The best systems in the world will never be as effective as good relationships with all people in your building. Having said that you still must rely on systems to help keep it running smoothly.
An effective discipline system can be quite simple. Have it designed in such a way that it is there to help teachers. Make it easy to access for them. Teachers do not want something that is difficult and requires a lot of time.
We have our setup in a way that any teacher who has exhausted their “bag of tricks” with students may access the Office of Student Conduct (OSC). The process is simple:
- Teachers ask the student to leave the classroom and head to the OSC.
- Call down to the OSC so they know that the student or students are on their way.
- We want to ensure that students are accounted for as part of our safety protocol.
- Fill out a referral before you leave at the end of the day or turn it in first thing in the morning.
- Call home and inform parents of the situation.
After this, the rest is up to the administration to look at the referral and past behaviors, call the student in to speak with them and determine the appropriate consequence.
Probably the best communication with students in addition to reminding them the expectation in this meeting is our weekly CHAMPs that we have each week at the end of 3rd period. This short time and well construction PowerPoint allows us the time to remind students of important dates and remind them of the expectations. Students and staff both appreciate CHAMPs and utilize it each week to get out important information. CHAMPs is part of Dr. Randy Sprick’s work on Safe & Civil Schools.