As an educator, I have had my share of discipline issues in the classroom. There are times I could have handled the situations differently and times I wished the administration and/or parents/guardians were more supportive. The new law (Senate Bill 199) signed by Gov. Patrick Morrisey regarding student discipline seems to provide the help for teachers, and some support (emotionally and psychologically) for students, but what about the underlying causes of their behavior?
Knapp-Smith
Chris Jackson
In one of my first years of teaching, a student refused to take off his hat in the classroom. Now, this seems so benign, but at the time, it was the rule. So, after three times of asking him nicely, he glared at me, said a string of choice words unfit for print, and I politely asked him to leave the room.
After class, I met with him and the vice principal, and I asked the student if he was having a bad day. He nodded his head and said quietly, “Yes ma’am.†This coming from the kid who not 20 minutes ago called me every known ugly racist and sexist word.
Come to find out that his grandfather, with whom was very close, was in the hospital and he was worried about him. The principal asked me if I wanted him transferred out of my class (in this rural school, I was the only minority teacher at a school the size of Capital High in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä) and I replied “No, I think he needs to learn Spanish with me and his classmates.â€
So, after a three-day suspension, he returned to my class. He had refused up to that point to do any work, and calls home were futile. But after I showed him compassion, he came back engaged and completed work and doing well, earning a B at the end of the year.
This is an isolated incident, but this is just to say that, as teachers, our students are more than test scores. We know which kids have troubled home lives, which ones come to school hungry or without clean clothes or are just going through growing pains and feel like no one listens or cares.
It’s a comfort to know that we have support to help the students in need, although I worry that, in the most rural areas of our state, this will still be a hiccup.
Malyka Knapp-Smith is an educator and activist in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä.
