VEA Wants Better Student Discipline – Dismisses Progressive “Reforms” as Unhelpful
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19 responses to “VEA Wants Better Student Discipline – Dismisses Progressive “Reforms” as Unhelpful”
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“[Progressives] will instead attack the VEA for heresy. Or attempt to compel it to “restate and clarify” its positions that “some may misconstrue.”
I predict that progressives will just ignore the VEA. They’re in deep denial, as I expect our usual suspects will amply illustrate in comments on your post.
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We’ll see. It is courageous for the VEA to go its own way. I expect pressure by the NEA for the VEA to conform.
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Democratic interregnum
Interregnum. I like your use of that word, and and all that it implies.
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“In attributing any breakdown in school discipline during the past school year to radical changes instituted by the Northam administration and Democrats in the General Assembly, you, Jim Bacon, and others make two errors. First, you ignore that the Commonwealth has a complex system of delivering public education. It is not a top-down system in which the state central office dictates policies. ”
Jim S. can speak for himself, but I have repeatedly acknowledged the limitations of the VDOE to impose its will on the school districts. That said, VDOE issues policies and guidance that provide direction to local districts. While local school boards may theoretically be free to not follow VDOE advice, VDOE and local administrators interact constantly through meetings, conferences and presentations. Many of the locals, especially the smaller and midsized districts, look to VDOE for expertise and guidance.
Plus, when the General Assembly enacts a law, it often applies to everyone, not just VDOE.
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And those school boards, with the exception of a few, are elected and therefore accountable to the voters of the local jurisdiction.
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I think I figured it out.
If the Gov is GOP, you want VDOE to rule top-down..
but if the Gov is Dem, you want “local control”.
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Interesting listening to Conservatives on local control versus top-down from VDOE/Va.
Some of it seems to be a desire to get to those urbanized schools with discipline issues to make them do “discipline” the way they think it should be done but at the same time the state has a larger number of rural districts that I bet would prefer to retain their “local control” and not have any more top-down mandated stuff.
VEC makes a deal about “local control” but Conservatives like JAB and Sherlock seem to have no such passion and seem instead to hew to “top down” and also especially when it came to COVID in-person.
Not too sure Conservatives are still in love with “local control”.
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VEA is nothing more than a PAC vending machine for politicians. I don’t believe a word they say. VEA and local county affiliates such as LEA will tell members whatever they need to hear in order to collect 640 dollars a year in dues. A large portion of which will be doled out to the very politicians that gave us the 2021 Model Guidelines Policies come reelection time in 2023.
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Other state affiliates may show the same pattern, being closer to the troops on the ground than the genius higher-ups. And the Whitehead comment doesn’t contradict that, as it is the state affiliates that are on point recruiting and retaining members (as we found out when my wife quit long ago in Roanoke County.)
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Thanks for that perspective.
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Tiered discipline is nothing but a new woke word for saying, first you work with the teacher to provide for all students, then that student who doesn’t respond, then call his parent, then send a referral for discipline, then try in school suspension, then a one day suspension, then three days, then ten days…..
Bottom line, the data shows teachers are leaving. The data that tells us why is left undetermined at this point. A good guess would be discipline. Prove that. Then figure it out from there.
Frankly, if boards are held accountable for test scores, attendance, discipline referrals, and teacher departures, are we giving them too many balls to hold in the air at one time? Focus on one outcome measure— test scores or student engagement, but not both. The others will fall in place. I’d choose SOL scores….limited variables. Student engagement, many variables.
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This article is typical conservative fare on this blog—long on
generalities, short on specifics, and ready to blame the Northam administration and Democrats in the General Assembly for everything.First of all, it is not clear that the VEA policies are in conflict with the model guidance put forth by the Board of Education. The 2021 edition of Model Guidance for Positive, Preventative Code of Student Conduct Policy and Alternatives to Suspension states:
“To create local student conduct policies, school division leaders should work with staff, students, families, community based organizations, and other stakeholders to accurately assess a school’s climate and the current status of school discipline, develop a shared vision for what it should be, and establish policies and practices to create a positive school environment where students and staff feel safe and supported.” (Emphasis added.)
Furthermore, that policy document states repeatedly, “Local school boards are required to adopt and revise regulations on codes of student conduct that are consistent with, but may be more stringent than, these Guidelines.”(Emphasis added) https://www.doe.virginia.gov/support/student_conduct/index.shtml
You use a quote from the VEA to imply that organization opposes “the relaxation of student discipline measures passed by the General Assembly and resulting model policies of the Board of Education,” when, in reality, the VEA is voicing opposition to bills that “would remove local school and school system discretion and control of discipline.” As noted above, local school boards may adopt policies that are more stringent than VDOE guidelines.
And, what specifically is wrong with the state model guidance? How have the discipline measures been “relaxed” to such an extent that school discipline is now an overwhelming problem? No specifics are provided, only general ranting.
In attributing any breakdown in school discipline during the
past school year to radical changes instituted by the Northam administration and Democrats in the General Assembly, you, Jim Bacon, and others make two errors. First, you ignore that the Commonwealth has a complex system of delivering public education. It is not a top-down system in which the state central office dictates policies. Each local school board has considerable discretion as to how it will operate its schools. Furthermore, it takes considerable time for significant changes to be integrated into a complex social system. To attribute behaviors in the 2021-2022 school year to legislation and policies that became effective, at most, two years previously is ignoring reality.The second mistake is not considering any other factor that
may have been affecting student behavior this past year. There have been reports from all across the country of increases in student misbehavior, even violence, upon their return to school after two years of coping with isolation and remote learning during the pandemic. No less a source than the Wall Street Journal, that conservative mainstay, has reported on this phenomenon. In that story, it touched on the experiences of schools in Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Illinois, Colorado, and Florida.Hardly anyone would accuse Texas as having the same political environment that was in office in Virginia over the past two
years. However, a Dallas middle school, which used to suspend students for disruptive behavior, now “sends them to what
the district calls a reset center, typically in unused classrooms and sometimes in outdoor sessions, where they get counseling for between one to three days.” There, students are encouraged to talk about what “they were doing to avoid the misbehavior that had led to their disciplinary problems.” Also, in Dallas,
“elementary-school students now start the day with a 45-minute social-emotional learning session.”-
Dick, the article is about the position of the VIrginia Education Association.
“The VEA Legislative Committee has consistently opposed bills that would remove local school and school system discretion and control of discipline and bills that would seriously weaken protections and assurances of safe learning and working environments for students and school employees.” (emphasis added).
All of the bills that have restructured student discipline approaches in recent years and have weakened safe learning and working environments” have been Democratic bills signed by Ralph Northam.
Just a fact. Look them up in the Code of Virginia. Look for changes starting in 2019.
Start with § 22.1-279.3:1. Reports of certain acts to school authorities; reports of certain acts by school authorities to parents; reports of certain acts by school authorities to law enforcement. Look at the 2020 change:
“Further, the principal shall report
thatwhether the incident has been reported to local law enforcementas required by lawpursuant to this subsection and, if the incident is so reported, that the parents may contact local law enforcement for further information, if they so desire.Ӥ 22.1-279.6. Board of Education guidelines and model policies for codes of student conduct; school board regulations.
It was under this law that the McAuliffe/Northam BOE rewrote those model policies in 2019 and again in 2021 to greatly weaken school discipline.
There are others.
Any other interpretation of the VEA language on its opposition to “bills that seriously weaken protections and assurances of safe learning and working environments” is unsupported by the clear legislative and rule-making record of the Northam Administration during the Democratic interregnum.
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Jennifer Foy and Jennifer McClellan were the chief architects of those bills. It is going to take years to undo that which was sown in 2020.
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I stopped working as a substitute after having to break up 2 fights in the same class in two weeks. Had enough. You all can argue all you want about directives and etc. but the issue the liberal , socialist , woke crowd does not like are rules period or customs or mores or values except their own dogma which is sacred. Doesn’t matter how many bodies litter the way to the nirvana.
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Trying to separate out how much of this was your own dislike of having to break up fights or whether the folks engaging in the fights needed to be expelled/removed but the progressive policies would not do it?
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Both
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interesting stats:
if discipline is the issue , looks like the two counties got it too:
RICHMOND, Va. — With 639 teacher vacancies in Chesterfield, Richmond and Henrico, Richmond Superintendent Jason Kamras said his district would have to establish a strong substitute pool and combine some small classes if not enough teachers can be found by the beginning of the school year.
“We are seeing unprecedented numbers of teachers leaving the profession all across the country,” Kamras said.
Chesterfield: 232 teacher vacancies
Henrico: 231 teacher vacancies
Richmond: 176 teacher vacancies -
Likely Virginia’s teachers leave for reasons similar to the rest of the nation.
The midwest finds student behavior to be the culprit.
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