HIT: Discipline in High School (long)
Many thanks for all the helpful information and suggestions. My principal
was impressed with the speed of the responses and the variety as well.
Several people requested a hit so I'm going to add the major responses and
summarize.
To Summarize, several agreed that they were in the same situation. Many
responded that they felt Saturday school was the best solution. Here are
the other responses from the wealth of helpful ideas I received. I hope I
have included the majority and not offended anyone.
************************************************
You might consider Saturday morning detention. The students also have to
pay
a fee ($10)in addition which is the teacher compensation for the duty. We
have it here plus Sat School for students who have missed too many days.
***********************************
We have detentions here and they work most of the time. Students
receive lower participation grades in their classes, which then means a
lower overall grade, which can lower their GPA. If they receive
detentions,
they also get a lower Conduct grade on their Academic Reports which again
can seriously affect their grade average. Most of the time, one or two
detentions are all that are needed, sometimes we have students who just
can't get it and detentions don't seem to phase them. They still misbehave
enough to get detentions, knowing it will lower their grades some, but they
are so bright, their grades are hardly affected. If the detentions seem to
be indicative of a real problem (reason is serious or becoming chronic) the
parents are called in for a conference by the teacher and/or the Dean of
Students.
Students serving detentions do various things, depending on the
teacher and the offense. Some teachers prefer to supervise their own
detentions and the detainee can do anything from cleaning the room to
sitting and being quiet for two hours (very effective for the ones who
can't
be quiet or always annoying and there is no physical reason for them being
so). Some are given detentions by the Dean of Students and these may do
cleaning - sweeping and vacuuming, cleaning the school yard, using sponge
and water to clean marks off the walls, etc., collecting trash from each
classroom and taking it to the dumpster, cleaning all the tables in the
cafeteria and the chairs. I recently had a teacher ask if there was
anything they could do in the library. Since I am shorthanded, I accepted
three students in to dust all the shelves - each book and the tops of the
cases and two to move a section to new shelves (8 shelves of books.)
***********************************
One thing I can suggest is that you start having kids serve LUNCH
detentions..... When I have to resort to detention, I always assign it
during
the student's lunch. He or she has the first 5 minutes to get to the
cafeteria and get the food, and then he must bring it to the library. I
seat
the kid in an adjacent room where the copier is located (food is not
allowed
in my library :} ), and he eats all by himself and sits there for the
remainder of the period. I find that losing the lunch period with friends
is
more of a deterrent than after school. It also spreads out the
detentioners... they don't get to all get detention at the same time.
If it were a school detention, it could even be more organized.... with
bag lunches delivered right to the detention room. Students serving
detention would have to either bring their own lunch with them that day,
or
fork over the money for the school lunch. Either way, they report
directly to
the detention room immediately, just like for an assigned class, with
additional punishments for lateness. We do NOT let
detention/suspension students opt for the hot lunch served that day...
they
can only order the bag lunch choice (usually a choice between turkey
sandwich or PB&J).
If you already run an in-school suspension program, lunch detentions
could be integrated into that!
***************************************
We don't do it at my current school but at my previous school, we did
Saturday suspensions. Students and their parents were notified of it and
if they didn't attend, they were given 2. I think they were given out of
school if they didn't' show and if that happened, they were not
permitted to make up the work which in turn hurt them academically. It
was a serious offense to get a Saturday but it kept them in school and
hence the teacher didn't pay the punishment for the student misbehaving.
*****************************
Our rural school district serves 700 students grades K-12.
We have tried 8th hour-similar to your 40 min. after school. The problem
with that was that the students had no bus transportation home.
We tried Saturday school. I'm not sure why that didn't work out, unless the
students just did not show up for it.
We seem to have settled on In School Suspension for elementary through high
school students. One strange thing is that the elementary students come
over
to our building to serve their time.
We give ISS for excess tardies and discipline problems.
The students take their assignments to ISS. They are responsible for
getting
their work from their teachers and for turning their work in. Our coaches
alternate keeping ISS.
I'm not sure how effective ISS is because the students don't seem to mind
serving time. I guess the district is obligated to offer a punishment
program. I've always said those students should have to dig a tunnel with a
teaspoon.
***************************************************
Here at TCHS we have the detention thing and it
doesn't work. (One of my pet peeves around here so
bear with me)
1) the punishment is the same for a dress code
violation as for anything else!
2) the same kids are in detention over and over!
3) It means nothing to the kids to stay after because
they are here anyway in most cases!
4) Detentions are not recorded anywhere and have no
impact on the students so there is no motivation to
avoid getting them.
Here is what I think does work:
At my son's elementary school it goes like this:
5 office detentions and you serve a Saturday detention
- for which the student is charged $15
the second saturday detention costs $25
There is no such thing as a third saturday detention -
three strikes and you're out!
At The high school I attended it worked like this:
At the beginning of every quarter each student has a
100% behavior (citizenship) grade.
Each offense is a certain amount of points depending
on the severity of the offense (ie late to class 5
pts, not staying after for a teacher 10pts, cutting
class 10 pts et.) If a student accumulates 30pts they
serve a day in in school suspension. (teachers are
assigned to the ISS room as a duty)
Citizenship grades are on report cards.
At the end of four years students with perfect
citizenship are recognized and given a certificate at
the awards assembly.
This works for two reasons: Punishment is fair and
there is a sufficient difference in punishment for
small and major infractions.
It also Recognizes kids for good behavior and has a
real impact on the transcript which goes out to
colleges.
Ok, I'll hop down off of my soap box now!
Thanks for letting me vent.
*************************************************
At my previous school detention was on Saturday morning, starting at 7:00!
Students earned detention in 1 hour increments, and serving started at
7:00. Doors were locked at 7:05 (5 minutes grace in case clocks were not
in
agreement). Those who didn't show got an automatic additional three hours.
Sleeping, pleasure reading, eating, etc. were not allowed. Students had to
be upright, silent, and awake. The teacher in charge (rotated each week)
was permitted to eat, drink, etc. We had few repeats, other than those who
earned more than three hours before they started serving.
Here, ISS and OSS work, although not as well as they should, IMHO.
Students
who are removed from class spend the rest of the period with the
principal.
The HS principal is also the football coach and likes to yell. Kids don't
really enjoy being yelled at. The MS principal loves classical music, and
makes the kids sit in her office listening to the music. They would rather
she yell at them!
***********************************************
I am at a small private high school and the detention isn't quite working
that well either. The principal has instituted an in-school suspension
for certain offenses and it does seem to be working a little better. I
also believe (but am not sure) that the parents are contacted about the
suspension as well.
The student is expected to be at school on-time, the teachers for the
day(s) suspension will get work for the student, the student will be put
in a place away from students to do the work and will be allowed to go to
the restroom, etc. only when there are no students changing classes,
etc. No communication is allowed with other students at any time
throughout the day and at lunch time, the student is allowed to go get
their lunch between lunches and go right back to their spot for the day.
******************************************************************
We work by a method where each classroom (and library) posts a set of
rules of behavior, so the student knows what is expected of him or her. We
try to be as consistent as possible from classroom to classroom so that
there are general rules of conduct for the school. When students
misbehave, they are given warnings (unless their behavior is very severe
then they are written up (given Disciplinary referrals or DRs). These DRs
usually result in In School Suspenstion (ISS) where the student must spend
anywhere from an hour to days depending on the infraction. It is a
windowless room where they must work continuously on a packet - they can't
talk, they have lunch brought to them, the can go the bathroom only twice
and must be escorted. There's no talking, no sleeping, no resting your
head on your arms, etc etc and the packet is pretty boring I've heard.
They are responsisble for all work missed in classes. The students dread
this and equate it with prison.
Any disciplinary system works only insofar as it is consistently applied.
If you as a teacher or librarian threaten to write them up if they don't
stop what they are doing, they have to know that that DR will result in
something they don't like and something they can't get out of.
********************************************************
The most effective detention time in our school is at noontime. Students
have only a 15-minute detention, but our lunch period is only 30 minutes in
length. They serve the 15 minutes at the beginning of lunch, so they don't
get a recess after they eat. It has seemed to cut down on the number of
offenders.
*************************************************
What about detention before school? Our students do not like that at all.
My own son (now 24) actually liked after school detention. He had a quiet
place to spread out and do homework with no distractions. He is the one
who "inspired" the principal to do before school detentions. Think he had
a study hall first hour and saw no reason not to sleep in. I had to be at
school before he needed to get up so was home alone. Afternoon detentions
did not bother him at all. So, if the detentions are for morning tardies,
then before school detention is all they can serve. There is some
flexibility with other offenses. We also do Saturday detentions.
I agree it does not work with some students. Had a junior high boy a
couple of years ago who had detention almost every day. I walked into the
classroom he was "serving time" in to work on a computer, saw him and
asked
what he was in detention for. He said, "Homework, as usual." Then he got
a funny look on his face and said, "No, wait, I think it's something else
today, but, I don't remember what." Not too effective, huh?
*****************************************************
We assign detentions for various reasons. To help answer your question I
sat
in with our Dean of Students this morning to watch the system in action.
After 2 or 3 detentions of if the student doesn't show up for detention
s/he
is assigned Saturday detention. This is a 3 hr totally silent detention -
and it works. They hate giving up a Saturday.
Our regular detention is also totally silent. Students must sit with hands
folded and stare ahead. There is no work done, no homework, nothing. No
talking is allowed- no bathroom - nothing. This is a one hour detention.
Students who abuse any of the above are suspended. If nothing works - the
case is referred to the Disciplinary Board ( I am a member). The case may
be
discussed by the Board and often the student and parent are brought in. The
decision is final. It could be that the student is placed on probation for
the semester or year (this means the student doesn't dare get another
referral) or the student could be dismissed from the school. It helps that
we are a private school and do not have to bend to the state and its rules.
We actually dismiss very few (the myth is that the private schools toss
tons
out) and it is only after discussion and prayer.
******************************************************
I don't have any great ideas....detention is a big problem in our school
with students just using it as a study hall (and most detentions come from
excessive tardies). There is no guilt or embarassment about getting
detention.
I know a few kids have parents which proscribe additional restrictions at
home for detention: no phone, tv or computer priviledges, etc.). Those
students dread receiving detention and seldom do. But in this day and age
most parents work so detention just means that their child is taken care of
an extra hour of the day and they don't have to worry about them. It used
to be that athletes would be benched if they received a detention which was
also real effective but that fell by the wayside years ago when a principal
said they could serve two lunch detentions in place of an after-school
detention. Teachers objected to no avail. It also used to be that it
didn't matter if students had a job after school; if they got in trouble,
they served the time. However, that fell by the wayside also.
************************************************
Ours is a two hour after school detention with no talking/goofing
around/sleeping. If you miss it for any lesser reason than two broken
legs, Saturday detention is assigned. If that one is missed, you are
assigned a day in ASP (Alternative .....?..... Program), which is akin to
a day in Hell, as far as most of the students are concerned. The key
seems to be consistent enforcement. Administrators here cannot afford to
be merciful.
********************************************************
He is right-- it ISN't working. In our school the kids don't want to go
home. They go to detention and get a late bus pass. After detention,
they get to hang out with their friends and get free transportation home!
Their friends who do not have detention that day come here to annoy me
until their friends get out of detention. They have nothing to do and
cause a disruption in here. ACK!
We also have Saturday suspension but that is also not a punishment. The
kids sit here for awhile and then when it is done their friends are all in
one place and then they can go hang out, go out to lunch together, etc.
And, regular suspension is a free day off, so what kind of punishment is
that? IT seems that kids who don't care about school don't care about
being punished either!
****************************************************
We have a combination of detention, ISS (In School Suspension) and OSS
(Out
of School Suspension) and that seems to work pretty well.
***************************************************
I'd love to hear you responses. We have the same as you, and I agree it
does not work. Some teachers do their own detentions and make the students
clean boards and other light manual work. One teacher had detention and
each student had to come up for a personal interview on why they thought
they could do what they wanted-she said that helped quite a bit. Good
luck!
*************************************************
Mary Jeanne Goss
Media Specialist MS/HS
Berne Union Local Schools
506 N. Main Street
Sugar Grove, Oh 43155
740-649-9956 Ext. 109
mary_goss@berne-union.k12.oh.us
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