SCHOOL DISCIPLINARY POLICY

School Disciplinary Policy

School Disciplinary Policy

Introduction

Although Belper School continually face new challenges, one challenge has remained constant: addressing challenging behavior, or “discipline” problems. In recent history we have seen several approaches to school discipline ranging from a hands-off model in which the goal is to let children “develop” into responsible citizens, to the recent “get tough” and “zero tolerance” approaches that primarily rely on excluding from the school environment children and youth who engage in challenging behavior. What both of these extremes have in common is that there is a lack of compelling evidence that they change student behavior; that is, no evidence shows that either approach results in significantly improved student outcomes. In fact, the exclusionary approaches associated with zero tolerance have documented negative collateral effects, including school dropout, increased rates of disruption, and the fact that minorities are likely to be disproportionately affected by such policies. Add to the mix the confusion and often times misunderstanding surrounding federal mandates associated with children and youth with disabilities, and it is understandable why schools continue to struggle with challenging behavior.

 

Discussion

This paper provides an overview of the current knowledge-base regarding promising practices to assist schools in developing discipline systems that are more likely to lead to improved social and academic behavior, and includes recommendations for Belper school and policy makers on these issues. Belper School districts are encouraged to adopt common procedural steps for all students related to discipline that meet the standards established by case law and statute for students with disabilities. These procedures emphasize fairness and objective decision-making that is intended to bring about improvements in behavior while maintaining education. While not all children and youth will be able to learn in the same environment, no child should be excluded from education altogether. To make this feasible, schools are encouraged to adopt an array of possible alternative learning environments which might be used with students who are unable to be maintained in their typical classroom setting, and to adopt evidence-based practices that may prevent removal in the first place or lessen the likelihood that students engage in future problem behavior. 

One of the results of the heightened concern about Belper School safety is increased attention to Belper School discipline as a factor in ensuring safe and orderly Belper School. Disruptive behaviour in Belper School not only poses safety problems when incidents involve weapon possession, violence, or substance use, but also interferes with instructional efforts by teachers and with learning conditions for students. The most common understanding of the term Belper School discipline involves punishment of student misbehaviour by removal from the classroom or the Belper School (i.e., office referrals, suspensions, and expulsions). Belper School removal rates have been used as an indicator of safe and orderly Belper School campuses (Smith-Bird & Turnbull 2005 174). In the 1999 National Centre for Education Statistics report, a high association was found between principal perceptions of discipline problems and Belper School crime statistics. Within and between districts, higher numbers of disciplinary incidents are associated with higher rates of misbehaviour. As well, there is an assumption that fighting and aggressive behaviour can escalate into more violent events, and even ...