Case Study On Referrals By Charlotte Bevans

Behaviour that may include; bullying, disrespect to adults, disruptive behaviour and racism, the use of sanctions in these instances are;

Out of school suspensions (OSS) are often enforced with the assumption that students receiving the suspension are less likely to repeat the problem behavior in the future. However, this has been proven to be false. Suspending a student for engaging in a certain behavior does not in fact serve as a deterrent from the behavior but as a deterrent from attending school instead. In actuality, receiving just a single suspension can increase the probability of a student experiencing academic failure, school dropout, and involvement in the juvenile justice system. Knowing this, some educators still believe that for many students, suspension can serve as an effective lesson. One of the greatest concerns that educators and administrators face is the matter of classroom management. It is part of their job to ensure a safe, productive and supportive classroom allowing students to learn and grow to their greatest potential. Though there are several strategies gauged towards managing a classroom, the most severe offences often lead to either in or out of school suspension. Some of the largest concerns faced with out of school suspensions is that they are often ineptly applied, used unfairly against students of color and seemingly ineffective at producing better behavior. Also known as exclusionary discipline, the majority of offenses that led to OSS have not been centered around violence but instead emphasised issues of classroom insubordination and defiance. In some rather extreme cases

Zero-tolerance policies developed to prevent drug abuse and violence in school in 1990 in the U.S. Even if those behaviors or small things minor offenses were done by accident or unconsciously, students get prosecuted and sent into the juvenile justice system as a punishment. Schools create disciplines for suspending and expelling students when they break certain rules. For example, if a student brings a weapon to school, including items that may not hurt anyone like nail clippers and toy guns, if a student has drugs, including medications or alcohol on campus, if a student says anything that someone could get as a threat, if a student does not obey teacher’s instruction, if a student fights with other students, the student would be given punishment with no choice. After adopting this policy, the number of school suspensions and dismissals increased, and the number of students who send into the prison also increased as well. Therefore, the school to prison pipeline became an issue in the education system.

According to nspcc (2017) "A referral is a appeal from a member of the public or a professional to the local authority child protection team or the police to intervene to support or protect a child." For a referral to be done correctly there are steps to follow , for example if a professional has concerns about a child's welfare , He/she must discuss with manager and / or agency's nominated safeguarding advisor including consideration of seeking parental consent .

Discipline is a part of character, and students with any of the following offenses are not entitled to membership:

The school employs a number of sanctions to enforce school rules and to ensure a safe and positive learning environment.   We employ each sanction appropriately to each individual situation.

A large majority of educators are subject to severe punishments in the even that their students do not perform at or above the “adequate yearly progress” standard. If their students consistently underperform, the teachers are often severely and swiftly punished. If a teacher is presented with a

Often times it’s the student’s needs and the school being unable to meet the student’s needs that lead to the student being disciplined. Kids who are behind academically, and unable to perform at the same level as their peers often act out in frustration or humiliation (Noguera, 2003). Once these students are labelled as difficult, incorrigible, and unteachable they tend to believe these things about themselves and act out more in class which leads to a cycle of discipline that can ultimately lead to permanent expulsion. For some of these students, these continued rule violations lead to run-ins with the police and the criminal justice system. School administrators who are at times frustrated themselves from failed attempts to steer children from a “bad path” don’t realize that in throwing their hands up and giving up on these students, are in a way helping shuttle students from school to the penitentiary (Noguera, 2003).

Previously, principals were thought to have too much discretion when deciding disciplinary actions for students (American University Radio, 2017). Now, zero tolerance policies do not allow for discretion at all. There is a protocol that teachers and administrators must follow regardless of individual circumstance. Students may receive several consequences that include: in school suspension, out of school suspension, expulsion, and/or arrest depending on the offense.

As a Dean of Students, Bougdanos’ primary role is to oversee attendance and discipline for 750 students in the building ranging from freshman in high school to seniors. She is one of three deans at Niles North High School. In regards to discipline, Bougdanos is on a pupil services team that is comprised of 4 individuals: one guidance counselor, one school social worker, one school psychologist, and one dean. Pupil services teams meet once a week to discuss student issues, problems, or concerns. Each individual on the pupil services team has an important role in ensuring the safety, well-being, and adolescent development of each student. They aim to resolve any issues that a student might encounter within their personal, academic, community, peer, or family

The school’s rules were provided in student handbooks that were given to every student at the beginning of the year, and the rules are also posted in each of the classrooms on campus. The parents and student received detailed oral and written notice of the charges against the student, which provided information about the incident and evidence the administrator discovered. Since this student’s action presented an immediate danger the administrator was able to immediately remove the student from school without advance notice to the parents, however, the parents were told of the incident in a timely

hitting, kicking, cussing, and biting. Often times, I met with the principal about how things

Studies have also found a correlation between exclusionary discipline and (1) increased school avoidance, (2) decreased academic engagement, (3) an increased rate of dropouts, (4) increased behavioral problems, and (5) increased involvement with the juvenile justice system. School administrators have the right to want to develop a safe climate for their students and teachers and remove threats from their schools. However, serious threats from students are rare. Nearly 60 percent of the suspensions and expulsions administered in HPS in 2009-2010 were administered for school policy violations—a category that includes things like insubordination, profanity, sleeping in class, and truancy—not serious safety concerns like violence against others or weapons.

Due to actions occuring on Friday 2/3/17 Olivia Scales was expelled from Cain Ridge High School for violation of codes 413 (Extreme Disruption of the School Environment - Expellable ONLY if actual risk of harm to other students), and code 400 (Repeated Violations of a Pattern of Type 3 Behaviors, With Evidence of Implemented Interventions). Dean of Students, Khalilah King prepared and presented evidence submitted to MNPS Discipline

Not trying to say that people get falsely accused often with this because everything seems organized for the most part, because I’m sure some kids who did violate the policy would try to go to a hearing just to attempt to get themselves out of a mess even though they are guilty. I respect the fact that there is a whole office dedicated to this too that is constantly filing and monitoring these reports and that they even get a student advisor to deal with them and get advice from them for everything. The punishments are also really severe, which can be both a good and bad thing. Following the sanctions in the policy, if you create a high-level violation, you can get probation, suspended from college, or even thrown out. I can understand the severity of these crimes, but it always makes me wonder if someone is innocent and gets an expulsion from the college or something like that, is that talked about during the hearing, or what happens if they realize it and it’s too late and they’re already suspended or expelled? Also from the reading, you can tell they put a great deal into everything because if they believe another student was involved with this one as a sort of conspiracy type thing, they will look into the other student as