School discipline, but how?
Re “Learning discipline,” editorial, May 7
Too often we hear “educrats” and politicians debate school reform without mentioning the civic responsibilities of students and parents. Each new proposal paints itself as the panacea that will bring excellence to education, yet our schools continue to struggle not for excellence but for simple adequacy.
Although few reasonable people would wish a return to the days when teachers brought rulers down across students’ knuckles, it is clear that something must be done to persuade students to respect their teachers, themselves and their peers by behaving appropriately in the classroom. And parents must step up and accept their responsibilities.
I suggest that California expand its network of continuation schools and put some teeth back into school discipline policies by suspending or expelling the most disruptive students. And if our school administrators cannot summon the courage to stand up to furious parents and banish these students, perhaps it is time we jettisoned the administrators. We need to get serious about the real problems in our schools. Recess is over.
NEAL STANIFER
Bakersfield
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Your editorial suggests that L.A. Unified remove “troublesome or troubling students” from regular schools and place them in separate locations, referring to discipline policies “embraced” in New York. But these policies have generated anger from parents, students and advocates in New York, denying students their human rights to high-quality education, dignity and equity.
Many discipline sites and so-called Second Opportunity Schools in New York provide no real instruction and create environments that resemble detention facilities. African American and Latino students are disproportionately targeted. Advocates for Children of New York has a class-action lawsuit pending in part concerning inadequate services for students with disabilities in these alternative sites.
To make L.A. Unified safer and more productive, schools need better training and support for staff to prevent and resolve conflict, along with access to mediation and counseling to address the causes of student behavior and keep kids in school.
ELIZABETH SULLIVAN
Education program director
National Economic and
Social Rights Initiative
New York
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The editorial misrepresents the efforts of the LAUSD to improve its district discipline policy. This policy does not eliminate any established disciplinary procedures for addressing disruptive behavior, but it emphasizes proactive strategies for defining, teaching and supporting appropriate student behaviors. This approach, which is well grounded in research, has been successfully implemented in districts nationwide and is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as an effective practice.
Unfortunately, the editorial board has taken a stance that harsher punishment is the only answer to disruptive behavior. The board has only to look to the recent findings of the gang violence report to see that punishment has not been successful. Public education has an obligation to teach and model the appropriate social behaviors that will help students to be contributing members of our society.
DONNALYN JAQUE-ANToN
Executive officer
Educational Services
L.A. Unified School District
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I taught in a district adjacent to Los Angeles for 30 years and faced situations that you wrote of in your editorial on L.A. schools’ discipline policy. I am gratified that you recognize the need for better classroom discipline because without an orderly environment, teachers cannot teach and kids cannot learn. Improving discipline would do more to raise test scores than any other thing done to fix our schools.
GEORGIE GRUTBO
La Habra Heights
