Saugus Union School District governing board members on Tuesday night discussed what they would like to see done about the bad behavior challenges teachers have been struggling to combat and correct in the classroom.
After a special meeting was held Feb. 5 to discuss behavior challenges in the district, the board decided to bring back the discussion and intended to provide direction to Superintendent Colleen Hawkins and cabinet members.
Hawkins said that the decision came when she and board President Patti Garibay were planning out future meeting agendas. She said it had become “clear to both of us that it was time for some discussion at the board table.”
“We’ve had conversations with the governing board about the use of suspension and then (Education Code) 48900 and its requirement that we use other means of correction,” said Hawkins. “We’ve also talked about, I believe, it’s (Ed. Code) 48900.5, which talks about eliminating students’ recess and how that is no longer allowable. Which leaves us with consequences that are rather limited as far as what we can do.”
During public comment, Ingrid Boydston, a kindergarten teacher in the district, offered 10 recommendations that the district could enact to improve the behavior issue.
She said board members should close the communication gap between them and teachers, eliminate positive behavior intervention and support, involve parents sooner, reinstate the consequences that are already allowed in the Education Code, restore basic behavior management tools, get rid of the oversized furniture in classrooms, bring back counselors, stop placing children with special needs into classrooms without first ensuring they have what they need there, improve the climate for teachers, and consider the children-to-adult ratio.
Hawkins said that if the governing board wanted district staff and site administrators to do something differently outside of the set parameters, then they would need to advise that.
She recommended that the board’s discussion help give her and the cabinet direction on what possible practices to bring back to the board to be considered for adoption and approval but not change board policy because it is very difficult to change policy when it has not been done before.
Garibay said that the topic of behavior challenges is important to her, which is why she wanted the item on the agenda. She said she recognized the issue was clearly happening and that she was appreciative of all the feedback given to the board thus far.
She added that she envisioned the conversation to happen in two parts. The first part was to discuss what the board wants to see in practice, and the second part is to discuss the consequence options with the district’s behavior council.
Garibay did acknowledge that the only board member who had experience in education was board member Matt Watson, which is why she was hopeful the behavior council could provide direction.
According to the meeting’s agenda, the district created a behavior council to address the many complex issues around student behavior in school. The council is made up of general education teachers, school social workers, and behaviorists. One of their tasks is to present consequences that members of our education community feel are necessary, effective and support the requirements of public education.
One of the practices Garibay said she wanted to see is immediate parent engagement. Instead of giving the student chance after chance and then a consequence, she said there should be an immediate call home when a student displays bad behavior.
She also said that the school guidebooks provided to parents need to be utilized more efficiently. There should be a practice where parents have to look at the guidebook at the beginning of the year and understand the behavior that is acceptable and behavior that is unacceptable.
“If something happens and your child is involved in something that shouldn’t be happening, these are the consequences that are going to happen,” said Garibay. “We’re going to call you right away; we’re going to set up the conference with the teacher and the principal. We’re going to do all these different things. But that way we’re being transparent and open from day one, and I think it’s something that even the teachers can help us and can support us with.”
Once the behavior council advises the board on practices that could be implemented into the schools, Garibay said, she wants clear communication to the teachers, so they understand what they have across the district.
Watson agreed with Garibay that there should be a clear line of communication between parents and teachers.
He said he was hesitant to engage in the discussion Tuesday night because he didn’t want to seem condescending to the teachers in the room who were in attendance because they were the experts on the subject, and he was looking forward to hearing from the behavior council.
He wants to make sure the teachers and staff members have the training and support to deal with this issue and that the district is communicating through one voice.
Board member Christopher Trunkey said he wanted to acknowledge all the in-place tools and the surveys the district has had done to get to the point where it was able to create a three-year plan that was adopted by the board.
He agreed with Garibay and Watson that there should be a clearer vision, but he was confused on why the discussion was being had before they had even met with the behavior council. He said that recommendations come to them and not the other way around.
“It seems to me that we shouldn’t be giving the behavior council a list of things, a list of conclusions, that we want them to have,” said Trunkey. “It’s supposed to be a collaborative effort between the teachers, the psychologists, the behaviorists, the social workers all working together and coming up with the recommendations that they’re going to make to us.”
Garibay said she appreciated acknowledging the current practices but there was obviously something that needed to be fixed and she was OK with acknowledging it and doing something about it.
“The thing is we have that list, the protocol that Dr. Hawkins went through, but I know for fact that a lot of those things we’re not doing right now,” said Garibay.
She mentioned looking into detention, suspension and community service as consequences. She said if they don’t address the issues now they are going to still be a problem when students move into the William S. Hart Union High School District.
“This is school, not a babysitting service. School is a place to come to get educated, and I want to make sure that those kids feel safe,” said Garibay.
Board member Katherine Cooper said she wants every child to feel at home at their school and in their district.
Cooper said they should bring back a quiet time to help students calm down and regroup with themselves or look into giving the teacher a break to spend one-on-one time with a student to understand why they are reacting the way they are.
She said she wanted to know how the district could involve the parents who don’t want to be involved in their student’s behavior.
Board member Anna Griese said she wanted to actually sit down with the teachers and staff to talk about what is working, what is not working and why it is not working. She said she wanted to review the data behind the programs in place and look over why it is not working.
Watson agreed that the board should review the data and understand what programs are working and not working but then the next step would be to look at where the district goes next. He said they would have to look into implementing different programs.
There was hesitancy with implementing suspension on a case-by-case basis and how it may affect the district’s statistics, but Cooper said if Hawkins or staff choose to suspend a student, the board would have their back in the decision.
“At the end of the day, we have to do what’s right for the kids,” said Cooper.
Hawkins said she is fully prepared to work with any willing parents, teachers, and anyone who wants to work on the issue.
Moving forward, Garibay said the behavior council will be meeting on Thursday and then present their findings to the board at the next board meeting.
