Most administrators spend a significant portion of their time addressing school discipline and student behavior. While there is no quick way to eliminate all discipline-related problems, there are steps you can take to make your school's policies more effective and efficient.
However, the key factor in running a successful school, before implementing any type of disciplinary procedure, is to identify to yourself and your staff the overall vision and mission of the school. As such, the most important change in the game may be to shift your mindset from focusing on enforcing certain rules of behavior and consequences. Work instead to transform the culture of your school and create a more proactive and positive environment.
As a school administrator and principal, there are several things you can do not only to discourage poor decisions and misbehavior from students, but also to promote a positive atmosphere with minimal interruptions to the learning process.
The following guidelines are intended to assist principals in establishing effective school discipline. They won't eliminate all discipline-related problems, but they can help reduce them. Additionally, these steps will help make the discipline process efficient and smooth. There is no exact science for managing student behavior. Each student and each topic are different, and principals must take into account the variations in each situation.
Create a plan for teachers to follow you
It is important that you inform the teachers of your expectations regarding classroom management and student discipline. Teachers should know what kinds of discipline problems you expect them to handle in class and what problems you expect them to send to their office. They also need to know what consequences are acceptable to them when faced with smaller student discipline problems.
If you need a disciplinary referral form, teachers need to understand how you expect them to complete it and what type of information they expect to see included. A definitive plan must be established on how to handle a major discipline problem that occurs in the classroom. If teachers are on the same page as you when it comes to school discipline, then your school will run smoothly and efficiently.
Support the teachers
It's also crucial that your teachers feel supportive when they send you a disciplinary referral. Establishing trust with teachers allows for better communication so that you can provide constructive criticism when needed. The truth is that some teachers abuse the discipline process by sending all students who are a little out of place, but this doesn't have to be that way either.
While it can be frustrating to deal with these teachers, you still have to back them up to a point. You never want a student to feel like they can play against the teacher, against you, or vice versa. If a situation occurs where you think a teacher is sending too many referrals, draw on your relationship with them, explain the pattern you are seeing, and go over the plan that teachers are expected to follow.
Be consistent and fair
As a principal, you shouldn't expect every student, parent, or teacher to like it. You are in a position where it is practically impossible not to ruffle the feathers. The key is to earn respect. Respect will go a long way towards being a strong leader, especially if you can show that you are consistent and fair in your disciplinary decisions.
For example, if a student commits a particular disciplinary offense and you punish him, then you should handle similarly when another student commits a similar offense. The exception to this is if the student has had multiple infractions or creates consistent discipline problems, in which case you may have to increase the consequences accordingly.
Documentation
The most important thing to do during the entire discipline process is to document problems. Documentation should include information such as the student's name, the reason for the referral, the time of day, the teacher's name, the location, and the actions that were taken. Documenting has several benefits. It protects you and the teachers involved in the event that a particular discipline case prompts legal action.
As you document each case you see, you can begin to notice certain patterns: which students are penalized the most, which teachers penalize the most students, for what types of infractions, and at what time of day the most disciplinary referrals occur. With this information, it will be easier to make changes and adjustments to try to correct the problems that the data shows you.