Discipline
All of our pillars mandate a culture of decisive discipline to all who are involved, from donors to staff to students. Many educational institutions fall short of effective discipline by taking a “crime and punishment” or retributive/punitive approach to behavior modification. The academy eschews this approach, and instead favors a “restorative discipline” approach, with all parties - not only students.
To this end, the academy’s bylaws will establish and mandate a discipline committee whose sole objective is to oversee restorative discipline interventions and avoid the natural tendency to descend into punitive discipline. This committee will have an active role in teacher and staff training and parent/stakeholder/community outreach. While restorative discipline is a social science unto itself, the follow table from B. Hopkins seminal work Just Schools (2003) summarizes how it works:
|
Traditional/Punitive Discipline |
Restorative Discipline |
|
Misbehavior defined as breaking school rules or letting the school down. |
Misbehavior defined as harm (emotional/mental/physical) done to one person/group by another. |
|
Focus is on what happened and establishing blame or guilt. |
Focus on problem-solving by expressing feelings and needs and exploring how to address problems in the future. |
|
Adversarial relationship and process. Includes an authority figure with the power to decide on penalty, in conflict with wrongdoer. |
Dialogue and negotiation, with everyone involved in the communication and cooperation with each other. |
|
Imposition of pain or unpleasantness to punish and deter/prevent. |
Restitution as a means of restoring both parties, the goal being reconciliation and acknowledging responsibility for choices. |
|
Attention to rules and adherence to due process. |
Attention to relationships and achievement of a mutually desired outcome. |
|
Conflict/wrongdoing represented as impersonal and abstract; individual versus school. |
Conflict/wrongdoing recognized as interpersonal conflicts with opportunity for learning. |
|
One social injury compounded by another. |
Focus on repair of social injury/damage. |
|
School community as spectators, represented by member of staff dealing with the situation; those directly affected uninvolved and powerless. |
School community involved in facilitating restoration; those affected taken into consideration; empowerment. |
|
Accountability defined in terms of receiving punishment. |
Accountability defined as understanding impact of actions, taking responsibility for choices, and suggesting ways to repair harm. |
