Helping disruptive kids in the classroom

With increasing disruptive student behavior in its secondary schools, including vandalizing bathrooms, the Shelton School District has revised its disciplinary policy to better define procedures aimed at keeping students in the classroom.

The Shelton School Board unanimously passed June 27 the revised policy, which calls for “ensuring fairness, equity and due process in the administration of discipline.” The board gave the revisions preliminary approval at its June 13 meeting.

The revised policy states the district will administer discipline “in ways that respond to the needs and strengths of students and keep students in the classroom to the maximum extent possible.”

Among the new language in the district’s discipline policy:

■ The document “define(s) the difference between minor and major behavior incidents to clarify the types of behaviors that may or may not result in classroom exclusion to support students in meeting behavioral expectations.”

■ The policy strives to facilitate “collaboration between school personnel, students, parents and families to support successful re-entry into the classroom following a suspension or expulsion.”

■ The policy focuses on “implementing culturally responsive discipline that provides every student the opportunity to achieve personal and academic success.”

■ “The district will ensure district employees and contractors are knowledgeable of this student discipline policy and procedure.” Employee workshops on the policies will be conducted in August.

Superintendent Wyeth Jessee said it was important for the district to address its discipline policy. He said he receives emails from families frustrated by the discipline process.

“Historically, the Shelton School District has suspended a lot of students,” Jessee said. “You’re not going to be able to suspend your way out of the problem.”

In his introduction to the proposal June 27, Jessee said “a lot of it is related to the ability of due process and appeals process — what does it look like, where do the parents go to, how do you progress to the stages, and also just around our district philosophy on what are the things that we want to handle with discipline? Is it trying to be in the most preventable stages at all? When students are suspended, they miss school.”

Jessee, a former teacher, said many elements affect a student’s behavior.

“Not only their home life, but their engagement in learning, their ability to foster relationships with other students, and the relationship between staff and students,” he said. “If any of these pieces, including the home life, are not in a really healthy place, I can anticipate that there will be student behavior. And I think it behooves us as a district to really think through, ‘Am I looking to provide natural consequences and help the student learn, or am I looking for punishment?’ ”

The district already had a policy plan in place on returning the student to school, “but I don’t think it’s something we’ve followed enough of,” he said.

Board member Karla Knudsen-Johnston praised the policy changes.

“It was well spelled out, the consequences and the suspensions, defined them very well,” she said. “And it also talks about being pro-active, and I think we have really worked on that in our district, the pro-active model of our ‘Safe and Welcoming Schools.’”

Knudsen-Johnston, who taught at all three elementary schools in the district, said teachers are expressing their frustration with student misbehavior.

“As I talk to teachers, a lot of them are telling me there’s no bottom line, that they’re seeing some behavior in the secondary schools that is disrespectful to the teachers, to other students, and they don’t see a consequence … they feel students are getting away with disrespectful behavior.”

Knudson-Johnston added, “I don’t think every teacher is looking for the ultimate punishment, they’re looking at a way to cope with children with mental illness in their classroom, as children with anger and deviant behavior because of some malfunctioning, so it’s a hard job.”

The policy cites “evidence-based practices” for lessening disruptive behavior, which the superintendent described as “as simple as how you set up your classroom. You’d be surprised by how the classroom environment is really impacting students, anywhere from lighting in the room, to how they are integrated or oriented toward one another, how they can access information … how they bump into each other.”

Jessee said he is well aware of the challenges faced by some of the students in the district.

“I can’t share what’s going on for these kids, but if some of you knew what’s going on for these kids, it would break their hearts.”