User:Cristina Zoldi/sandbox

Santa Monica High School's Discipline Policy

Overview
This article will talk about the Discipline Policy at SAMOHI and how improving it will positively affect the students and staff st the school. This article will also talk about new ideas on what to improve and students' opinion on it.

The Discipline Policy at SAMOHI
To start off, the Discipline Policy at SAMOHI states that "A Discipline Referral is completed by a faculty member when a student violates a class or school rule. Sample offenses include profanity/vulgarity, disrupting class, and defiance (refusing to do what a teacher or any school staff person asks). School staff persons have disciplinary authority anywhere on campus and at all school events. Serious violations of the Education Code such as fighting, smoking, and use or possession of alcohol, drugs or weapons will result in a student being referred for suspension or expulsion." (SAMOHI website http://www.samohi.smmusd.org/about/policies/index.html#Discipline Referral). This explains that the school shall give a referral to any misbehaving students in class or out of class by any staff member. This also leads to many unanswered questions such as: We asked these questions on May 31, 2017 to Mr.Trundle, a counselor at SAMOHI here is his response:
 * How many offences are needed to receive a referral?
 * How does giving referrals change the students behavior?
 * Is there any counseling available for problematic students?

"It really kind of depend on what happens, if a single offence its 'bad enough' then a single offence would depend. Like if the teach would prefer to not give a referral and instead give more chances, then that is how it would be. So it mainly depends on the teacher. I actually don't like the phrase problematic students, just in from the standpoint of assuming that the student is problematic one. It also depends, it depends on the student like if they are saying 'oh man the last thing I want to have is a referral', then that changes a lot, but if its like "oh I don't really care about getting a referral' then it's different. Because they don't have the sense of wanting to make things right or improving that."

This response to the questions lead to to the thought on what ways the referral policy can improve for both the people who do care about getting a referral and the other people who don't care as much.

The student Code of Conduct
At SAMOHI there is a list that has been recently taken out of the binder reminder which states that a student has to:

__ Be in your seat and prepared to work when the bell rings. __ Meet all school and class deadlines including homework, projects, and papers. Do all required coursework. __ Bring required materials to class everyday including your ID card and Student planner. __ Engage actively in listening and learning. No talking when the teacher is talking or when a student is presenting a question or answer. __ Be honest. No cheating, plagiarism, or theft. __ Show respect toward yourself and others, use appropriate language, refrain from hurtful behavior or language, and disruptive activity. __ Be accountable. Take responsibility for your own actions. __ Dress appropriately for school. No head coverings in the classroom. __ Only water is allowed in the classroom. No eating, drinking, or chewing gum. __ Keep electronic devices turned off and out of sight. No headphones are to be worn in the classroom. __ Help to maintain a clean and safe learning environment. Throw your trash in the designated receptacle.

(http://www.samohi.smmusd.org/about/policies/index.html#Student Code)

This shows does not enforce a strict rule on classroom expectations or how a student should act in the classroom. More questions such as Asking Mr.trundle once more on the answers to these questions, he replied with:
 * Do students really get affected by these rules?
 * What is the purpose of this list of class rules?
 * Why isn't any of these rules moved to the discipline policy?

"I think that question is more 'does the student code of conduct matter' or 'does it affect a students life on the day to day basis'. To me it really depends on the student an it depends on the teacher because the purpose behind the Student Code of Conduct is to establish general rules and guidelines from class to class. This is no different from the discipline matrix because the discipline matrix isn't setting in expectations for students, but instead it's saying if you do this then this is going to happen. So it's more this is kind of setting the expectations for the students while the Student Code of Conduct is setting strict boundaries. That's the differentiation between the two and why we have a code of conduct in the first place."

This gives another point of view on the code of conduct and how the main difference is to establish main expectations not rules.

Students opinion
There is a survey on survermonkey.com which asked the following questions and their corresponding answers, this survey was given to a group of teens at SAMOHI. Survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/C95S9X8

1. Do you feel the school is dealing with undisciplined students properly? Yes No Maybe I don't know

2. Do you believe the discipline policy for the school is good? Yes No Maybe I don't know

3. If you were to change anything about the schools discipline policy, which of the following would you choose? I would make the rules stricter I would make the rules less strict I would give the teacher more power to the policy I would give the school more power to the policy

4. Do you personally have issues with people who disrupt the class? Yes No Sometimes

5. How was your day Good Great Bad I don't know I hate everything

The results showed that as of May 29, 2017, for the first question 16% of respondents said yes, 40% said no, 24% aid maybe, and 20% said I don't know. The second question had the responses of 20% yes, 36% no, 16% maybe, and 28% I don't know. The third responses was 41.67% would make the rules stricter, 12.5% would make the rules less strict, 25% would give the teacher more power to the policy, and 20.83% would give the school more power to the policy.

In conclusion the school policy should in fact change the rules and find better ways to deal with problematic students.