The document summarizes the discipline process and policies at École Robb Road school. It outlines the school's approach which includes positively stated rules, teaching appropriate social behavior, consistently enforcing rules, and using positive reinforcement. Consequences are meant to be preventative and restorative. The school involves parents and seeks solutions at the earliest time. The goal of discipline is to help children learn from mistakes. The school does not use zero-tolerance policies which can hamper flexibility and intelligence in dealing with problems.

1. École Robb Road
Building an understanding of the
school-wide discipline process.

2. At Robb Road, we have…
• School wide rules and interventions
 With a guidelines concerning what classroom
teachers should handle versus what the office
should handle.
• Selective interventions
 For students who have difficulty following rules.
• Focused actions
 For the most chronically and intensely at-risk
students.

3. Robb Road’s approach to school-
wide discipline.
• There are a small number of positively stated rules
and expectations.
 Do nothing dangerous or damaging to yourself or
others.
 Obey the instructions of teachers and
supervisors at all times.
• Appropriate social behaviour is taught.
• Rule violations are consistently and fairly enforced.
• Positive reinforcement for appropriate social
behaviour is common.

4. The primary objective of
discipline is to help children
learn from their mistakes.
• “Consequences for misbehaviour will be
applied in a fair and judicious manner and
wherever possible the disciplinary action will
be preventative and restorative.”
 Restitution
 Loss/limit or delay of access to school areas.
 Denial of interaction with other students (“time
out”)
 In-school suspension
 Out of school suspension

5. Parental Involvement, Part I
• “Parents shall, within the provisions of the
school’s code of conduct, be informed of
potential issues at the earliest time possible and
be involved with students, in an age-appropriate
manner, in seeking solutions at the earliest time
practicable.” –Board policy 6020R1

6. Parental Involvement, Part II
• The scope or severity of an incident may
require us to advise other parties of serious
breaches of the code of conduct. For example:
 Parents of the offender(s) and victim(s)
 School district officials, police and other agencies – as
required by law or policy.
 Other parents – when deemed to be important to
reassure members of the school community that
school officials are aware of a serious situation or
incident and are taking appropriate actions.
-École Robb Road School Code of Conduct

7. Three common misconceptions:
• Getting tough is enough.
 Much more is needed, including a proactive system for teaching
and supporting appropriate behaviour.
• Focusing on the difficult few will solve the
problem.
 This is important, but it‟s just as important to build social
competency of all students.
• There is a quick fix.
 Sorry, but there are not shortcuts. A reasonable timeframe is 3-5
years.

8. … and three more:
• There is one powerful “trick”.
 Sorry again. There is no single strategy for getting good discipline.
• Someone already has the solution.
 Every school‟s needs are different. Plans must be tailored to
individual schools.
• More is better.
 The “Christmas tree” approach, loading one program on top of
another, doesn‟t work. It‟s more effective to eliminate practices that
are not working and carefully match new practices to a school.

9. Zero-tolerance policies
• We have no such policy at Robb Road or in
the district because…
 Such policies seriously hamper administrators‟ ability to
deal flexibly and intelligently with discipline problems. For
example
• A first grader being disciplined for “sexual
harassment” after smacking a classmate’s bottom on
the playground.
• The same punishment being meted out for the
possession of a butter knife and possession of a
switchblade.
 Research shows that zero-tolerance policies become the
virtual woodshed of school discipline: they are solely
punitive and lack any connection to learning and
development.

10. Yes, but…
Schools should never tolerate behaviour that
disrupts, disrespects, threatens, or harms
others.
 Bullying is not just „kids being kids‟.
 Smacking a classmate‟s bottom, even without
sexual intent, is not appropriate playground
behaviour.
The sooner and more directly we address even
small infractions with appropriate
interventions, the better.

11. A final thought…
The primary objective of any discipline policy
should be to help children learn from their
mistakes.
“Discipline and punishment are not
synonymous and we need to separate the two.
If not, we simply will build more and bigger
woodsheds, at a cost measured in wasted
public dollars, missed learning
opportunities, and, for some, the lost potential
of children’s lives.”
-Armistead, 2008