Howard County (Map, News) - Sydney Cousin, 62, superintendent of the Howard County public schools system since 2004, began his career in education as a history teacher at Lombard Junior High School in Baltimore 37 years ago. He joined the Howard system in 1987 as director of school construction and planning and moved first to associate superintendent of finance and operations and then in 2001 to deputy superintendent/chief operating officer. Cousin, a Baltimore native, received a bachelor’s degree from Morgan State University, a master’s from the University of Pennsylvania and a doctorate in education from Temple University.

QUESTION: Many of the proposed new school positions might have to be cut if there isn’t enough funding. What will be the impact?

ANSWER: We're fortunate in Howard County not to experience the budget cuts that some of the surrounding counties are experiencing. But [our funding] is still $4 million below what was requested by the Board of Education. We look at these reductions as a deferral rather than a denial of our requests. We're asking for middle school technology teachers, and we're asking for additional special-education teachers. It's those types of cuts that will impact us most. Hopefully, we'll have some restoration, but if not, we'll learn to live with what we have. We'll ask for these things again.

Q: You have indicated a desire to remain as superintendent. Do you have the backing of the school board?

A: The board has offered me another contract, and they did that unanimously. So I do have the backing of the board for another four years. There are still some things I'd like to do as superintendent.

Q: What are some of the programs and initiatives you are planning?

A: One is to continue to work on our achievement gaps. Another is to carry out initiatives and programs to address diversity in the school system. We have students from more than 85 nations who speak more than 70 languages, which makes us unique in the state. We have to take these students of various racial and cultural backgrounds and make them an integral part of the school system so we can carry out our two main goals, which are to provide academic achievement and to do it in a safe and nurturing environment. The mission is to prepare kids for a diverse and changing world.

Q: What are you doing to address school suspensions?

A: We have the lowest suspension rate in the state. It’s not that our kids are that much different from other kids, but our approaches keep kids in school. We have programs for in-school suspension, for example, so that kids stay in school but are taken out of the classes until they can adjust and get back in. We have a PBIS program [Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support, which focuses on improving a school’s ability to teach and support positive behavior for all students], and we have codes of conduct. We want to make [schools] safe for everybody — for students, staff and the community. And if kids do egregious things, we're going to suspend them — and in some cases expel them, if they do things that are dangerous to themselves and others.

Q: Still, there were 96 suspensions for students physically attacking teachers last year. What are you doing to address this situation?

A: We try to work closely with the teacher's union — not only with that, but also on other issues. With Ann DeLacy [president of the Howard County Education Association], we know we can talk to each other at any time about issues involving teacher safety and student behavior.

Q: Can the public receive an accurate picture of what's going on in the schools?

A: We make a report to the board each year on the number of suspensions by school and for what reason. We also report to the board the interventions that we provide, and we publish those things online right now. If you were to go online to BoardDocs [an online information viewing system], you'll be able to find policies and board reports that address not only suspensions and student behavior but other things about safety in the building, like theft and vandalism, all by category. It's more than suspensions, because suspensions and expulsions are the last resort. Prevention is more important. We want to remove the impetus for the incident that may cause a suspension to occur.

Q: Why do only high schools have resource officers?

A: This is something we did in collaboration with the police department. They're there to support the school, students and staff. And why only high schools? Because [high schoolers are] teenagers, and they do silly stuff sometimes. Some of the time it borders on silly, but it also can be much more severe. It's not only at school, we want students to be safe away from school as well.

Q: There were 2,431 students suspended last year and 4,135 suspensions. That means more than 40 percent of the offending students were suspended again. Do suspensions really work?

A: Suspensions alone aren’t the answer. Unless there's some intervention, you can expect kids to do the same thing over and over. If a kid doesn’t want to go to school, he can get himself suspended. Our goal is to keep kids in school, so they won't be using suspension as a way out of school, where they will fall further and further behind. Research shows that kids who fall behind are the ones who are most likely to be disruptive. Intervention is important.

Q: Recently, a former student was sentenced for the beating death of another student on Mount Hebron’s football field. And a former teacher was sentenced to prison for exposing himself to a student in the classroom. What’s being done to address these kinds of issues?

A: I would say they are isolated incidents. But I would also say that we want these things to come to the surface, rather than be hidden. When we find out about inappropriate behavior against students or staff, we want to take action. I tell folks all the time that you cannot expect the school system to raise your kids alone. We need parents and the community working with us. We can prevent a lot, but there's a lot we don't have control over. Some people just turn their kids over to us and think that’s the end of it. It's not.

HOWARD COUNTY SCHOOLS BY THE NUMBERS

• 48,571 students
• 4,483 teachers
• 72 schools
• 96 suspensions last year due to teacher assaults
• $118 million proposed capital budget
• $656.7 million proposed operating budget

jkowalkowski@baltimoreexaminer.com