The Elusive Quest for Meting Out Punishment - Brief Article

School Administrator, Feb, 2000

Too Much to Say

In his days as a school administrator in charge of student discipline, Keith Spurgeon required teachers to include a written explanation whenever they sent a student to his office.

Spurgeon, now a superintendent in Mount Vernon, Ind., was taken aback one day when he read the following note:

Reason for being sent to office: Speaking out during class discussion.

A Slippery Resolution

Two 2nd-grade boys were fighting in class at Mountain Shadows Elementary School in West Jordan, Utah, so teacher Shauna Dean asked them to sit in a corner of the class until they figured out a solution to their problem.

After five minutes Dean asked them if they had come up with a solution. The boys told her they had not. She asked again five minutes later and got the same response. Dean was beginning to become frustrated when the boys approached her somewhat teary eyed. One asked, "What does a solution mean?"

Following an explanation, the boys returned to their corner. Soon they trodded back over and sheepishly inquired, "Is it OK if we just shake hands?"

Defying Authority or Defining It?

As a 7th grader growing up in southeastern Kansas, Ron Wimmer was accused one day by his principal of teasing girls during recess. He denied it but was struck with a rubber hose as punishment. "That experience changed my life," he said. Several years later as a junior in high school, he was expelled.

These days Wimmer defines authority rather than defying it as superintendent of the Olathe, Kan., School District. The once-rebellious youth is celebrating his 30th year in school administration.

"I was the least likely to become a superintendent," he jokingly told The Kansas City Star.

Stress Therapy

A primary school in Glascow, Scotland, is considering teaching massage techniques to 4-year-olds to help them relieve stress in the classroom--a practice already common in Sweden as a way to reduce student aggression.

The initiative involves pairing pupils to massage each other's backs, shoulders and heads, mirroring actions detailed in a teacher-read story. Students remain fully clothed, according to the BBC News.

The head teacher at St. Gilbert's RC Primary School said: "We are interested in it because anything that improves children's behavior has to be positive."

Odd But True

Recent legal wranglings in the news:

* The Shepard, Mont., School District is being sued by a student who claims he developed juvenile diabetes because the school band instructor refused to stop the school bus during one excursion to allow him to go to the bathroom, thus forcing him to wet his pants. His lawsuit claims the trauma and ridicule led to the illness.

* A frustrating encounter over coffee at a Dunkin' Donuts shop has contributed to the financial health of a 25-year-old computer services coordinator in the Hamden, Conn., Public Schools. David Felton launched a Web site that posted consumer complaints about the donut empire out of anger after the shop he visited one day en route to work didn't have skim milk for his coffee. After facing the threat of a lawsuit, Felton sold the site, www. dunkindonuts.org, to the company for an undisclosed sum.

A Publicity Hound

Setting: The library at Public School 34 in lower Manhattan

The Players: Enrique Marcano, a 4th grader, and Rudolph Crew, chancellor of the New York City Public Schools

The Action: Crew is winding up his visit to the school, where he tried to soothe the nerves of 60 students about to take a tough new statewide reading test. In front of TV cameras and a pack of reporters, he urges the youngsters to get a good night's sleep, eat a good breakfast the next day and not worry too much.

Marcano is unmoved by the superintendent. He later tells a visiting reporter from The New York Times that he doesn't plan to follow the chancellor's advice about an early bedtime, stating: "I'm going to stay up to see the 10 o'clock news to see if we're on it.

Standing Tall to Politicos

Do you think politicians are laying the pressure on educators pretty thick? Consider the lobbying faced recently by Debbie Riley, who figured she'd seen everything in her 13 years as principal of Whittier Elementary School in Everett, Wash.

One day last fall, she took a phone call from the office of an elected state representative, acting on behalf of two parents who wanted their child switched to another teacher's classroom. The lobbying intensified with the legislative staffer calling the district superintendent and Riley again twice more.

The principal stood her ground, though. "We're not going to sacrifice a child," Riley told the Seattle Times. "Kids need to work with different adults because that's life."

Short humorous anecdotes, quips, quotations and malapropisms for this column relating to school district administration and school board governance should be addressed to: Editor, The School Administrator, 1801 N. Moore St., Arlington, Va. 22209.1813. Fax: 703.528.2146. E-mail: magazine@aasa.org. Upon request, names may be withheld in print.