by Matt Hurt

Maintaining an appropriate level of orderliness in school is a delicate, nuanced balance when done well. Without discipline learning can’t take place. Good teachers are loath to remain in schools that do not maintain appropriate student behavior. Students respond to some practices by some teachers and administrators, and run roughshod over others. Many strategies have been put in place over the years to address positive disciplinary approaches, but none seem to be able to compete with good old-fashioned high expectations and relationships.

During this General Assembly session our legislators in Richmond are considering HB298, a bill which intends to prohibit schools from suspending or expelling students prior to considering evidence-based restorative disciplinary practices. Generally speaking, evidence-based restorative disciplinary practices are intended to replace punitive disciplinary actions with other approaches such as mediation, relationship building, harm repair, etc.

There are currently more suspensions and expulsions than are desired, and this is a real problem. In some schools, these are the primary methodologies for maintaining discipline in the building. There are many incentive structures that cause student misbehavior, and just as many strategies to successfully mitigate those behaviors. When our primary tool is a hammer (suspension), then every problem presents as a nail.

There are problems with suspension as the primary response to negative student behaviors. First, when students are suspended, they are not learning. Once students are out of our sight, we have no way of making sure that they attend to their studies. Second, when students are suspended, they are likely having more fun than they would have if they were sitting in class. Sometimes the freedom from school provides enough incentive for additional negative behaviors in the future.  

Many wise administrators shun out-of-school suspensions whenever possible in favor of in-school suspensions, lunch detentions, after-school detentions, and other options that don’t carry as many pitfalls. If students are in school, they are more likely to complete their assignments. Also, the school can ensure that they do not enjoy themselves during that time, which will be more likely to extinguish the negative behaviors in the future.

Restorative disciplinary practices have been implemented in many schools over the last decade or so. I am aware of some instances in which this took place and the outcomes were not as expected. In these situations, folks attempted to use restorative practices in lieu of traditional methods of discipline. The end result was that students had little incentive to stop negative behaviors and teachers were frustrated that order declined which made teaching more difficult.  

To be fair, the implementation of restorative practices in these schools may have not been executed with the most skill, but the educators there never bought into the process. These schools also suffered the lack of a cohesive spirit of collaboration which also likely impacted implementation. One of the problems of the proposed law is that the schools most in need of improving school orderliness also appear to suffer from similar school culture/climate issues. Those issues tend to prohibit the implementation of any improvements, especially those that are more complex and require significant stakeholder buy-in.

I believe that there is nothing inherently wrong with restorative discipline, so long as it does not replace other strategies.  It can be part of a balanced approach, but does not have the ability to maintain orderly schools alone.  I am concerned that this bill will have the unintended consequence of communicating to schools that restorative discipline is “the way,” thus encouraging educators to toss aside other options.

The real magic to maintaining order in schools is maintaining high expectations for student behavior combined with building and maintaining strong relationships with students and families. For this to happen, there must be a positive school climate in which positive student outcomes, mutual respect among all stakeholders, and trust abound. Unfortunately, the General Assembly has not yet found a way to enshrine such school culture in The Code of Virginia.

Matt Hurt is director of the Comprehensive Instructional Program.