The Raytown, MO school district has just over 8,000 students per school year. This year, just through the month of November, school administrators have suspended students over 2,000 times.

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And guess what: Over 43% (919) of those suspensions resulted from teachers writing discipline referrals due to disrespect or disruptiveness.

 

As an educator myself, I will never forget when my paradigm of discipline changed in an instant. One days seven years ago, when I was teaching 7th grade math, a student who we'll call Alicia was being extra vocal about her displeasure with peers and the work being asked of her. She made me upset, and I wrote a discipline referral before the day was over. Even though I hadn't written a referral on her all year, other teachers had. And my referral resulted in her expulsion. I wanted to take the referral back. And I decided never to write a referral on the same day a student made me mad. In the seven years since, I've written just one referral for subjective reasons like disruptiveness or disrespect one time total. This is what dignified discipline looks like in practice.

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Further, over 27% (584) of those suspensions result from tardiness or truancy. That's right: Students who aren't in class very often get suspended so that they can't go to class. This is a problem.

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Disciplining with dignity is about proactive prevention of unwanted behaviors instead of reactive punishments. If an organization has reactive policies in place to deal with behavior, but no proactive policies, then it's time to re-write policy.

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Ideas:

1. No same-day subjective discipline referrals. Nearly half of suspensions result from subjective discipline referrals like disrespect or disruptiveness. Discipline referrals stay on a student's record, so writing them should be a last resort. Teachers can create and check personal logs to remember forgotten details if the referral still seems necessary the next day.

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2. Create a Student Discipline Appeal Committee composed of Student Council members. Suspended students can appeal their case up to twice per year. The committee can maintain, cancel, or change the consequences of the suspension. Principals and superintendents have sole veto power of the council's decision.

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3. Outside-the-Box Thinking: Why do consequences have to mean spending time outside the classroom? Earlier this year, I challenged two students who had threatened to fight each other to team up against me in a game of Connect 4. I bet them "Eagle Bucks" if they won. The plan was to have a restorative conversation, but they worked so well together and had so much fun that no such conversation was even necessary.

 

4. Service as Consequence. Students referred to administration for bullying, for instance, could be in charge of developing and presenting and project on anti-bullying. Someone who wrote on the bathroom wall could spend hours on Saturday cleaning litter on streets near the school. Kids throwing food at lunch could help at Harvesters. Suspension only keeps kids out of a place of learning. Service as consequence keeps kids in school and brings good to the school and surrounding community.

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