A New Disciplinary Code Has Them Smiling at Isbell Middle School, but Before the Changes : ‘It Was War’

Three months into the new school year, students and officials at Isbell Middle School in Santa Paula say tough new discipline codes have ended the chaos that plagued their campus last year.

During what they describe as their worst year ever, officials recorded more than 2,000 student infractions at the 950-student school.

The unruly atmosphere was compounded, officials said, by ill-defined rules of discipline and conflicts between teachers and administrators.

Tension escalated as three teachers were put on administrative leave for confrontations with students. The problems culminated in June with the suspension of district Supt. David Philips after a run-in with a 14-year-old boy at the school.

To calm the waters, teachers, students and administrators met during summer to devise new rules for student conduct and discipline. The new rules feature a contract system under which problem students get contracts telling them what they did wrong and what is expected of them. A new dress code bans gang-related clothing.

The new rules seem to be making a difference, officials said, and even students are calling them a success.

“The new rules are good,” said self-described “bad kid” Robert Nunez, 12, a seventh-grader at Isbell. “When you get in trouble you get a contract. Your teacher gets a copy, the office gets one, and your parents too. I think twice about doing something now.”

As for the relationship between teachers and administrators, both sides say they have worked out new lines of communication to avoid the problems that hurt the school last year.

“I don’t want to go through that again,” said Arvid Brommers, principal at Isbell, the district’s only middle school.

Last year was Brommers’ first as principal, and he said he may have made mistakes that contributed to the school’s problems.

“It was a rough transition,” said Brommers, who had been a teacher and vice principal at Isbell. “Looking at the year with hindsight, maybe my goals were too high. I might have tried to go too fast.”

While Brommers said the new rules and new dress code have dramatically reduced students’ bad behavior, some observers say the students were not the real problem. Instead, they point to infighting between teachers and administrators.

“It was war,” teacher Bob Berg said.

Berg, who has taught at Isbell since 1971 and was the president of the local teachers union for 18 years, said last year was an experience that he hopes won’t be repeated.

“I think we lobbed so many shells back and forth last year that neither side wants to repeat it,” Berg said.

After sometimes vicious accusations and counter-accusations between teachers and administrators, the two warring factions surprised many when they came together this fall and hammered out a contract in record time.

“There’s a new commitment on both sides to work together, “ Brommers said. “No one wants a repeat of last year.”

Both Brommers and Berg said students last year weren’t any worse than any other year. But the students picked up on the strained relations between teachers and administrators, they said. Brommers said the students were “ill at ease with the environment at the school” because of the infighting.

Some teachers said students were smart enough to play off it.

“Give a 13-year-old kid a little power and he’ll go nuts with it,” said Ken Kleveland, an Isbell teacher who also represented the union in contract negotiations. “The children weren’t any more difficult last year, but they were empowered by what was going on.”

What was going on was a torrent of complaints by teachers about the way Brommers was handling his first year as principal. In statements last year, Brommers, Philips and school board members said teachers exaggerated the problems and then compounded them by going to the local press with complaints.

The gulf between teachers and the school administration widened after teachers turned in a 28-3 no-confidence vote against Brommers at the end of the school year. The atmosphere was clouded by accusations that the administration was punishing teachers with suspension if they spoke out against school policy.

Teachers picketed school board meetings and asked the Ventura County grand jury, which was studying bilingual education in the district, to investigate administrators for “abusing their authority.”

During the turmoil, parents felt caught in the middle.

“From all the bad reports about the school, it sounded like things were chaotic,” said Cathy Metelak, whose son began sixth grade this year.

Metelak went to the school to see if it was as bad as she heard, and she wasn’t the only parent who decided to take action. Worried about their children and unsure which side was right, 130 parents signed a letter to the school board asking for action.

It got to the point where everyone involved, including students, agreed that something had to be done.

The grand jury’s final report criticized the administration for having ill-defined disciplinary procedures and called for new lines of communication between teachers and administrators.

A committee of teachers, students and parents was formed over the summer to draw up new rules for the school, based on a six-step discipline code used at De Anza Middle School in Ventura.

The new rules state that after three infractions, students must sign a contract stating what they did wrong. A copy of the contract is sent to the parents for their signatures, and another copy is sent to the student’s teacher.

Other new procedures include daylong in-school suspension, keeping problem children in a separate classroom for a day rather than expelling them from the campus. Plans are also in the works for a special Saturday class for students that continue to get into trouble for truancy

The school has also tried to reward good students with special-event days. At one event earlier this month, the whole sixth grade, except about 20 troublemaking students, was let out of class early for an afternoon of supervised fun at the school playground. The 20 or so students still in class could clearly hear their fellow students playing outside.

“That’s why the doors are open,” said Brommers as he strolled among the children. “We want them to hear what they’re missing.”

Parents have responded favorably to the new rules. Brommers said an informal survey of the parents of Isbell’s students showed that about 550 responded favorably, 50 said it was too strict, and 90 said it wasn’t strict enough.

“We’ve had a lot fewer problems this year and the rate of infractions is declining,” Brommers said.

Even more important, officials said, is the truce between the teachers and administration. Both sides are careful not to offend each other as they describe what happened last year.

Teachers agree with the administration that there is a new sense of commitment to work together.

Teacher union President Michael Weimar said the two sides are communicating, and they have agreed not to play their differences out in the press. While litigation is pending regarding the suspension of the three teachers last year, Weimar said, the teaching staff is interested in making things work with the administration.

“We remember what happened last year and of course we’re wary,” Weimar said. “It’s OK to be cautious as long as you don’t always assume the worst. Based on last year, we assumed the worst about this year, but things are really different. We’re working together.”