It was just a regular morning in my classroom in Manhattan’s Hamilton Heights neighborhood. My third graders were heading back to their seats for math when John “accidentally” hit a classmate with a chair. John loudly and indignantly denied it.
I found myself faced with a few different responsibilities. I needed to send a message to John (not his real name) that this behavior was not acceptable. I also needed to let his classmate know that I would stand up for his safety. Finally, I wanted to let John know that I cared about him and trusted him (even though he’s very “accident prone&rdquo
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I suggested John take a break in our classroom’s “relaxing area,” a message to calm down so we could resolve the issue. This made John feel punished and under attack, so he gave me the middle finger and walked out the door.
According to the New York City Department of Education’s (DOE) Code of Conduct and Discipline, John’s behavior could be classified a few different ways. Since this wasn’t his first offense, one option was to remove him from my classroom for one to three days — in other words, give him a Principal’s Suspension.
[For more of this story, written by Ruben Brosbe, go to https://medium.com/bright/in-c...t-looks-3cc043197fbb]
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