A New Approach to School Discipline — Suspensions Drop 85%

[Matariki]

http://acestoohigh.com/2012/04/23/lincoln-high-school-in-walla-walla-wa-tries-new-approach-to-school-discipline-expulsions-drop-85/

THE FIRST TIME THAT principal Jim Sporleder tried the New Approach to Student Discipline at Lincoln High School in Walla Walla, WA, he was blown away. Because it worked. In fact, it worked so well that he never went back to the Old Approach to Student Discipline. This is how it went down:

A student blows up at a teacher, drops the F-bomb. The usual approach at Lincoln – and, safe to say, at most high schools in this country – is automatic suspension. Instead, Sporleder sits the kid down and says quietly:

“Wow. Are you OK? This doesn’t sound like you. What’s going on?” He gets even more specific: “You really looked stressed. On a scale of 1-10, where are you with your anger?”

The kid was ready. Ready, man! For an anger blast to his face….”How could you do that?” “What’s wrong with you?”…and for the big boot out of school. But he was NOT ready for kindness. The armor-plated defenses melt like ice under a blowtorch and the words pour out: “My dad’s an alcoholic. He’s promised me things my whole life and never keeps those promises.” The waterfall of words that go deep into his home life, which is no piece of breeze, end with this sentence: “I shouldn’t have blown up at the teacher.”

more...

[In_The_Wind]

1. Love it!

[sibelian]

2. Excellent.

Just a little bit of flexibility with the toughness is all it takes.

[Matariki]

3. sure beats the 'school to prison pipeline'

[DCKit]

25. Yeah. That guy is soooooo fired. nt

[tclambert]

79. But the private prison industry NEEDS more prisoners.

They gotta fill those cells to make more profits.

[tonybgood]

80. You mean the "school to private prison to profit pipeline"

[Matariki]

98. Yes. That's exactly what I meant.

Tragically.

[kelliekat44]

61. Really, this is just plain compassionate behavior by the principal. Too bad it is unknown to many.

Kids are people too. And if we want a more understanding society, we need to model the behavior we would like to see in others. Hats off to this principal. Let us all learn something from this. Thanks for sharing.

[Whisp]

4. finally, some sense.

This is wonderful.

Fuck that military tough guy shit. It destroys our humanity.

[Blue_Tires]

30. in theory it should be in much more widespread use...

but you know it's only a matter of time before some nutbar parent sues because the mainstream liberal school system "indoctrinated" their son into some touchy-feely politically correct pansy who's expected to talk about his FEELINGS...

[Arkansas Granny]

5. Sounds like a wonderful approach.

[immoderate]

6. Hey wait a minute. That's tolerance!

Where'd that come from?

--imm

[Celldweller]

7. bunch of stupid bullshit

The poor teachers...

What moronic social experimentation.

Now you have a school run by the students, with no respect for authority. Say hello to the next generation of criminals and degenerates.

[sibelian]

9. Seems like the "poor teachers" are a fan...

Not sure what your problem is?

[Celldweller]

11. Well it's a personal opinion

I'm from the generation that believes that spanked children make better adults, respectful kids make better neighbors and looking at the societal decline over the last couple decades (since strict school administration) I'd say my point is vindicated.

All these little monsters that we see in the news are a product of this "new method" of raising kids.

I was recently on a military base for nearly a week and every door was opened for me, I was greeted with "Sir" every place I went, discipline does WONDERS for the human soul.

[SammyWinstonJack]

14. ugh!

[Whisp]

19. woah, I don't think he kids!

I will see your puke and raise you two pukes.

[sibelian]

16. So basically you just don't like children?

What have military bases got to do with spanking? Do they spank people on military bases?

[Celldweller]

18. come on...

you know what I meant.

Discipline. Respect.

It's missing from the upbringing of a few generations.

[eShirl]

20. I bet you hated how Sheriff Taylor brought up Opie.

[Skeeter Barnes]

24. Violence might get someone to comply for a short time but in the long run

it instills anger and resentment. Don't confuse a child's fear of violence with respect.

[sibelian]

28. Discipline is a FANTASTIC thing.

It fails completely in the absence of honesty and compassion.

Set strong boundaries, fer sure, but don't betray the kid.

[AverageJoe90]

62. Exactly. Exactly.

[NancyDL]

55. What you need to instill in children...

...is self-discipline and the ability to interact with others with mutual respect.

[AverageJoe90]

63. Ma'am, you got it all right here. n/t

[AverageJoe90]

60. Not really. Don't believe the rightist hype, man. It never does any good.....n/t.

[Posteritatis]

71. ... said every generation ever. (nt)

[REP]

65. I don't like children and think anger and violence are not good child rearing techniques.

Please - this douchenozzle is making people like me look worse. I don't like being around being children, but that does not mean I think they deserve anything but decent and kind treatment.

[ajk2821]

36. Wimp

Great another liberal wimp raising wimps. Take the kid and shoot him at an assembly in front of the other kids. The ones who cry at the killing: shoot them too. Only tough desensitized children need to survive.

[JoeyT]

38. That's funny, because abuse tends to make future criminals.

So it turns out your "theory" is ass backward. Will you revise it? No, probably not.

http://www.nij.gov/topics/crime/child-abuse/impact-on-arrest-victimization.htm

That last sentence is just...yeesh. I can't even think of anything to say about it that won't (rightfully) get my post hidden.

[Matariki]

42. nevermind

your post makes me sad for you. human decency, especially to children, seems like such a basic concept that I'm always surprised at people who think that cruelty and violence are answers to anything.

[SomethingFishy]

50. LMFAO... your point is vindicated?

Do you even fucking have a point? Oh wait you do.. The guy who was rude to me chewed gum therefore all gum chewers are rude..

"All these little monsters". Yeah you see what you fucking want to see. I managed to raise 3 polite kids without having to beat any of them. My sons will shake your hand and call you sir, right up to the point that you call them little monsters. Then they will call you an asshole. Which in turn will give you the self righteousness to say "my point has been vindicated.

Jerk.

[LadyHawkAZ]

51. Discipline =/= physical abuse good grief, I thought society

had outgrown this bit of silliness by now.

[NancyDL]

56. Most of society has outgrown it...

It's an Old White Man thing.

[Crunchy Frog]

52. So, you're like 100 years old?

The attitude that "spanked children make better adults" is pretty archaic.

Not that I object to getting the perspective of a centenarian. It's something unusual for this site.

[NancyDL]

54. I would bet that you're not from a generation that believes in corporal punishment...

I'm 72, and even most of my generation has gotten over it.

The truth is that if your only approach to discipline is enforced power, children do not learn how to cooperate. If you don't listen to them, they don't learn how to communicate OR listen. This approach worked for me in parenting situations; it worked for me in training situations.

[AverageJoe90]

64. Very true, ma'am. n/t

[Fantastic Anarchist]

68. It helps if you actually read the whole thing.

But you didn't as shown in your knee-jerk response.

[Heywood J]

69. What generation is that - caveman?

Yeah, it's all those kids that are monsters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_serial_killers_in_the_United_States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rampage_killers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nazis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_war_crimes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_criminal_enterprises,_gangs_and_syndicates

Go and check out the average age on those lists. I would say that humanity has never had a shortage of monsters and it has fuck-all to do with parenting. How many of "your generation" have stories about abusive or drunken parents, or worse?

If you want to know what makes better adults, why not look at the statistics about the removal of lead from gasoline before you advocate hitting children to make them "respectful"? You may also wish to look at the UCR reports that say that crime today is at similar levels to the 1960s.

Oh, wait. That doesn't support your preconception...

[ck4829]

73. "Suspend, suspend, suspend!" isn't doing anyone any favors

[MADem]

81. I am closer to the grave than the cradle, and I wasn't raised to believe that

"spanked children make better adults." In my family, we believed that spanked children turn into bitter, intolerant assholes who had unresolved anger issues and hit their own children, which is why we didn't do things that way, going all the way back to the turn of the (19th to 20th) century.

Children were taught to address adults formally, table manners were prioritized, behavior in public places had to be appropriate. Schoolwork came first. If you knew what was good for you, you helped around the house.

We have no criminals in my family, everyone worked and had fine careers, the subsequent generations came up respectful to their elders, helpful and kind to friends and neighbors...and no one had to get beaten for that to happen.

[duhneece]

83. Research shows you're wrong about spanked children.

Spanked children are more likely to respond with violence. Discipline means teaching, not punishing.

[NewJeffCT]

85. Spanking actually does the opposite

People that were spanked when young are far more likely to turn out to be criminals.

[ReRe]

88. I agree with you....

... but there are exceptions to the rule. Example: my sister and I. And when we grew up, we broke the cycle and raised our children the way we deserved to be raised. Neither of us ended up in the gutter, addicted to drugs, or dead because of what happened to us at the hand of our mean stepfather. But yes, we were very lucky to be able to overcome.

[Apophis]

93. Your opinion sucks.

[zipplewrath]

32. I think you're arguing the stereotype

"The kid still got a consequence,” explains Sporleder – but he wasn’t sent home, a place where there wasn’t anyone who cares much about what he does or doesn’t do. He went to ISS — in-school suspension, a quiet, comforting room where he can talk about anything with the attending teacher, catch up on his homework, or just sit and think about how maybe he could do things differently next time.

The theory I think is a bit more complex than the simplistic representation here. The underpinning is that ones authority is already established in the context, so you don't have to spend your time asserting it. You can in essence go straight into conflict resolution. You'll note there is still a consequence, and a corrective action.

By the way, the "discipline" you'll see on a military base is because of modeling as anything. The adults are disciplined, so the children will be as well. The vast majority of what you consider to be discipline is taught through example, not through punishment.

[angstlessk]

37. Did you read the entire article? Or watch the video about the health center

This school is NOT run by the students, but by caring teachers and health care individuals..they still EXPEL the worst of the worst and use suspension for the must unruly..so, you are not correct.

[Brigid]

78. I'll bet you just looove Crazy Sheriff Joe.

[ieoeja]

94. Ex-wife asked me to referee a fight between her son and her mother.

Grandmother shouts, "you have to at least acknowledge your mother!"

Six year old angrily screams, "I can't do that thing you just said!"

In my place I have no doubt you would have spanked the six year old for screaming at his Grandmother. I, on the other hand, decided to ask him a simple question.

"Do you know what 'acknowledge' means?"

"No! I keep trying to say that!"

"Ok. No need to shout. People listen better when you don't shout. I think she understands now."

Grandmother was thoroughly embarrassed.


As to why he simply didn't say, "I don't know what 'acknowledge' means," I would venture to guess that, among the many things he did not know when he was six years old was how to get his point across properly.

[Bonx]

95. Wow. Are you OK? This doesn’t sound like you. What’s going on?

You seem really stressed. On a scale of 1-10, where are you with your anger?

[LWolf]

8. I've seen this approach work over and over,

except that I never had a name for it.

I've worked in small schools, where a great deal of time and energy is spent building community and relationships, so this kind of conversation is normal for the culture. In bigger institutions, where there are simply too many students for adults to connect with all of them, "zero tolerance" reigns. And it shouldn't.

[Warpy]

10. At last!

Fucking "no tolerance" fascists have always seen these kids as the enemy. They're not. They're kids.

The other night, TCM ran a bunch of shorts that were training films for various things. One was a film from the Louisiana PD in the 50s, showing how to talk down a crazy person to defuse a violent situation. It was great, something cops haven't done much of since they were issued Tasers. Now they just zap em and drop em and haul them off like bags of wet cement and nobody gets any help.

The first unit I worked on out of nursing school was a unit for head injured people with behavioral problems stemming from insult to the brain. To say it was a wild place is an understatement. However, I learned how to talk people down very quickly.

It's not hard. Just identify what's going on with them and get them talking. Once that happens, you can work with them on a better outcome than calling 6 burly cops to come in and help tie them down. It's amazing what being willing to listen to a frightened or angry person does to defuse a situation.

They really need to start teaching this stuff again.

[kentauros]

33. I don't remember where I read this on DU,

but someone brought up the fact about how EMS and Fire Dept personnel react to situations in this kind of manner, to attempt to defuse, versus conflate. Why aren't the police taught that any longer?

I'm wary around the police, yet I've never felt that kind of exuded antagonism ever coming from emergency-service personnel. They always come across as friendly anyway, so there's that

[duhneece]

84. Here in NM, you can take a 'Mental First Aid' class

I'm part of the Behavioral Health Local Collaborative, took this class at my local CYFD, but it was and is offered to everyone. I think it's a national push for everyone to know some very basic mental health first aid just as there was a push for ALL of us to learn some basic (physical) first aid.

This response from the principal also hearkens to "Speaking Peace" by Marshall Rosenberg, which I recommend to everyone.

[kentauros]

12. There are many positive ways of getting students to behave.

My observation is that the schools keep cutting those ways in order to have "more science and & math" when what they do need are more of the arts. Also, teaching kids gardening has helped.

I seem to recall many years ago reading of Canadian police reacting in a similar manner when called. People were generally more responsive and calm in turn. Situations were defused quickly or never got to that level to begin with.

Thank you for posting this. It might also be a good post for the "Good News" group

[femmocrat]

22. I have seen art and music keep some kids in school.

Cutting the arts hurts more kids than the emphasis on STEM courses helps. There are students who mainly come to school to hang out in the art room or the band room. It is their refuge, their peer group, and their place to develop their talents. I have said it a million times, not everyone can (or wants to) be a math or science major.

[kentauros]

29. An interesting thing I've learned about many scientists and mathematicians

is that some of them are fantastic musicians and artists! They had to learn that somewhere. And yes, some may be self-taught, yet most learned those arts in school.

"Well-rounded education."
For me, that always meant a little of everything, including vocational classes. That's got to have a positive psychological effect in the long run, not to mention being just plain practical.

I have to say that most of my intellectual friends in high school were in band with me. I can't say I'm on the same level as some of them were (what with a few of them scoring almost perfectly on SAT) but it was still fun being around so many "wild and crazy" people

[angstlessk]

13. This is one of the most kick worthy posts I have ever seen

I am watching the video about the health center attached to the school...truly AMAZING!

[Matariki]

43. Thanks. I thought it was a nice bit of good news.

Which we need around here once in a while

[angstlessk]

59. Indeed..this should be a blueprint for ALL SCHOOLS

This zero policy crap is turning children into criminals even before they know the definition of criminal

[femmocrat]

15. But what if it really does "sound like" that student?

What about repeat offenders who think they can just get away with boorish behavior?

I think teachers know enough to recognize if a basically good kid is just having a bad day --- or is going to take advantage of a more lenient approach. IMO, this is just another tactic of administrators to DO NOTHING to make their discipline stats look better. I bet there are a whole bunch of smart ass kids who now know that principal Sporleder is a pushover.

(Veteran teacher here who has pretty much seen it all.)

[angstlessk]

23. There is a health center attached to the school where

they get additional support...and if you notice there still are suspensions and expulsions..just not as many as before..those that can be reached are reached..this is an alternative school for problem children

[femmocrat]

26. OK, sorry.... I didn't read far enough into the article.

It does explain that near the end of the article and how that principal volunteered for that building. He deserves credit for his accomplishments. Thanks!

[Squinch]

67. In many public school systems, expulsion is not an option. Just throwing that in here.

I think the approach described definitely has a place, but I also think there are times when kids are dying for some strict boundaries and they will push till they get them. This can be done with infinite respect, but firmness, like compassion, is essential.

[nineteen50]

17. Getting them to own their actions

without hammer nailing it to their forehead works well.

[graywarrior]

21. Adrien Brody plays a teacher in the movie Detachment and he treats his students the same way.

[arely staircase]

27. so what are the consequences for cursing the teacher?

nt

[angstlessk]

31. In school suspension..they do not get off scott free...but

they are not hammered like they are in the rest of their lives

[arely staircase]

34. gotcha

nt

[Matariki]

45. Taught how to deal with their anger in a proper way?

So that the rest of their lives don't suck?

[arely staircase]

46. and those who chose not to learn that lesson

can still be suspended. eventually there do have to be negative consequences for negative actions. and there are in this case. I think it looks good.

[JDPriestly]

35. Finally. Someone figured this elementary "technique" out.

This is how you raise children who feel good about themselves and are productive and confident. Parents who release their rage and vindictiveness on their children are children themselves.

There are parenting courses for people who abuse their children, and more people abuse their children than you would ever believe.

[Demo_Chris]

39. How in the hell are we gonna fill our youth prisons?! nt

[B Stieg]

40. Yeah. it's amazing when you treat people like people, especially kids...

something I've been trying to do for 30 years in my classrooms but more often than not catch shit for it from "educators" who are really worried about the fall of Western Civilization...

[AtheistCrusader]

41. This will be seen as a negative by right wing authoritarians.

Grrr, they aren't being DISCIPLINED! grrr

[arely staircase]

47. they can still be disciplined under this method

kids who chose not to learn a life lesson can still be suspended.

[AtheistCrusader]

48. You don't see discipline like they do.

Like, if the kid isn't thrown out, and discarded, or savagely beaten, it doesn't 'count'.

[arely staircase]

49. no i don't i supose

nt

[elleng]

44. THANK YOU!

[NancyDL]

53. This article is so right on. This stuff works.

Hostile, aggressive confrontation in the name of discipline does not work if your objective is increased understanding and voluntary cooperation. It doesn't work if you are trying to improve interpersonal interactions. It doesn't work in schools. It doesn't work in families. It doesn't work in the workplace. The increasingly harsh and punitive attitudes prevalent in the US during the last twenty or so years have had no positive effect. It's time to wake up.

[erinlough]

57. I taught special education with 8th graders for 38 years and...

I always handled a blow up in the classroom the same way. I usually explained to the student that we were going to separate from each other for ten or so minutes to calm down. I would ask the Principal to provide a place for them to calm down, but not administer discipline yet. Then as soon as I was calm I would meet with the student and another adult, usually the Principal, and suggest that we each explain our side for five minutes uninterrupted. I would tell the student how I felt, where I thought I went wrong, and apologize if needed. The student would explain how they were feeling and most often recognize where they went wrong. Sometimes there were tears from one of us or the other. The most amazing thing is that I rarely had to do this twice! One confrontation and they became my biggest supporter. Very often I saw them use the same technique with other students.

I will say that some of my fellow teachers hated this and felt it was not discipline. I trained many new Principals in this and most of them used it.

[HiPointDem]

58. This school also has small class sizes (15 or less as best I can find). And a student body

of 150.

It's not quite your typical school, it's a public alternative school.

which i might add gives the lie to the idea that schools must be charterized to try new approaches.

i'll also add that walla walla is in eastern washington state, a bastion of the right wing in general. the kids likely to be found in this school are working class whites & hispanics.

[Wednesdays]

66. K & R

[Skittles]

70. when I was in 9th grade in Iowa

I was late to school because my aunt, who I was staying with while my dad was hospitalized, overdosed on a suicide attempt......when I got to school I was immediately placed in detention - I was told just because I was "new in town" I could not flaunt the rules - no one bothered asking me why I was late

[Matariki]

76. That's really terrible

and it's no wonder kids don't trust adults half the time.

[ck4829]

72. With the money these school-to-prison pipelines make, he should be checking under his car

K&R

[Cha]

74. That's great to hear.. I know my sister

who is a teacher in New York.. operates on a kindness approach.

thanks Matariki

[Matariki]

77. Yay for your sister and people like her

truly.

[freshwest]

75. Sounds like the Emotional Intelligence technique used in schools here to teach problem solving.

It's even applied to kids in elementary schools. To attempt to browbeat or show power to a kid who is ready to fight with what he sees as an authority figure that he must rebel against or warn in order to survive, or test the limits to see when the fight will begin, is repetition.

It will keep in the same patterns going. Thus it' insanity, doing the same thing and expecting a different result. Give an alternative that affords growth and the chance to move ahead.

But only those who have worked out their own issues are capable of doing this with other people. If a teacher or principal hasn't grown, they can't teach.

[duhneece]

82. Don't we ALL want to respond from kindness when we recognize someone in pain?

Why do we do it so rarely? I so admire this Principal, this approach.
This thread made me cry. I want to be able to always respond from this peaceful, centered place.

[gordianot]

86. New? Really?

Been there. Just be aware that you cannot help everybody but it is worth trying for the sake of your own humanity. There are students out there with far deeper problems than you can effectively deal with in one, two or three encounters; and the life of some students defies description. Add to that there are zero discipline tolerance forces that view schools in terms of workplace environment. I really wish solutions were this easy.

[allan01]

87. re:A New Approach to School Discipline — Suspensions Drop 85%

could work with some adults, mainly some rs i know. very novel approach.

[madokie]

89. Super

[ReRe]

90. K&R

Thanks so much for a great OP. Excellent discussion in this thread on a very important subject: teaching children to communicate rather than fight their way through life.

[enki23]

91. So, here's the whole thing with "discipline" and kids:

People who are harsher and more rigid than you are tyrants abusing their kids into being abusers, and people who are less harsh or rigid than you (believe you) would be are are wimps raising their kids to be entitled sociopaths. It's like driving on a highway, nothing but maniac speeders and creeping grannies everywhere.

There isn't much question that harsher, zero-policy discipline policies do a better job of keeping budding sociopaths in line, or of sending them away if they don't stay in line. Maybe the question should be: how many kids are actually budding sociopaths? Is it worth being draconian to pick up a tiny portion of kids who would happily abuse and manipulate a quieter system to, essentially, "get away with it" a couple more times? Sure, more chances means more opportunities to get away with something before finally having to curb their behavior. But the ones who would abuse that will still eventually have to curb their behavior. The ones that can't will still have to go. That never changes.

Is it worth destroying a hundred kids over a bad day to get that one damned sociopath? Or is it only worth ten? What does it cost us to loosen our trigger fingers just a little? And what do we gain?

[CrispyQ]

92. Great article.

Second. If you think all these suspensions are for weapons and drugs, recalibrate. There’s been a kind of “zero-tolerance creep” since schools adopted “zero-tolerance” policies. Only 5% of all out-of-school suspensions were for weapons or drugs, said the NEPC report, citing a 2006 study. The other 95% were categorized as “disruptive behavior” and “other”, which includes cell phone use, violation of dress code, being “defiant”, display of affection, and, in at least one case, farting.

Suspended for farting? And I'm supposed to believe that adults are running that particular school?

[Live and Learn]

96. Common sense making a come back? Love it. nt

[liberal_at_heart]

97. Sounds like that school has a fantastic principal.