Edclicking Keyword Cloud
By Dr. Harry Tennant
Thursday, April 21, 2011 Discipline: Looking For Someone To Blame In Times Of Tragedy--->Will You Be Next? Back on January 22nd, I posted about an elementary student in north Texas who committed suicide on campus. Blame was laid at the school's doorstep. That case was slightly different than the one I will highlight today, but the general theme is the same. To one degree or another, schools today are often expected to fix the world's problems. One such widespread problem is bullying. It is so common among young people that most of us can remember at least an instance or two when we were bullied as youngsters. Human nature hasn't changed, but expectations for schools to resolve the ugliest manifestations of human nature certainly have...and seem to more and more each year. It is imperative that educators protect themselves by documenting interventions in cases of student conflict. As a campus administrator, there were days that I was totally consumed by efforts to defuse conflict between youngsters. It is often a tangled web they weave! Quite often, too, it was impossible to completely resolve an issue...or it seemed like the issue was resolved, yet it was still simmering. Those who haven't worked with youngsters in a school setting often can't appreciate how big this challenge is. Youngsters can be very vicious to one another....and sometimes we don't know how bad it is until damage has been done. In a worst-case scenario, death can result. No matter what, educators must document their attempts to intervene. At the very least, they must document due diligence. Otherwise, when the worst happens...dedicated educators can be painted as callous, indifferent bureaucrats not doing their job. Document, document, document. Any prudent discipline plan incorporates this step. Protect yourself in your efforts to protect your students!  Click the image above for the full story at WFAA.com Posted at 12:31 PM Keywords: Discipline , Bullying , Suicide , Documentation 0 Comments |