Scene #7– Student Discipline
Location: This scene takes place in a large, diverse, public school setting where a disproportionate number of students of color are the subject of suspension and expulsion policies under a “zero tolerance” approach. Teachers regularly complain that the school does not have a supportive or effective discipline plan.
Situation: A teacher’s lounge during a break period where teachers are coming in and out of the room.
Teachers present throughout:
Manuel – Latino, 5 years’ experience
Kelly – White woman, 5 years’ experience
Erin – White woman, 2 years teaching experience
Enters and/or exits during conversation:
LaToya – African American woman, 15 years’ experience
Margaret – White woman, 12 years’ experience
1 – Kelly: So, how’s it going with David and Joseph these days?
2 – Erin: Oh no. Did you hear me yelling today? Sorry. I totally lost it this morning. It’s just so frustrating. They
just won’t follow directions and, I swear, it infects the entire class.
3 – Kelly: Thank goodness for Manuel. He’s the one who’s been rescuing me these days.
4 – Erin: What do you mean?
5 – Manuel: I take one or two of Kelly’s students for a little while sometimes when they’re having trouble.
6 – Kelly: Yeah, it’s like a time out for all of us. I mean, there’s no way I’m sending them to the office. I just
can’t be part of this whole criminalizing thing we’re doing with those suspensions.
7 – Erin: Those automatic 3-day suspensions just make it harder for them to come back in. The thing is, they’re
just acting out for attention. I know they just want to feel loved. I mean, David is just killing me though. I chose him to give the end-of-year assembly speech for the class and he knows, he just knows he needs to act right to be able to do. But, he keeps breaking the rules, again and again.
LaToya has overheard the conversation and enters
8 –LaToya: You really do need to go with the second choice. I know you were trying to help David. But, he
doesn’t deserve to give that speech. He has to be held accountable.
9 – Kelly: It’s hard though, LaToya. I mean, you’ve got that authority with them that Erin and I can never have.
He won’t understand it if she takes that opportunity away from him.
10 –LaToya: The students need solid structure, discipline, and consistency. We’ve talked about this. You need
to have higher expectations for them. David is smart, and he’s getting away with too much.
11 – Erin: I just feel so bad for him. I mean he’s going through so much at home. I just want to show him there’s
someone who loves him unconditionally. You know?
12 – Manuel: But love isn’t about letting them get away with stuff.
13 – Kelly: Yeah, and that’s why ultimately I send my difficult ones to you, Manuel. But, it’s just not the same.
It’s really hard. I’m trying so much to create an oppression-free zone. And they’re just not used to that at all. They’ve never experienced that kind of relationship before.
14 – LaToya: Um, hang on a second. What do you mean by that?
15 – Erin: I know what she means. All they ever get is, “Do this” or “do that”, a more authoritarian approach.
They aren’t used to being engaged with critical thinking. Like I’m always explaining to the students,
“Here is why it’s important that we learn this”, or “Here is why we need to do things this way.” They don’t even know what to do with that yet. I want them to evaluate why they’re doing what they’re doing. Questioning and dialogue are really important skills to learn. And, then we won’t have to just mandate stuff all the time.
16 – Kelly: Well, Erin, I have to admit, what you’re saying is a really white, middle-class approach. I started
with that myself. But, now I’m trying to eliminate the top-down approach altogether…you know, to really get away from power issues. Yes, they need to think critically, but they also need to shape the expectations and everyone in the room should be equally accountable to one another. I’m part of that too. They shouldn’t just do something because I, the white lady at the front of the room, tell them to.
17 –Manuel: But you are the teacher, and they need you to provide the structure even if you are incorporating
their voices.
18 – LaToya: Let’s take a step back for a second. I hear something really dangerous in all this. Our Black and
Brown kids on campus have to deal with a whole different reality when they’re out of your classrooms. Challenging authority could get them killed when they’re stopped on the way home from school. You need to realize you’re bringing in some assumptions here that won’t serve the students well.
Margaret is passing the table, overhears the conversation, and joins in
19 –Margaret: LaToya’s right. Manuel, too. Making excuses for them doesn’t help at all. They need a tight ship
where the rules are the rules and if they break the rules they have consequences.
20 – Erin: But, the penalties are so harsh.
21 – Margaret: Like LaToya is saying, this is the world they’re entering. You can’t save them from that. A three
day suspension is better than a prison sentence later on.They need to learn what they’re headed for.
22 – LaToya: Margaret, you know this is where we disagree. Our policies are extremely destructive, and we
can’t expect the kids to learn from an automatic suspension if we offer no guidance or relationships to help them be invested in the classroom. I’m headed back to the classroom. Erin, Kelly, I’d be happy to keep talking with you later on.
LaToya exits, having had this conversation with Margaret a few too many times over the years.
23 – Manuel: Margaret, the fact that so many of our kids do end up swept up by police when they’re out of
school is why most of us work so hard to keep them out of the office and away from the suspensions.
24 – Erin: Yeah, and it only makes them fall farther behind in their classwork.
25 –Margaret: Manuel, you have a completely different experience. You’re a big guy with a natural authority
with the kids. Besides they relate to you. For us, it’s a completely different story. They have to know how to follow directions even if they don’t like what we’re saying. The world will expect that from them.
26 –Manuel: I don’t think it’s only because I’m a big man. Different teachers have very different success rates.
Our numbers show it. There are only a handful of teachers responsible for the majority of the suspensions. It makes it harder for all of us.
27 – Margaret: Maybe. But, by and large the teachers who aren’t sending the kids to the office are just being
overrun in their own classrooms and learning content goes out the window. So, those of us who do report the students are just doing the job the others teachers aren’t willing to do.
28 – Kelly: I don’t think that’s true.
Created by Shelly Tochluk –