Summary: During my second year as a high school assistant principal, I received notice one morning that a number of students were missing items from their lockers. <br> Upon further investigation, we discovered that in one hallway of the school, an entire row of lockers had broken into and contents were missing from several. Thankfully, we had cameras in that section of the building, and I began watching tape – rewinding from the time school was dismissed the day before and viewing until the morning of the report. <br> I finally found footage of several students late the evening before, and I could see them breaking into the lockers. It was during evening credit-recovery classes we offered, and the students seemed to be on what appeared to be a bathroom break and had chosen a hallway where the lights were off. <br> For the most part, all I could see were their silhouettes. Throughout the day, I pulled in some of my staff and team members who helped me match descriptions with the names on evening class roll. After our day-time students went home that day, I stayed late to talk to the teacher in charge of evening classes and to meet one-on-one with each student suspected of being involved.<br> Luckily, as I questioned students one-on-one, most were cooperative and admitted to what happened. But one young lady was not cooperative. I’ll call her Lizzy. As I talked to Lizzy about what I had observed on camera, she insisted she wasn’t involved. She certainly matched the physical traits of what I could see in the video, so I switched into “interrogator’ assistant principal mode: <br> “Listen, Lizzy.” I said, “I know it’s hard to admit when you’ve done something wrong, but not cooperating is not going to help as talk about appropriate consequences for breaking into lockers.” Lizzy began to cry. “I promise it wasn’t me, Mr. Parker.” So, I asked her to take a seat in the office waiting area and think about her actions as I still had other students to question. <br> I’ll come back to that conversation at the end of this post, but I was thinking about that day recently when talking to new principals about how to manage student discipline. <br> The Challenge of Managing Behavior<br> I believe student discipline is often the hardest and most difficult part of a school leader’s work. Because I served as an assistant principal for nine years before becoming a high school principal, I spent a lot of time managing hundreds if not thousands of student discipline scenarios. At first, the pressure involved in decisions that were often so emotional for students or parents, was overwhelming. <br> When you are managing difficult discipline scenarios, you also spend very little of that time on other important matters – like classroom observations or scheduled team meetings. Although the tasks of managing behavior never become “easy,” I do believe relying on best practices can help over time. <br> Great Resource for New School Leaders<br> A great resource I’ve pointed principals toward lately is Jen Schwanke’s <a href="http://www.ascd.org/Publications/Books/Overview/Youre-the-Principal-Now-What-Strategies-and-Solutions-for-New-School-Leaders.aspx" rel="noopener" target="_blank">You’re the Principal, Now What? Strategies and Solutions for New School Leaders</a>, published in 2016. <br> In her chapter on student discipline, she shares some helpful and practical tips, including:<br><br> • Empowering your teachers in student discipline<br><br> • Clarifying that when problems reach you, you take the lead in deciding discipline<br><br> • Knowing your districts student handbook and policies<br><br> • Differentiating discipline<br><br> • Prioritizing student safety<br><br> • Investigating situations fully<br><br> • Letting time be your friend<br><br> • Getting second opinions<br><br> • Avoiding group consequences<br><br> • Involving parents whenever possible (Schwanke, 160-166)<br>
