Discipline Consequences Every School Should Have

What are some consequences that schools can use for discipline?

This is probably the number one question I've gotten over the past month, and I think just about any consequence will work.

The problem is a lot of schools don't have any consequences because either they don't think they need to, they think they can just use rewards and use PBIS and use restorative practices without needing consequences, which is just not true, or the consequences that they used to use have been outlawed or just removed.

Like a lot of states now have restrictions on out-of-school suspension and taking away recess and things like that.

So a couple of consequences to consider.

One is some sort of modified lunch or modified recess.

Just because a kid gets recess does not mean they need to get recess with everyone else in their class or in their grade.

And just because a kid gets lunch doesn't mean they need to eat lunch with everyone else.

Could be in a different place, could be at a different time, could be modified in some way.

If kids are going outside, maybe they can walk laps or be limited to a certain part of the playground where they just get to have recess, but in a way that is modified in some way.

At the secondary level, you probably need some sort of detention.

That could be a lunch detention, could be an after-school detention, and you may need an in-school suspension or a Saturday school program.

Now, the nice thing about detention at lunch times is it's not super expensive.

You can get somebody to cover it for not a lot of money.

With after-school detention, you have to worry about transportation, and that can be an issue.

In-school suspension, probably secondary schools need an in-school suspension program The downside is it's quite expensive.

It could cost into the six figures to staff a full-time in-school suspension program.

But we've got to have some sort of consequence, ideally one that keeps kids in school as much as possible.

Beyond that, we also need out-of-school suspension.

This has been taken away for many types of infractions, especially for younger students.

There are very limited circumstances in which younger students can be suspended in a lot of cases.

But I'm pretty sure in every state for violence, students can be suspended from school and should be, right?

If we have somebody attack a teacher or a student, they should be suspended from school.

And if you have heard that your state does not allow that, I would encourage you to really check into that because I'm pretty sure in every state there is some sort of stipulation that allows students to be suspended for violence.

What we need to not worry too much about is what will motivate the individual student here.

And this is surprising to a lot of people because people think, well, why would I suspend the student if they get to be at home and play video games?

That's just what they want.

That might be reinforcing to them.

Consequences are not about reinforcement.

Consequences are about motivation.

boundaries.

The purpose of having a consequence is so that students can't misbehave with impunity and hurt others and ruin the learning environment with impunity.

It's a boundary that's put in place to stop the behavior, to disrupt the behavior, not to motivate the students.

So this is not an individual behavior plan.

This is not an incentive plan.

We're not looking for something that's going to dissuade the student.

We're looking for something that's going to put a boundary in place.

All schools need consequences.

The better consequences you have, the less you will need them.

Let me know if you have any other questions.