Despite our efforts to proactively set students up for behavioral success and to prevent problem behavior, there will still be incidents of problem behavior. When it comes to responding to problem behavior we have three primary goals:
Make sure to keep everyone safe
Minimize the loss of instructional time for all students (including the student who engaged in problem behavior)
To teach the student the appropriate behavior to use instead of the problem behavior
Every occurrence of problem behavior is an important opportunity to teach the appropriate, desired behavior to the student. It is our responsibility to provide fair and consistent consequences for problem behavior that focus first on teaching our students the appropriate behavior and then get them back engaged in academic instruction quickly and safely.
Level 1:
Staff are encouraged to deal with minor problem behavior in the classroom. The response to many behaviors will be a simple redirection and return to instruction (e.g. redirect to task, a calm response to engage in the expected behavior, or recognizing a neighboring peer for the expected behavior). Teachers are encouraged to hold at least one parent meeting, implement behavior charts, and other interventions before progressing to level 2.
Level 2:
For student behavior that persists beyond a warning or repeated redirection, disrupts instruction, or recurring student behavior, a teacher redirection may be paired with an “Uh-Oh/Think Again” slip. When delivering an “Uh-Oh/Think Again”, staff members should clearly identify the behavior of concern, link it to the violation of a school-wide rule, and use the opportunity to have the student practice the appropriate response whenever possible. Staff may pair with a classroom consequence (helping organize books, cleaning desks, whiteboards, writing an apology letter, etc.), and will do their best to reduce the loss of instructional time.
Behaviors that indicate an “Uh-Oh” are more serious than Level 1 offenses and may result in disciplinary action. Students may also receive an “Uh-Oh” for repeated redirections for the same behavior.
Level 3:
A Discipline Referral will be given for receiving 3 Uh-Ohs for the same offense within a one-month period. Additionally, serious student offenses (frequent misbehaving in the classroom, physically harming another person, bullying, Ed. Code violations, etc.) will also result in an Office Discipline Referral and student will be sent to the office. All Level 3 offenses will involve the principal, will merit parent communication, and will result in disciplinary action. The disciplinary action will depend on the severity of the offense. Students will also be referred to the school counselor in order to process their behavior and to see if other supports might need to be provided.