This was an ongoing conversation in my 7 years as Dean of Students at
University School of Milwaukee.
Here is my two cents:
1. Community service is an opportunity, not a punishment.
2. Work detail can be very effective if well designed and well manages--we
have had students scrubbing puck marks off the boards in the ice rink, doing
general cleaning, scraping gum off of the underside of tables and desks.
Key pieces to this are that they students have a clear task, are working
alone, are held accountable to doing a good job, and are not working at a
time of day when others will socialize with them-early morning or Saturday
is good.
3. We moved to the term "Full Day Detention" to describe an in-school
suspension, because so many colleges are now asking about probation and
suspension. This can also be a good tool--if you have good rooms in out of
the way places. We have to very small locker rooms for referees that can be
used as windowless study spaces for full day detention. Keys here are
making sure students don't bring in portable entertainment gadgets, cell
phones, or other distractions.
4. Suspension is also an important tool--it says to the students and parents
that the behavior is close to expulsion. The fact that parents may not do
their job and hold the students to reasonable limits during the suspension
should not take this option off the table. I think it should be used to
communicate the severity of the behavior.
I hope this helps.
Matt
Matt Nink | Executive Director| Global Youth Leadership Institute
829 W. Wisconsin Ave. | Milwaukee WI 53233
o 414.238.2408 | f 414.238.2407 |c 414.397.1159
www.gyli.org
Nurturing collaborative leadership for global communities
and helping schools inspire socially responsible young people
-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for independent school educators
[mailto:ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Lorri Carroll
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 9:07 PM
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: question about discipline
We had a group of juniors break a major school rule-- expulsion is really
not an option. We are trying to come up with meaningful "punishments"
and are exploring what other schools are doing. Out of school suspension
seems like a vacation to this group of girls... Does anyone use Community
Service as a way to make amends? work detail?
any feedback would be appreciated...
Lorri Carroll
Director of Technology
Hamden Hall Country Day School
1108 Whitney Avenue
Hamden, CT 06517
lcarroll@hamdenhall.org
(203)752-2606
cell (203) 215-9833
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