Discipline is an Issue

So, it has been a while! I am going to attempt to get back into this.

Today, I want to address some school stuff. I am not even touching mass shootings. That has been covered plenty and I will say we have a major people problem, a generation of undisciplined adolescents and it is scary.

Now, this is pertaining more to discipline as a whole. I am not in a school currently, but I have had a plenty of time to read articles, teacher posts, converse with past colleagues and just watch. Honestly, partly for this very topic, I needed a mental break from it all. Ten years of this escalating trend made me hate what I loved at times. It made me mentally exhausted. It took time away from my own husband and children because I had NOTHING left to give when I got home. There is a HUGE problem in schools with discipline.

There are districts claiming numbers look good and it it under control. There are districts flat out lying on data. There are districts with blinders on pretending there is no issue. There is a massive problem.

When a child is written up by a teacher for a legit (I use this because there are some coocoocachoos that live in a false reality) reason and the child has directly violated the Code of Conduct or a rule, there should be a consequence. The discipline should be handled in a timely manner so that the child understands the cause and effect relationship.

You want to know why test scores across the state of Alabama didn't look great? I will let you in on a little secret. It is because the schools are out of control.

In my classroom, I used PBIS. Positive behavior is a great tool and works wonders with some kids. However, there also were times when there was nothing to positively reinforce because it was a direct violation of a behavior that had repeated itself. It clearly needed to be handled in a different manner.

There are teachers in classrooms frustrated beyond frustrated because they are not having the support needed. There are districts saying the numbers look good. Another little secret...you know why they look good? Nobody is keying the issues into the computer. In school detention or In school suspension is often given and isn't counted. Referrals are trashed because of a variety of reasons. The teacher is questioned for a behavior of a child and punished more than the child. Students are wasting countless hours in classrooms across the state mindlessly copying paragraphs while it is being called "reflection." Those "reflections" aren't helping test scores either.

The problems are not being fixed. The issues are swept under the rug and then escalated. The teachers and parents are out of control because there are NO consequences enforced with regularity and clarity. It is KILLING the classroom teacher. There is no resolve at this point.

Now, does this all fall back on the administration? There was a time in my building where that would have been a definite, "yes" shouted from the rooftop. However, that is not always the case. Sometimes, the district is at fault. They are so worried about numbers that they keep kids from alternative schools that need to be there, they want only x number of referrals, and they make it near impossible to expel a child.   You know who is suffering here? Your children. The ones sitting in the classroom not learning because little Betty Sue has learned she has no consequences and literally destroys the room and takes all of your child's instructional being corralled by the classroom teacher.  

There is a major problem. I have noticed a running theme in the "fixing" of it. They claim the numbers are good, the data supports it and then pretend there is no issue. There are PHENOMENAL teachers leaving the profession because of this. Everyone thinks these mass school shootings are an issue now. Give the kids in the elementary schools that are now running the buildings a few years. You haven't seen anything yet.

We have a REAL problem!