Student discipline for all of you who missed the last conference or dozed off (December 2006)

Several years ago (I dunno, 5,6,4) this column was the site of a loosely arranged bunch of words, the purpose of which was to (a) tell you about student discipline and (b) tell you that it’s mostly none of your business. That column was placed on the ASBA web site at that time. When we started putting the dates of these columns on the links thereto, that column, along with several others, disappeared. I assume that its disappearance was due to popular demand.

Well, you’re not getting off that easily. Here goes another one, and maybe it’ll make more sense than the last one. No guarantee. Just a maybe. As a school board member, you have nothing to do with student discipline until and unless your
superintendent brings you a recommendation. Usually that recommendation will be for expulsion. That’s when you get involved. Not before.

Say, for example, you get a call from an upset mom who first tells you that she’s a voter/taxpayer/Booster Club member/PTA officer who had one of your yard signs in her front yard during your last run for your board position. And she’s your first cousin. Or sister. And her perfect child, who is the captain of the football team and in line to be valedictorian (and who would, by the way, give one – maybe both – of his kidneys to you if yours weren’t functioning) has been caught by the principal in the boys’ bathroom downing a significant portion of a bottle of Jack Daniel’s Black Label.

Further, the principal has (according to mom and her perfect child) done nothing but pick on Mr. Perfect since the ninth grade. And they’re throwing him off the football team and suspending him for five days. AND WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

Uncomfortable pause. “Well, Sis ... nothing.” Good answer! Why?

Several reasons. But the most important reason is that you can’t do anything. And shouldn’t.

First, look at your student discipline policies. If you have ASBA’s model policies (as you should), those policies track state law in terms of procedure. That being the case, the board has no authority to decide suspensions (i.e., a removal from school for 10 or fewer days) unless the suspension was imposed by the superintendent. In this case, the five-day suspension was imposed by the principal who, of course, has nothing better to do than to pick on her son. In that case, there is an
appeal available, but not to the school board, and certainly not to an individual board member. The appeal is to the superintendent, and the superintendent only. There is no appeal to the board, and no individual board member should even
listen to the pleas of the distraught mom who believes that her son is only one touchdown pass away from a scholarship with the Arkansas Razorbacks. And, if he’s kicked off the team, she tells you, YOU will be responsible for all of the money they’re losing. (By the way Not to worry).

You, as an individual board member, can’t do anything, at all, by yourself. You can vote, but you only have one of those at a time, and the other board members have just as many votes as you do, and they might not agree with you.

For that matter, whether or not you agree with the principal’s (and/or the football coach’s) decision, that has no more importance than my opinion on whether such a punishment should have been imposed.

Also, it would not be beneficial if the school board were to try to interfere in an administratively imposed punishment (or one imposed by a teacher, for that matter). In fact, you are hurting discipline in the school should you even attempt it: It undercuts the teacher’s/administrator’s authority over the students and sends a signal that you are very weak, that an angry phone call to you sends you scurrying to Do Something, especially if you are a relative or friend of the student in question. As I pointed out to the wakeful attendees of the New School Board Members Workshop, that’s an excellent way to destroy your credibility and others’ respect for you, regardless of whether a relationship or friendship is involved. Destroys respect, every time.

Here’s the rule, and it’s an easy one: Let the pros – the teachers and administrators – deal with student discipline, even if you find out about a discipline situation and disagree with what was done. Don’t try to fix it with the parents or students. Refer them to the policies and to the teacher/principal/superintendent. If there’s something that you need to Do Something about, the superintendent will bring you a recommendation, at a board meeting. Then, you get to vote on it. If you try to fix it before then, you will not only lose the respect of the people you deal with (parents, students, teachers, principals and superintendent), you’ll be increasing your chances of getting sued. That’s right. Sued. And you won’t get anything done to help Mr. Perfect, because you can’t.

Sorry. I know it’s tough to tell someone that you can’t help and that this mom has to go talk to people she’s already convinced have it in for her special darling. But it gets easier the more you do it. And once you get the hang of it, those people will stop calling you, because they know you won’t cave in. They’ll think you’re a rock, not a limp dishrag. That’s called respect.

Previous Article (Winter 2006)- Dealing with the Semi-complicated Student Drug Situation
Next Article ( Winter 2007)- Of Conferences and hearings

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Related Downloads (pdf):
ASBA Handbook for Arkansas School Board Members