A Comment on Discipline
The media has been buzzing with stories about discipline, particularly suspension and expulsion, by charter schools. It is a difficult issue, and the numbers donââ¬â¢t often give a full picture of how difficult the decision to suspend or expel students can be. It is not, as one reporter wrote, an effort on the part of the charter schools to ââ¬Åkick out a high percentage of students.ââ¬Â Instead itââ¬â¢s a challenging balance between keeping kids in school and keeping school a good learning environment for all kids. Unfortunately, this is a question that we often face at the Maya Angelou schools because sometimes the consequence for behavior that disrupts the learning environment is suspension.
But suspension or expulsion is not really the whole story. Let me share some examples illustrative of the practice at the Maya Angelou high school. If a student comes to school lashing out at peers or staff because she did not take her medication, she will, appropriately, be suspended. However, before she leaves the building, her counselor will make sure that she has stabilized. We will contact a parent and identify other resources so that the student receives the support she needs to return to school successfully. A similar process applies to the young man recently released from incarceration who comes to school angry and repeatedly resists authority. He may need to be suspended for a day to cool off, but then his counselors will sit down with him to develop a success plan. We work with our students, and our students (and families) work with us, so that suspensions are part of the learning process. This is the real story of the Maya Angelou Public Charter School.
The story really is about changing student behavior so they can be successful in school!