Thread: Why send a child to the principal's office

We don't have guidelines. I have sent students to the office that were persistently beligerent in a single class. I have to think about the other students' learning. Usually that student had something else going on that set them off and spent the whole time in the principal's office crying and baring his/her soul.

As of this year, we have a list to use. There are items that are items that teachers should deal with in the classroom, and there are items that require an immediate office referral.

There were some teachers who would send kids to the office for the least little thing while others sent only severe offenses.

I try really, really hard to keep kids in the classroom, which is where they're supposed to be. However, if a student is interfering with the classroom to the point where I cannot teach and others cannot learn, they go.

Sometimes we use "babysitters" for our kids that need time out of the room. There are several of us who will volunteer to keep unruly kids as needed. There's nothing quite like how sitting in a room full of 8th grade girls will take the wind out of the sails of a goofy 7th grade boy.

The only time I send a student to the office is when his/her behavior disrupts the learning in my classroom. My rules (as stolen from another poster on this board) are:

1. You will do nothing that keeps the teacher from teaching.
2. You will do nothing that keeps others from learning.
3. You will do nothing that keeps yourself from learning.

(Thank again, Mary)

Those are the most comprehensive and all-encompassing rules I've ever seen.

Other than that, the kid stays with me and I can usually disarm him/her with a quick remark about either the silver lining or the natural consequences.

I only send a child to the principal's office for a heinous crime (hitting, biting, cutting someone else's hair in anger) as I feel that being sent to the principal is the last resort and I can only use that resource one time per child.

Originally Posted by Ima Teacher

...snip...There's nothing quite like how sitting in a room full of 8th grade girls will take the wind out of the sails of a goofy 7th grade boy

...or sitting in a kindergarten class with nothing to do but his/her own work and no audience. The little kids look the offender up and down and go on with their business. It's quite funny.

They go when dealing with them over and over takes time away from the learning of others.

Other than that we have a list of crimes and punishments in our handbook. SOmethings mean going directly to jail with no passing go.

Sometimes, that goes bad. In one school, they were always sending the "nerds" because they were bored and the social "high-ups" because - well it might have been envy. And in other cases because the teacher owed the parents company money and she was "getting even".
Yes these all happened - until it backfired.
One nerd just walked out and was tested by the nearby university and sent to M.I.T. on a full scholarship right out of 10th grade.
The "socially higher up's" parents preasured the board members not to rehire.
The one owing money found themselves in court.
But the worse was a large bully who was also a mental case and decked the admin for trying to paddle him. He vanished from the town. There were rumors that he joined some "special services" (Black Ops) unit and was killed.
The practice of sending them became too dangerous for most and it became rare.

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