KATY SCHOOL BOARD PUTS NO SWAT PLAN ON HOLD   BY SCOTT PERILMAN:

Katy Board Puts No-Swat Plan On Hold

By Scott Perilman

The Katy Sun  Thursday, July 8, 1993

Katy ISD's discipline management plan, approved in May without a provision for paddling, is on hold now while trustees try to find out if they can legally reconsider the decision to leave paddling out of the plan.

At its June meeting, the board tabled a motion to implement the plan while the district seeks legal advice from the Texas Association of School Boards and an outside law firm.

At issue is whether the paddling question is fair game for the board's consideration even though the rule was stricken from the district policy by board vote in May.  If the board can legally vote not to implement the May decision, it would effectively negate that vote and reopen discussion on the paddling rule.

In May, the board voted 3 to 2 to approve the discipline management plan without a paddling rule.  At that meeting, former Trustee Gary Weiss and trustees Mary McGarr and Kenneth Burton voted to approve the plan, while Larry Moore and Stanley Thompson voted against the plan.

Two board members who favor a paddling rule, though -- Joe Adams and Dr. James Williams --were not present at the meeting.

In June, with Adams and Williams present, the board voted to table implementation of the plan and seek legal advice.

Paddling opponents decry the board's decision to tale the plan, but proponents of the disciplinary measure call the May decision inappropriate with two board members absent.

McGarr responds that Adams and Williams should have been present in May if they wanted to protect the paddling rule.

"These people are my friends and we work together pretty well," she says.  "But they had that choice and they made it and they weren't there.  It comes down to deciding what's more important --school board, vacation or business."

McGarr adds that the process has now become "unfair" and she fears that setting a precedent of bringing up issues every month that have already been decided is bad for the board.

As a result of the board's delay in implementing the discipline management plan, the district's student handbook, which details discipline procedures for district patrons, is late for its date with the printer.

[Notice that this reporter doesn't even know who was at the board meeting and who was missing!MM]