For generations, fighting and other violent misconduct amongst students has been a problem in American public schools, not excluding Harding High. But, when speaking in terms of a student’s success, what solutions actually work, and which ones do more harm than good? And what do we define “success” as, anyway? Some important insight comes from our superintendent, Mrs. Olympia DellaFlora, and head principal, Dr. Adonis Bolden.
As Dr. Bolden states, what success means for a student can vary from person to person. For example, success for a student that might have trouble coming to school could mean that they work with a school counselor to figure out how to get through a whole day of classes. Or, success for someone who cannot get in an argument without it escalating into a fight could mean learning and using proper conflict resolution skills. The definition of “success” is varying, but Bolden and DellaFlora make it clear that they strive for nothing more than for the students of Marion City Schools to succeed.
In order to push this agenda, some of the old ways of going about student conflicts must be left in the past, such as traditional detentions or suspensions.
Traditionally, if a student was involved in a disruptive conflict, they might get sent to the principal’s office, and then home, after getting picked up by a parent. This would essentially give the student a day off from school, even if it did involve a stern talking-to from their parents. Similarly, at Harding, the punishment for minor misconduct (misconduct that did not involve extreme physical harm) was in-school suspension. This kept students out of their usual classrooms, but still with schoolwork to do in the ALC room, supervised by Mr. Mike Pace.
Pace’s policies, as far as expectations for the students that wind up in his room, aren’t outlandish. Phones are kept with Pace, but students are allowed to check them at the end of second period, lunch, and eleventh period. Headphones are allowed to listen to music, so long as they limit the time they spend looking at their phone while they are doing so. School assignments must be completed. As a result, the environment in ALC is very calm and quiet.
Pace remarks that a newer policy, implemented by school administrators at the beginning of the school year, has been showing a significant decrease in the amount of students who return to ALC. “...Upper admin decided it would be better for [students] to serve a lunch detention and not miss class time, rather than sit in [ALC] for an entire day and miss instruction from classes,” he says. This policy, lunch detention, has students eating lunch in the teacher’s lounge in the cafeteria, where they work on missing assignments as they eat. Pace’s same ALC rules apply.
Another new thing that could help all students at Harding is better training for both students and staff when it comes to violence among students. DellaFlora mentions, “As superintendent, I want kids to come to school safe, …be safe while they’re here, and…return safely to their homes,” and training students to recognize potentially violent situations before they actually happen, and also how to communicate with a trusted staff member about it, is an important first step to reach this goal. Training for staff members would include teaching them how to effectively communicate with students about situations that may arise, and how to handle these situations. Basically, the more communication that takes place, the better.
However, Bolden asserts that the majority of students here at Harding do not typically instigate violence with others. “As a whole, the student body here at Harding High School is wonderful,” he says. “I don’t want us to overlook the fact that we got 900+ kids doing the right thing.” Sometimes, the few students who do cause disruption within the school can make the problem appear more prolific than it actually is.