Comments on: Vague school rules at the root of millions of student suspensions https://hechingerreport.org/vague-school-rules-at-the-root-of-millions-of-student-suspensions/ Covering Innovation & Inequality in Education Tue, 02 Apr 2024 18:20:07 +0000 hourly 1 By: Elizabeth Trevino https://hechingerreport.org/vague-school-rules-at-the-root-of-millions-of-student-suspensions/comment-page-1/#comment-66132 Mon, 01 Apr 2024 16:37:45 +0000 https://hechingerreport.org/?p=99388#comment-66132 This report shows nothing new. My focus is on Texas discipline. We are asked for specificity so that then the administration can “look” in the student handbook and address the misbehavior. I taught for 28 years and structure in the classroom was frowned upon by parents. We are taught to teach to the whole child but without guidelines, process, or PD. Reform brought the idea of social-emotional education but it varies with the perspective of both sides. Throw in the National Standards and you have a perfect storm. How are teachers handling it all? They are quitting in droves. The key is mutual respect. Teachers have little to no support or proper PD. Parents, administrators, school boards, all stakeholders are supposed to have all children in mind, not just “my child”. If we focused on one premise, that of respect, perhaps more teachers could harness student attention and attendance.

The second part is teacher evaluation based on administrative plans. Why is it that very few are able to move up? It’s not about education but preferences and politics. Perhaps there are PD for admins but I never knew of any. We are divided morally. There is no one single answer. However, there is the philosophy of “until you walk a mile in my shoes…”. We might consider curriculum development at the higher levels of education. We need correlation among education, application, and stakeholders.

Oh yeah, discipline. What do you do when a child throws a chromebook on the floor and tells the teacher they don’t care because his their taxes paid for it? What do you do when a child takes a gun to school for show-and-tell? When is a cell phone an emergency tool? Perhaps after the show-and-tell, parent’s sense of pride in gun ownership, teachers not having adequate PD, and inadequate security because such things are unexpected. Once everyone acknowledges the importance, importance based on reality, of education, we can begin with respect for education. The reason we have or not have is because of education. Reforms should focus on responsibility and consequences for ALL stakeholders. Then and only then will we see changes in discipline. I’ll focus on social and news media in my next book.

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