Proposed discipline policy uses restorative approach

Kalispell Public Schools is seeking to incorporate restorative practices with traditional discipline in proposed student discipline policy updates.

The proposed updates are part of ongoing efforts to streamline and standardize student discipline throughout the district.

Kalispell Public Schools Director of Special Education Sara Cole said the focus of restorative practices “is not so much on the rule as it is on the relationship” and figuring out how to repair the damage in a productive and meaningful way to the people involved.

“What were you thinking at the time? What have you thought about since? Who has been affected? Often, they pause here,” she said. “This is the real piece. Who has been affected? It’s not the rule that you broke, no one cares about the rule. It’s the person you care about, who did you impact — ‘my mom, my teacher’s disappointed in me’ ... What do you think needs to be done to make it right?”

Behavior problems don’t occur in a vacuum, according to Cole.

“The philosophy piece is really huge because we believe behavior communicates a need, right?” Cole said, comparing behavior to academics. “So if a child was demonstrating a need in reading we would provide reading intervention, and the same way, if the child is communicating needs in terms of behavior, he or she needs intervention or learning support for those types of behavior.”

As part of the revisions, the district is proposing to add a new policy on the district’s philosophy and beliefs when it comes to student discipline.

“Nowhere in our current policies is there anything about what we believe, our philosophy — here’s our beliefs — about how we reach and teach kids,” Kalispell Public Schools Superintendent Mark Flatau said. “I think people are realizing that there’s logic to just being very intentional about what we do and that starts with what we believe,” he added.

The old paradigm Flatau said he operated under as a building administrator was, “These are the rules. We expect kids to follow them. End of story,” followed by a punishment if they were broken.

Flatau said consequences aren’t going away.

“Consequences are important because consequences are the natural result of decisions you make,” he said, but how the district deals with incidents will look different.

“I hope the revisions we make will be much more clear and cohesive,” he said. “We’ll still have a section on suspension and expulsion and other interventions, but we’re going to look at how we’re going to support the kid,” he added.

Flatau spoke about the new student discipline policy, explaining the district’s philosophy and beliefs based in proactive, positive and restorative approaches, and through that work what the district expects to accomplish.

An existing policy, 3310R, that lists instances in which disciplinary action is taken such as disobeying directives or being disruptive, for example, has been revamped to instead list expectations for student behavior in the areas of respect, responsibility, learning and safety.

Essentially the revised policy states what a student should do as opposed to “everything you shouldn’t do,” Flatau said.

“It’s just ‘don’t do this, don’t do that, don’t do this.’ Of course, we know for many children when you say ‘don’t do that,’ that can be a little bit of a challenge — a little bit of inspiration” to do just the opposite, Flatau said.

A section on “disciplinary actions and consequences” will retain similar language in the current policy, such as detention, loss of privileges, or restitution, but will have the proposed additions of: restorative practice/activity, which allows the student to take responsibility and repair the harm that occurred; adherence to a behavior intervention/SOS [Systems of Support] plan developed by staff and administration as a problem-solving measure; and conference with student and/or parent-guardian.

A section in the current policy regarding “delegation of authority,” will remain in the proposed updated version.

The third policy being proposed combines two existing policies that are nearly identical on suspensions and expulsions and corrective action and punishment (3300P and 3300R).

The resulting policy will be suspension and expulsion — corrective actions and consequences. This policy retains the majority of language in the two existing policies, but adds a description about intent of a suspension: “The purpose for a suspension is to provide a time for the school staff to problem solve and develop or revise a behavior plan that will support the student on their return to school.”

Cole explained a protocol for a school, for infractions such as vaping or swearing at a teacher,might be given a consequence of “you’re out for the rest of the day, or we’re taking a break, but the message we’re trying to send the child is we’re not taking a break from you, but we need to take a break from a behavior and we need to pull a team together to plan for your return.”

Also under the section of “suspensions” a provision includes holding re-entry conferences to “ensure a smooth reintegration” back into a student’s normal routine.”

A reentry conference is key in easing a student back into the school routine and resolve remaining conflicts in efforts to prevent future incidents from possibly occurring according to administrators. Glacier and Flathead have already put these types of conferences into practice.

Two existing policies that cover discipline of students with disabilities and firearms and weapons will not change.

The district’s shift in its approach to behavior, discipline and social-emotional wellbeing is a process that began years ago through a five-year Support, Outreach and Access for the Resiliency of Students (SOARS) grant awarded in 2014, and involvement in Georgetown University’s School-Justice Partnerships Certificate Program in 2016.

The district went on to establish Systems of Support, an integrated approach to discipline, similar to how academics are treated by using different interventions organized on a tiered system. It was also a way to create one umbrella term for several district, school and state behavior initiatives.

As part of Systems of Support, the district has worked on standardizing how behavior is tracked. This is important when a student changes classrooms, grades or buildings so that educators who work with them will be able to access the information so efforts aren’t duplicated in what did or didn’t work with behavior interventions or supports.

Another outcome of the training resulted in a team approach to student discipline, specifically with at-risk youth, through collaborations between social workers, law enforcement and the Center for Restorative Youth Justice in Kalispell.

“Again, please note that our highest priority is safe and civil schools,” Flatau said about the policy updates.

“We are going to have order in our schools, and 95% of the time that occurs — and accolades to our staff who are working hard and to our students who are generally speaking are doing the right thing — but we certainly know we are dealing with an increasing population of students, particularly at those younger grades, that are extremely challenging and it’s hard work, folks. It is hard, hard work,” he added.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.