Should kids accused of crimes be kept out of school?

SPRINGFIELD -- Faced with a student accused of rape, Barrington High School officials responded by suspending the student.

But in Naperville's Indian Prairie Unit District 204, an 11-year-old student accused of a similar crime continues to attend classes, with officials there saying their options are limited.

An 18-year-old Barrington High student from Tower Lakes was arrested and faces felony charges in connection with the assault of two female students in separate incidents outside school hours at a house in Barrington Hills, local authorities said.

Barrington Area Unit District 220 Superintendent Tom Leonard said even though the alleged incident happened outside of school, it showed a connection that posed a threat to the social and emotional health of students, including the accused.

The Barrington High student was suspended last week and the district is working to find him an alternative school where he can continue classes.

"Our legal counsel says we are on firm ground and we proceeded," Leonard said.

Barrington High's handling of the situation is in marked contrast to Indian Prairie's situation, where, instead of suspensions, an alleged sexual assault among students at a Naperville home led to legislation and cries of partisan politics at the Capitol.

At issue in Naperville is what to do with two Gregory Middle School students, ages 11 and 12, who face felony charges of criminal sexual abuse and criminal sexual assault resulting from a November incident with a classmate at a Naperville home.

The 11-year-old also faces a misdemeanor count of battery for a separate alleged incident involving the same victim - this time at school.

The victim of the alleged assaults is currently attending classes at Gregory.

One of those accused of his attack transferred to a school in Naperville Unit District 203, the other is still at Gregory under a court order, but must stay 100 feet away from the boy he allegedly assaulted.

But Indian Prairie officials concluded they couldn't remove the students because the alleged incidents happened off campus.

That decision prompted local lawmakers to propose a new state law they said would make it easier for schools to remove students accused of certain crimes.

The parent of the alleged victim and a school board member traveled to Springfield earlier this year to testify in support of the proposal.

But that proposal hit legal snags. There are questions as to whether the working of the plans pushed by Naperville lawmakers would be constitutional.

Even Indian Prairie's attorney said there are some concerns, even as he said the plan could be helpful.

Others legislators say it's simply unneeded, pointing to other districts who've taken action without the legal changes.

Barrington High officials said the district was assured it was on sound legal ground when it suspended the student accused of rape.

"The law states that if you can establish a connection between the event, even if it happens off campus, and your school posing a threat or disruption or if the students feel they are in an unsafe place you can remove the student," said Leonard, the district's superintendent.

State Rep. Darlene Senger, a Naperville Republican who first sponsored the proposed law in the wake of the Indian Prairie situation, blames Democrats and partisan politics for why her proposal is stalled. Senger won a contentious election last year.

"My constituents have a problem, we come up with what we think is a great solution and then some of my colleagues turn it into a political issue," she said recently.

But Democratic leaders say Senger's proposals are deeply flawed and she's been unable to fix them.

House Majority leader Barbara Flynn Currie, a Chicago Democrat, said Senger's proposals are too broad to withstand legal scrutiny.

Although Senger's plan stalled in the House, a nearly identical plan pushed by Winfield Republican state Sen. Randy Hultgren cleared the Senate and is now pending in the House.

Hultgren said he was unaware of the latest Barrington situation and didn't know what it might mean for the legislation. Senger said she'd continue to push it.

Barrington High, however, isn't the only school that's disciplined students for off-campus events.

In 2005, when an annual girls football game got out of hand and participants were smeared with pig feces, beaten and some suffered broken bones, officials at the Northbrook-based school they attended faced a quandary.

The "game" wasn't an official school function nor did it occur on Glenbrook North High School property. So while the incident brought national notoriety to the school, officials there feared there was nothing they could do.

But district officials ultimately chose to invoke a provision in the school's student conduct policy and expelled nearly 30 participants, said district spokeswoman Diane Freeman.

One downstate school official and lawmaker said Indian Prairie officials could use similar student conduct policies to address the situation.

Republican state Rep. Roger Eddy, who's also superintendent of the Hutsonville School District near the Indiana border in southeastern Illinois, said it likely could be taken care of in school board meetings.

And it now appears Indian Prairie officials are considering changing their student polices.

Last week, board members discussed adding specific language to address circumstances that would warrant moving a student.

Those criteria include posing a risk to students or staff, student safety is at risk or when a transfer "will better meet the educational, emotional and social needs of the student of other students."

The proposed policy also states that a student who has been charged or convicted of a violent felony against another student at the same school, regardless of where the incident occurred, shall be reassigned to another District 204 school if the administration decides it is necessary.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=290773">Barrington High School student charged with sex assault <span class="date">[04/27/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=270834">Father pleads for action in Naperville school assault case <span class="date">[02/10/2009]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>