up to five days. If the principal decides the violation is serious enough -- possession of illegal drugs or an aggravated assault, for instance -- he or she can refer the student's case to the superintendent. The superintendent then can add five or more days to the suspension or expel the student for the rest of the school year.
