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.
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