NCJ Number
154148
Journal
American Teacher Volume: 79 Issue: 6 Dated: (March 1995) Pages: 8,9,13
Date Published
1995
Length
3 pages
Annotation
A 1995 conference sponsored by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) focused on school safety and discipline and methods of addressing problems caused by a small percentage of students with behavior problems.
Abstract
AFT president Albert Shanker said that schools' failure to provide safe, disciplined, and orderly environments is a major cause of efforts to dismantle public education through vouchers, tuition tax credits, and privatization. However, efforts should focus on the real issue: every child's right to learn in a safe and orderly school environment. The AFT has initiated active efforts to return strong discipline codes to public schools. In many areas, zero-tolerance campaigns combine State and local legislation with collective bargaining agreements to address the problems of underreporting of discipline and safety problems, verbal abuse of teachers by students, the lack of alternative placement centers for violent or disruptive youths, and school officials' unwillingness to notify police when students violate laws while on campus. Central to many of these efforts has been the creation of strong student discipline codes clearly specifying consequences attached to particular infractions and limiting or eliminating exceptions to the rules. Despite widespread support for these efforts, some administrators oppose them. Obstacles to these policies also include concern that excessive numbers of students will be expelled, concerns that educators must spend days out of class dealing with hearings that surround disciplinary cases, and the view that strict discipline codes unfairly penalize some minority groups. This last concern has been addressed in Cincinnati through direct discussions of groups in the city. Photographs, resource list, and discussion of issues related to students with disabilities