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MI
Beyond Suspension or Expulsion, ‘Restorative Practices’ is More Thoughtful
Discipline - Bill Sower is president of the Ann Arbor-based
Christopher & Virginia Sower Center for Successful Schools, a for-profit
licensee of the non-profit International Institute for Restorative
Practices. Beginning August 1, a package of new state laws will change the
landscape of student disciplinary action in Michigan. Depending on how these
laws are implemented in schools, they may either improve or damage the
learning climate. The laws require schools to consider certain circumstances
like a student’s age and disciplinary history before issuing suspensions or
expulsions. In addition, the laws require schools to consider an approach
called “restorative practices” (RP) as a disciplinary alternative for
serious offenses, and they encourage schools to consider RP for lesser
offenses, including bullying. While some school administrators will
interpret the word “consider” as just a brief, passing thought – opening
themselves to challenges from parents and advocacy groups to show evidence
of good faith in their considerations – others will want to embrace the
opportunity to improve their school’s culture and climate with a solid
implementation of RP.
MI
Michigan Seclusion and
Restraint Standards (PDF)
MI
Michigan State Board of Education Adopts Guidelines On Seclusion/Restraint
Use -
After nearly two years of study, public
comments and four drafts, and further fine-tuning of the policies today, the
State Board of Education unanimously adopted state standards to guide
schools in the emergency use of seclusion and restraint of students.
CT
Cracking Down On
Cussing - There will be no more f-words,
b-words or s-words spoken, yelled or hissed in classes at Hartford Public or
Bulkeley high schools. Not for free, anyway.
Disabled Students Law
Questioned - Special education advocates
are worried that recent changes in a federal act designed to guarantee
students with disabilities access to school will instead make it easier for
schools to kick those kids out through expulsion and suspension.
Lessons in Self-control -
A first-grader attacked the teacher with scissors. Another flung a
chair across the classroom. Several students kicked, cursed, and punched their
way into such a frenzy that teachers had to hold them down. The usual
punishments -- trips to the principal's office, parent meetings, and, finally,
suspending them from school -- were not working. This year, Lowell teachers took
action: They took seven of the school system's most disruptive children, who
were also some of its youngest, and put them in a separate classroom where the
pupils are taught how to behave.
FL
Records:
Cops Used Tasers Against 24 students Since '03 -
Officers too eager to use stun guns, critics say.
At least 24 Central Florida students have been zapped by Tasers in the
past 18 months as police officers working at public schools turned the
controversial stun guns on children as young as 12. "Simply, we meet force with
force," said Lt. David Ogden, who heads the training division of the Orange
County Sheriff's Office.
MI
Children in Crisis: Mental Health - In this
three-part series, the Detroit Free Press examines how
children with bipolar disorder, anxiety, schizophrenia,
depression and other mental illnesses succeed or fail in
getting mental health services. Through the eyes of children
who are in treatment, locked up, or on the brink, we explore
what it takes to get services, what's available and the impact
on families when a child needs mental health care.
Indiana Youth Services Association
Series on Discipline Methods
(PDF) - A series of clear and concise research
summaries by Russ Skiba and colleagues that answer the
following questions: 1. Does the
literature support the need for and effectiveness of zero
tolerance suspensions and expulsions? (briefing
paper 1: Zero Tolerance: The
Assumptions and the Facts); 2. What is the status of
suspension and expulsion in Indiana? (briefing
paper 2: Unplanned Outcomes); 3.
Are there alternatives that can maintain safe and productive
school climates while preserving students' opportunity to
learn? (briefing
paper 3: Discipline is Always Teaching).
MA
'Serious
Risks' Cited at School For Teens -
In the past year, the state has launched
investigations into nine incidents at the DeSisto School, a
$66,000-a-year facility for teens with behavioral, drug, and
mental health problems. But state concerns reached new heights
recently when a staffer waited more than 90 minutes to take a
student to the hospital after she purposely cut herself and
swallowed two razor blades.
OH
Black Students Disciplined More -
Black students are still more likely than white students to be
disciplined at school--three decades after American education
documented the disparity. Three-fourths of 40 Southwest Ohio school
districts disciplined African-Americans at higher rates than whites
last year, an Enquirer analysis of school discipline data shows. In
more than half of schools, blacks were twice as likely to be
suspended and sent home for at least one day.
MS
Mississippi Educator Resigns After Refusing to Paddle Student
- The debate over whether corporal punishment has a place in
American education became very personal for Ralph McLaney when the principal of
Carver Middle School ordered him to paddle on a sixth grade student who’d acted
up in class.
Tips to
Ensuring a Successful Positive Behavior Plan (from
the Autism Society of America's ASA Net, July 15, 2003) -
IDEA requires a child's Individualized Education Plan
(IEP) team pay special attention to a child's behavior if it gets in
the way of his or her education or the education of others.
Discipline Under Section 504 and the ADA (PDF; 21 pages) by
Perry A. Zirkel, Ph.D., J.D., LL.M
www.ConductDisorders.com
- A website created by parents raising challenging kids, all of
them oppositional and resistant to parenting.
The onsite description: "We use many different methods and treatment
plans with a variety of results. We have found that there isn't a
"magic bullet" but we are always looking and supporting each other
along this journey. We are parents who are committed to helping our
children grow and flourish and survive their childhood. It is our goal
for our website to be a "soft place to land for the battle-weary
parent." You will be amazed at the number of suggestions offered and
the amount of support given. We even manage to have a few laughs along
the way! My advice is to take what you need, offer what you can, and
leave the rest."
Crisis Prevention
Institute, Inc. - For more than 20 years, the Crisis
Prevention Institute has supported the work of professionals who work with
challenging or potentially violent individuals by providing a relevant,
practical behavior management program. It’s called the Nonviolent Crisis
Intervention® training program and more than 4.5 million professionals have
participated in this program to learn how to resolve conflict at the earliest
possible stage.
MYC Academy
Michigan Youth ChalleNGe
Academy
Attn: Admissions & Graduate Affairs Office
5500 Armstrong Drive, Bldg. 13
Battle Creek, MI 49016-1099
Web:
http://www.michigan.gov/dmva/0,1607,7-126-2361_3116---,00.html
The MYC Academy is a
17.5-month, three phase program. Cadets start with a two week
Pre-Challenge phase at Fort Custer in Augusta, Michigan. Then, for 20
weeks they live, work, and study on-site with other 16-18 year old
cadets. In that 20 weeks, they will receive 400 hours of
classroom instruction to prepare them for the G.E.D. exam. After
completion of the 22-week resident phases, cadets graduate and
continue their personal growth with an adult mentor, who will provide
each graduate with assistance for the next 12 months in their own
community. There is NO COST to the cadet or his/her family for
participation in this program. There is NO MILITARY OBLIGATION for
participation. Read an article about the Challenge
Program:
MI
Challenge Program Spared in Budget
-
The Challenge Program is Michigan's voluntary boot-camp
style program for dropouts and at-risk youth.
GAO Report on Special Education:
Clearer Guidance Would Enhance Implementation of Federal
Disciplinary Provisions -
In the 2000-01 school year, more than 91,000 special education students were
removed from their educational settings for disciplinary reasons. The GAO
(General Accounting Office) was asked to determine
where disciplined special education students are placed, the extent to which
local school districts continue educational services for those students, and how
the U.S. Department of Education provides support and oversight for special
education disciplinary placements. Highlights of
the GAO report are available at
http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d03550high.pdf.
The full report is available at
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-03-550. (both
documents are in PDF format)
MA
Student Suspensions Leap in State -
With educators pressured to take a harder line with unruly students,
the number of young people kicked out of Massachusetts public schools
for disciplinary problems has soared to its highest point in six
years, preliminary state figures show.
Modifying
Inappropriate Behaviors Part 1:
Why is my child acting
like this?
Modifying Inappropriate Behaviors Part 2:
Consistency is Key
NC
Court to Mull
Right to a Lawyer In Discipline Cases - The allegation against the
15-year-old boy was sexual harassment, the proposed punishment a suspension that
would consume more than half a school semester.
PA
Kindergartners Becoming More Frequent Targets of Suspension -
The U.S. Department of Education does not break down school
suspensions by grade level, but several researchers said they see
anecdotal evidence that the youngest schoolchildren are being
suspended more frequently. Kindergartners becoming more frequent
targets of suspensions, researchers say.
Are
Time-Out Rooms Inhumane? -
SPEAK OUT: Plan would limit schools' use of
'time-out' rooms.
Zero Sense:
A
dangerous trend -
Maybe you missed
the latest "zero tolerance" horror story. It seems that seven
fourth-grade boys were suspended from school for pointing their
fingers like guns during a game of "army-and-aliens" on the
playground.
Interpretations of 'Zero Tolerance' Vary -
What
the term "zero tolerance" means, and how much latitude local
school leaders have in deciding when and how to apply it is
commonplace in school districts across the country.
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