A new mindset on school discipline

Fewer conflicts in the hallways and the cafeteria. A quieter, more focused learning environment in the classrooms. Greater trust between students and staff.

While there seems to be a good deal of controversy over the degree of order – or disorder – in New York City public schools, I know my school, P.S. 45 on Staten Island, has had a good year thanks to a new initiative, the Positive Learning Collaborative.

At a time when city public schools are being asked to redefine what discipline means for more than 1 million students, P.S. 45 began doing the hard work more than three years ago when we joined the collaborative, a joint effort by the New York City Department of Education and the United Federation of Teachers.

It’s not just another program, but rather a shift in mindset.

Under our old system, if a child "misbehaved" or was having a disagreement with another student, the teacher would call the guidance counselor or a dean and the child would be removed from the classroom and possibly from the school. Sometime later the child would return – having lost valuable instruction time and learned nothing about how to handle their emotions or a similar situation the next time.

Now, through the Positive Learning Collaborative, my teachers and staff are equipped with new techniques, professional development, resources and the time to master these skills, so we can support discipline in a different way. A child's behavior has meaning, and we are given the tools to find out the meaning behind the behavior and to deal with the real issue, preventing minor conflicts from escalating.

If you visited our school today, you would see children checking in with a specific adult first thing each morning, again at lunch and just before dismissal. At each point in the process, the added ult checks how the day is going, talking through problems and setting goals.

If you visited our school, you would find adults working together and sharing information on how best to teach a student the impact of their behavior. You would find teachers setting up "chill out zones" in their classrooms, places where a student can take a breath and practice the self-regulating techniques he or she has been taught before rejoining the rest of the class.

You would see people being proactive, instead of reactive.

The Department of Education recently released suspensions data, and reported a 32 percent decline citywide for July-December 2015 compared with 2014. At P.S. 45 the number of suspensions declined 57 percent for that same time period.

To me, our internal, anonymous surveys are an even better gauge of change: Staff who said they are able to manage challenging behavior in their classroom a great majority of the time rose to 88 percent, up from 55 percent.

It is hard work. And it takes sustained resources.

The Positive Learning Collaborative has provided us those resources. Every adult in the building received the same professional development – the same techniques and skills – so we speak a common language about what our school climate should be. The Collaborative provided real-time data, so we could track behavior and incidents by child, by grade, even by time of day, enabling us to put our resources where they have the greatest impact. The collaborative provided experts who came to our school, and helped our staff brainstorm solutions and practice the new techniques.

When I am asked why we decided to change our approach to discipline at P.S. 45, I often share this story: I was in my office interviewing a potential new hire when one of our students, a young man, burst into the room, yelling, having a full-on meltdown. I never saw that candidate again.

Something had to change. With a lot of hard work and the right resources, it has.

Christine Chavez is the principal at P.S. 45 – The John Tyler School – on Staten Island.