New disciplinary policy aims to reduce student suspensions and detentions
The Los Angeles Board of Education has unanimously adopted a new disciplinary policy aimed at reducing the number of students suspended and kept after school for misbehaving. The policy is a first for the nation’s second largest district. Although the district already has an expulsion policy in place to deal with the most violent and egregious discipline cases, principals and teachers have had no formal policy to rely on for guidance on other discipline problems. "This is not going to work miracles on its own," says board member Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte. "It's going to take [everyone] to make this work." The new policy takes a distinctly holistic approach to correcting student misbehavior, one that emphasizes intervention. Instead of merely correcting and punishing students, teachers will be expected to explain why a behavior is wrong and give an alternative. Parents will be asked to participate by sitting in on their child's class or meeting with the teacher. In some cases, a mentor may be assigned to the student. "We don't just leave it to … ‘Oh, don't do that,’ and punishing the behavior, because punishment does not change the behavior," says Donnalyn Anton, the district’s executive officer of educational services. With no coherent policy on the books, teachers and principals have often been criticized for being too reactive and uneven in how they handle discipline cases. The new policy aims to standardize responses, but has led some to question whether its focus on positive reinforcement will stray too far from ensuring that there are consequences for a student's actions.
Los Angeles Times
By Angie Green & Joel Rubin
[Full story]