A Case Study of Mary Jane Sims Elementary - Department of ...

some concern, as expressed by another interviewee, that the lack of a campus-wide discipline
plan may create a “not my kid, not my problem” attitude among teachers.
Another area of concern revealed in a few teacher interviews and further evidenced in the
Discipline Report for the 2006-2007 School Year is disciplinary action inequities (see Figure 7).
One teacher reported there was a “huge disparity between how Latino kids are disciplined and
how African American kids are disciplined.” The teacher added, “Kids are not stupid, they see
how it is.” Although it is not clear who is being treated unfairly in this statement, the discipline
report clearly shows large discrepancies between the numbers of referrals given to African
American students as compared to their Hispanic counterparts. These data do not reflect student
or teacher specific disciplinary reports.
Number of Disciplinary Actions
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
African American Hispanic
Ethnicity
Figure 7. Student discipline aggregate report, 2006-2007.
Page 16
Male
Female
Overall, when respondents were asked about school weaknesses and areas for
improvement, the need specifically for a “school wide discipline plan” was the number one
response. One teacher declared, “Lack of [a] consistent campus-wide discipline plan. That is
huge. That has been a big, big problem.” In addition, various teachers hinted that one side effect
of the lack of a school-wide discipline plan is higher teacher mobility. This sentiment was
echoed by one respondent who noted,
One of the biggest needs is the school-wide discipline. Students come from rough
families, they come to school angry. We need to address that as a school wide problem
and come up with a plan, and I think it makes it hard for people to stay for that reason.
Although there is mention of a school discipline plan in the Sims Elementary 101 manual as well
as the proposed development of such a plan in the 2007-2008 CIP, there is little evidence of such
a school-wide discipline plan ever being materialized beyond a brief code of conduct outlined in