Punitive or positive

Punitive or positive

With lawmakers investigating a possible connection between school suspensions and prison sentences, schools must evaluate the effectiveness of their disciplinary systems. 

Are you more likely to end up in prison if you are suspended from school as a kid?

Texas State Congressman Eric Johnson seems to think so.

Johnson authored House Bill 65 which was passed in the Texas House of Representatives April 10. The bill intends to find out whether a correlation exists between students’ suspensions from school and serving prison time. 

The bill requires Texas public schools to report all data relating to suspensions.

Is the correlation between a suspension and prison time legitimate? 

Could cheating on one test indirectly lead to life in a jail cell? 

How does St. Mark’s, unaffected by House Bill 65, ensure suspensions and disciplinary acts in general are restorative? 

The disciplinary system in place to deal with infractions is crucial to maintaining the effectiveness of the punishment.

Lion Tracks aims to serve as such a system. Interim Head of Upper School John Ashton has full faith that Lion Tracks can provide its intended results. 

“Lion Tracks is a great document,” Ashton said. “It is a strong document in that it's very clear around expectations, around process and around potential consequences. And it's revised and tweaked every year to strengthen it.”

Part of making sure Lion Tracks and the whole disciplinary system works the way it is supposed to is making sure punishment is based on precedent. Nancy Marmion, sponsor of the discipline council, thinks this precedent is needed to make sure discipline is fair and consistent. 

“We do make those recommendations based on precedent,” Marmion said. “There's not always an exact precedent for everything that happens, especially now with technology changing so fast, but we try to find something that's similar, so that one year a kid doesn't get a punishment that's way out of line with what a student has gotten previously.”

Although he still thinks suspensions are more of a punishment, Peter*, a student who has received a suspension in the past, generally agrees with the way suspensions are currently handled by the administration. 

“You usually get a detention first, unless it’s something bad, and then a suspension,” Peter said. “I think a lot of the time suspensions do benefit students, but it always begins as a punishment for an action. I think everybody learns a lesson from their suspension, which is why kids don’t get suspended more than once.”

Ashton says the punishment of suspension not only helps the student—it is also beneficial to the school community.

“Our philosophy as a school behind student discipline is that by being in this community, we all have agreed to a set of values and expectations,” he said. “For us to be a healthy community and thrive as a community, we all have to come here with those understandings and uphold those commitments.”

Ashton says the school makes sure that after the one, two or three days that students are away from school, they are able to get back up to speed without too many hurdles. Part of this recirculation into the community is stimulated by reflective essays—one per day the student is suspended, according to Ashton. 

“There's always a prompt of, as you reflect on things, explain what you did, explain what you understand now that you didn't understand then of why it's a violation of the school's values,” he said. “and what have you learned from this? What's your commitment going forward?”

To help suspended students, Marmion recommends planning an appointment with Director of Counseling Barbara Van Drie.  

“Sometimes we recommend that a student get some counseling, that they speak to Ms. Van Drie or somebody else about how to deal with pressure or even just talking those things out with their parents and their teachers,” Marmion said. 

Senior Alex Baker, chairman of the Discipline Council, believes that, despite the disciplinary duties of the staff, all teachers are heavily invested in the improvement of their students.

“I can't name one teacher that doesn't care about your personal moral development,” Baker said. “All the teachers care that you are growing, developing and becoming a better version of yourself.”

So, are suspensions punitive or restorative? Ashton hopes restorative. 

“A boy might make a mistake multiple times. We're human. We started flawed, so it's okay to make mistakes,” Ashton said. “But we hope there is a restorative and learning piece. It's not just punitive.”

Editor’s note: Peter is a pseudonym used to protect the identity of the student interviewed.