School Discipline - Educational Law Series Professor William Allan Kritsonis, PhD

1. DISCIPLINE FROM AN ADMINISTRATOR’S POINT OF VIEW William Allan Kritsonis, PhD

2. “ 99.9% of an administrator’s time is spent on discipline.” Dr. Arthur Petterway

3. With administrators, discipline begins with the Student Code of Conduct. Chapter 37 of the Texas Education Code identifies what disciplinary actions should be applied, and the rules and regulations for applying them.

4. As far as administrators are concerned, they would prefer that teachers would do a better job of classroom management. Then, it would be easier for them to discipline the really difficult cases of misbehavior.

8. I am currently serving as an Administrative Intern at my school, so I’m aware of the “us” v. “them” argument. The more active in my internship I become, the more “them” I get accused of being. I talked to a couple of teachers over the last couple of days about some disciplinary issues they were having. One wanted to know how a student who cursed him out that morning could be back in his classroom the same afternoon. The other had a procedural issue about student hall passes and how they are used. I can see that an administrator’s day is filled with decisions, and most of them about discipline. To combat feelings of lack of discipline at the beginning of the school year I will go over the code of conduct with the teachers, and also let them know what is expected of them during the disciplinary process. This would hopefully eliminate misunderstandings, and not have teachers feeling as if the disciplinary process is a waste of time. The more involved teachers are in the disciplinary process in the beginning, the better the disciplinary process will work, leading to happier teachers, and a better learning environment.