Order In The Classroom: Teacher Finds New Law Helpful As Discipline Tool

By Sandra R. Brodnicki

When teacher Vern Wilmot removed two disruptive students from his classroom in separate instances earlier this year, he noticed a change among those who remained in his Appleton North High School math class.

“The atmosphere improved dramatically,” said the 31-year teaching veteran. “There weren’t major instigating factors in the classroom.”

Wilmot removed the disruptive students by using the new school safety and discipline procedure law designed to give teachers greater authority in dealing with student disruption and inappropriate classroom behavior. The law went into effect August 1, 1999.

Under the new law, a teacher may remove from the classroom a student if the child becomes dangerous, unruly or disruptive or exhibits behavior that interferes with the ability of the teacher to teach effectively as spelled out by a locally produced code of conduct.

“If they keep other students from learning, well, we can’t let that happen,” Wilmot said. “I’m not going to penalize the kids who are doing what they’re asked to do.

“If I spend so much time with one, I can’t pay attention to the other 23,” Wilmot said. “I’m going to work with those who are going to work with me.”

Vern Wilmot has used the state’s new school safety and discipline law to help maintain order in his classroom at Appleton North High School.

Wilmot added that students who behave inappropriately make choices. “Because it’s a bad decision, they’re going to have to live with the consequences,” he said.

Wilmot said some of his peers were “quite surprised” that he used the new law. In both instances, he said, he left a “paper trail” regarding the behavior of the students during the months prior to their removal from the classroom.

“Sure it’s kind of a headache (filling out forms), but that’s our responsibility. If I’m going to expect any support from the deans and the guidance people, they need to know what’s going on,” Wilmot said.

The students were placed in study hall but are still attending school.

Following up

Steve Bousley has seen the other side of the new law. As a resource teacher at Southern Door High School in Door County, he has dealt with the aftermath of students no longer welcome in the classroom. He tries to help them make up for the learning they miss when they are excluded from a classroom. Two of the students in his resource class are there because they have been removed from other classrooms under the new law. Other students are there because they have fallen behind, have learning disabilities or need extra help for other reasons.

Bousley described the removal of disruptive students by their teachers as a “Catch-22.” He understands that some students need to be removed from a classroom and the law can be a valuable tool. “Learning needs to go on, and when a (disruptive) student is there, it can’t,” he said. But it is important that procedures be set up for dealing with the students after they are removed.

“Now when the kids are removed from class, where do they go?” he asked. “How are the students’ needs being met?”

WEAC supported passage of the new law as a means to help teachers maintain order and more effectively teach the vast majority of students who want to learn.

“For the first time, we made (school safety and discipline) of statewide importance,” said Bob Burke, WEAC legislative program coordinator.

The law did not specify how the removal of students was going to be monitored, so officials are really unsure how often it is being used.

Department of Public Instruction education consultant Beth Lewis said her department has received little feedback from educators on implementation of the new law.

“In general, people seem to believe that the new law did not create much change and if anything may have smoothed out issues by forcing a review of existing policies,” Lewis said.

Schools were required to adopt a code of conduct beginning last fall, applying community standards. Parents, students, school board members, administrators, pupil service professionals and other residents of the school district participated in defining the codes.

By April 1, schools also must develop a safety plan for each school.

The Beloit School District was the first to submit its comprehensive school safety plan to DPI in December. The document contains three areas of focus – prevention, intervention and crisis management.

“We don’t claim to have all the answers,” said Doug Reynolds, Beloit’s safe schools coordinator. “We’re not magicians. What we do seek to do is to work with law enforcement to build the best safety net for teachers and students.”

Panel pursues school safety

Recommendations made last fall by a school safety task force need to be followed up, said Michael Walsh, a Stoughton teacher who participated in the panel. The Wisconsin Safe Schools Task Force, which included 20 educators and law enforcement officials, was appointed by Attorney General James Doyle and State Superinten-dent John Benson. It made nearly two dozen recommendations.

The panel determined five conditions contribute to safe schools:

• Safe physical and emotional environments.
• Positive and caring relationships among students, staff, parents and community.
• Character education and youth asset development as part of the education mission.
• High expectations for behavior.
• Alternative education and mental health services.

Walsh said the mix of law enforcement and educators proved to be effective. “We got to hear their perspectives and they got to hear ours,” he said. “The most surprising thing was how much we think alike.”

He expects the Department of Justice and the Department of Public Instruction to take the lead on implementing recommendations.

He’d like WEAC members to participate in grassroots effort to initiate school safety. Pushing legislators to exempt school safety programs from revenue caps and increase funding for alternative education programs for youth at risk in the traditional system are examples of what teachers can do to promote safety. He’d also like to see the establishment of a clearinghouse where school districts can share information on school safety matters.

Posted March 1, 2000