By now, you have seen the video of the 15 year black teenager being ripped from her desk by a school police officer. The story is multi-layered and I am hoping it becomes a talking point for us to create better schools. I am hoping faculty at both private and public schools from PK-12 will take the staff time to break this story apart and really examine all the elements of it and learn from it. There is lots of learning about dealing with students today embedded into this incident.
It seems with every generation we claim the current generation is too “something’ whether it be self-entitled or the are set-centered, or whatever. We seem to forget the science of the adolescent brain. Teens are self-centered and its part of them figuring out who they are. They posture and perform for their friends. That is also normal and to be expected. We as adults need to learn how to manage and coach them through this process regardless of the choices they decided to make. We also need adults able to recognize and respond to trauma in students. We do know that many more students are experiencing trauma and it does excuse their behavior when adult actions vamp them up rather than de-escalte them down which I believe is the case in the video from South Carolina.
This case has many layers that are strong talking point for schools wanting to implement restorative practices. My hope is this article can act as a study guide into this incident and to pick up the talking points where schools can learn to do better in dealing with behavior incidents. Think of this as a conversation starter.
Referral Process and Protocol:
One of the things that stuck out for me when I learned the details of this incident was the passing of the baton. The teacher had an issue with a student, the principal was called, then the school resource officer. Right from the start, the goal seemed to be compliance and control. While I agree there is a time for that, it is rare. What would have been more effective in my eyes is relationships and trust. Students behave better for the teachers who they have relationships and who they trust. Those of the teachers they don’t want to “let down” by their behaviors. It is clear, especially being a new student to the school, that trust and relationship was non-existent for this student. The teacher had no influence over her choices, neither did the principle. By the time the security guard came, it was all about a power struggle and years of working in the conflict field have taught me no one wins a power struggle, especially with a teen.
In schools working on full climate change toward restorative, the referral process is important. When students behave in ways that don’t serve the community of that classroom, we need to build up the relationship between student and teacher to prevent future issues and repair the harm caused by the current issue. Passing the baton to the dean of students, principal, or other administrator is okay as long as it comes back around to supporting teachers to repair or rebuild the relationships they have with students.
When referrals end up staying with the admin, teachers don’t often hear the end results leaving them feeling frustrated they didn’t get the support they wanted. Some teachers end up using this as a way of washing their hands of students whose behavior is too much for them. I suggest administrators bring the referrals back to teachers and ask “how can I support you in dealing with this” so teachers are accountable and supported. This also teaches problem solving for both students and teachers.
In a relationship-based climate, even the school resource officers benefit from having a relationship with students. It ups the chances they have of actually de-escalting a student in crisis. When students are hyped-up and maybe even triggered, we need to influence their choices not control their behavior to actually bring them down into a state we can keep them safe.
Trauma Informed Classrooms
More and more of our students are coming into school as a refuge from the other stuff going on their lives, alcoholic and abusive parents, sexual abuse, poverty, gun violence, gangs, and even death of friends and loved ones. I could tell you dozens of stories of students I actually know in the schools where I work that would make you wonder how some of these young lives are functioning at all let alone learning. When the inner world of a student (or human) is in turmoil they generally take one of two paths, acting out or acting in. Students who choose to act out their emotions might challenge authority, leave class abruptly, blow up with little warning when triggered, or even get into physical fights. Students who act in may choose drugs or alcohol to numb their feelings, they may choose self-harm behaviors like cutting. They may choose to isolate themselves from others. Much of the behavior we see in kids is them trying to process their inner world.
Trauma lives in the central nervous system and is more about the response to events then the events themselves. There are three main types of trauma: 1) Acute which refers to one incident of trauma 2) Chronic which is an ongoing event, or 3) Complex which refers to multiple ongoing events of trauma. For many of our students in urban schools we are looking at complex trauma.
The effects of trauma can result in a limbic system (fight, flight, or freeze) that is either fully on or fully off. Given the right trigger a student can have random outbursts or on the opposite end, shut down. Much like the student in the video who has clearly dug her heels in with the intent of standing her ground. This could very well be someone engaged by their limbic system. In other words, she is caught up in flight or flight because she has been triggered by the feeling of helplessness, a feeling she appears to know all to well.
We can reduce these triggers by making sure we don’t back kids into corners with demand language. When we say “my way or the highway” we leave another human feeling powerless. This is most likely going to end badly. Always offer some type of choice, even if the choices are negative. Offering some type of control over one’s life leaves people feeling in control and less likely to feel a threat.
A great resource on trauma and a chance to measure your own: Try to the Aces Project.
Classroom Set-up
I also notice in the video that the classroom is set-up factory style with rows of desks. It is nearly impossible to promote collaboration and community when all you see of your classmates is the back of their head. Worse, for some students who sit in the front, they rarely see the faces of those behind them. This is not going to create a relationship based class where community is important. If you want kids to be able to influence each other in positive ways, they need to get to know each other and care about each other’s success. That will not happen when the best they see of their classmates is their latest haircut from behind. I suggest putting the desks in community. A circle is effective as is a u-shape facing the front of the room. Allow students the chance to hear and interact with each other in a community. The more they learn to “be” together the less dehumanized they are to each other.
Relationship Based Classrooms
The first time I learned of this phrase was reading the book, the Compassionate Classroom: Relationship Based Teaching and Learning by Sura Hart and Victoria Kindle Hodson. The idea is that students do better in an environment of connection. Teachers who are connected to themselves about why it is they teach, students connected to their teachers, students connected to each other, and most definitely students connected to their own learning just do better. In the video from SC, I am not sure we are talking about a classroom with high levels of connection to anything but fear. I see this as a problem to be solved. I believe when we create classrooms where there is connection especially to the expectations of behavior, we create better learning atmospheres. There is much to be learned from this video about classroom environment. Why are the desks factory style in rows? Why did the teacher not know or not care about this student’s living situation at home? Why did other students not know or not care about her situation? Is there a classroom respect agreement? The answer is clear to me. There is no relationships or trust built with students in the classroom in this video. Private schools do this with smaller class sizes and less regulation. I believe public schools can create this environments as well using restorative practices. Circle kids up and build a community where kids feel comfortable and secure and their sense of safety is met. It is also important that the students create and feel connected to the class norms and requests.
Conclusion
There are a dozen other issues including the role of race that play a part in this incident. To tell me the security guard is free of racism because he is dating a black women is a farce. We are all racists. Some of us are willing to admit that and work toward healing and recovery while others remain blindly addicted to the bias without accountability. I believe this also is changeable. Minority students are disproportionately targeted for discipline and unfairly treated. We have research to back this up and it is useless to those unwilling to admit they are racist. Regardless of your background or color, we all carry some form of bias and racism. Admit it and heal from it rather than deny and perpetuate it. I myself fully admit, I am a recovering racist. I am doing my best to end racism first in myself before anything else. We have to change our own hearts before anyone else. That how real change happens.
I also don’t want to sound like I am bashing the teachers or administrators as Spring Valley High School. I am betting they are using every tool at their disposal to support their students. Sadly, when the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. The truth of this incident is that yes, the security guard acted in a way that met no one’s needs for respect or safety. That doesn’t change the fact, it didn’t have to escalate to that level. This could have been avoided all together had a better classroom and school environment been created. I believe bringing restorative practices into schools could create that space where students can learn better and teachers enjoy teaching. I also believe we can make school officers an ally not a liability.