One of my least favorite duties as an administrator is discipline. Perhaps I’m a bit too diplomatic (that ability to see both sides I boasted about a few weeks back). When I hear two sides of a story I believe the truth nearly always lies in the middle, whether the two sides are two students or a student and a teacher (or sometimes, unfortunately, two adults). Adolescents make bad choices and unfortunately adults sometimes forget that their behaviors aren’t necessarily defiant, they’re merely thoughtless. There’s rarely an excuse, but there’s always an explanation.

Every interaction that starts with an infraction needs to be a learning experience (for child and adult). There is usually a backstory when a student errs and sometimes we as the adults are too impatient to hear it or recognize that there may be a backstory. I get it. Teachers are managing two dozen different hormonal personalities at once and they often don’t have time for the minutia of aberrant behavior. As I always say, “that’s why I get the medium bucks.”

I do have the time and I don’t have two dozen creatures in front of me. Well, I don’t always have the time, but I have to make the time. At Highland Tech we have our Culture of Respect for Everyone (CORE) system. It is not a discipline system, it is a conflict resolution system and students who receive a CORE always have the opportunity to explain their side of the story and work out a solution with the giver of the CORE. If the behavior is significant enough to warrant administrative intervention, the CORE comes to me or my assistant principal. There are places for both parties to tell their side of the story and each gets to recommend consequences/resolution.

I’m often taken aback by some teacher’s recommendations for consequences. They’re far harsher than what I would usually consider for the documented behavior. Then I remember, there’s a backstory I’m not always privy to. Perhaps this was the fifth time something like this happened and it’s just now being documented. Perhaps my predecessor enforced a stricter brand of discipline. Whatever the case, I have learned that a subjective assessment is necessary. Conflict in a school setting is rarely a black and white issue. I would urge fledgling administrators to bear that in mind and wield an even-handed brand of justice.

CULTURAL OBSERVATION: At Highland Tech students and teachers frequently use last names only to address or reference a teacher. A student will ask me, “Do you know where Johnson is?” (my assistant principal) This took me aback in the first weeks of school. I would even hear teachers refer to colleagues by last name only when speaking with students. Eventually I asked my staff how they felt about it. They gave me the backstory and I came to understand how it became part of the culture. They seemed just fine with it and now I find myself doing the same thing, myself with some regularity. I do, however, usually try to refrain from using my assistant principal’s name by itself. Just doesn’t seem right (reference first sentence in this paragraph…)