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Table of Contents:

A. Student Discipline
B. Alternative Education
C. Truancy and Absences
D. Security Program

Maintaining a safe and secure educational environment requires comprehensive planning, policies, and appropriate programs that address the needs of all types of students. State law requires each school district to adopt a code of student conduct that establishes standards for student behavior and complies with provisions outlined in Chapter 37, Subchapter A of the Texas Education Code.

CURRENT SITUATION

PAISD's Student Code of Conduct complies with the requirements of the Texas Education Code. Like other districts around the state, PAISD faces an increasing variety of disciplinary problems. While districts once dealt mostly with behavior like talking in class, smoking on campus, or the occasional fight, today they face disciplinary problems ranging from drug and alcohol abuse to the possession of firearms and other weapons. Exhibit 13-1 details disciplinary incidents at PAISD high schools in the 1996-97 school year.

Exhibit 13-1
Disciplinary Incidents in PAISD High Schools in 1996-97

Offense	Austin*	Jefferson	Lincoln	Lamar Community Guidance Center**
Disciplinary action for possession, sale, or use of tobacco, alcohol, or other drugs	20	22	27	0
Arrests for possession, sale, or use of tobacco, alcohol, or other drugs	0	8	0	1
Incidents of school-related gang violence	0	0	3	1
Students in alternative education programs for possession, sale, or use of tobacco, alcohol, or other drugs	2	1	27	25
Other students in alternative education programs	21	90	59	221
Out-of-school suspensions for possession, sale, or use of tobacco, alcohol, or other drugs	2	20	27	0
Other out-of-school suspensions	164	400	119	0
Expulsions for possession, sale, or use of tobacco, alcohol, or other drugs	0	0	0	1
Other expulsions	1	0	0	0
Assaults against students	0	3	2	0
Assaults against teachers or staff	6	5	3	1
Vandalism or criminal mischief - school property	4	1	0	0
Vandalism or criminal mischief - student property	4	0	2	0
Vandalism or criminal mischief - teacher/staff property	1	1	0	0
Number of firearms confiscated	0	1	1	0
Number of other weapons confiscated	0	0	2	0
Total Offenses	225	552	272	250

Source: PAISD, 1996-97.
* High Schools student counts only.
** Represents number of incidents that occurred in the alternative education school.

Exhibit 13-2 provides an overview of the disciplinary incidents in PAISD middle schools during 1996-97.

Exhibit 13-2
Disciplinary Incidents in PAISD Middle Schools in 1996-97

Offense	Austin*	Edison	Wilson	Lamar Community Guidance Center**
Students referred for disciplinary action related to possession, sale, or use of tobacco, alcohol, or other drugs	8	6	12	0
Students arrested for offenses related to possession, sale, or use of tobacco, alcohol, or other drugs	0	3	0	0
Incidents of school-related gang violence	0	0	0	0
Students placed in alternative education programs due to possession, sale, or use of tobacco, alcohol, or other drugs	1	5	9	10
Other students placed in alternative education programs	10	32	48	115
Out-of-school suspensions related to possession, sale, or use of tobacco, alcohol, or other drugs	1	0	8	0
Out-of-school suspensions	593	568	723	0
Expulsions related to possession, sale, or use of tobacco, alcohol, or other drugs	0	0	0	0
Other suspensions	0	614	731	0
Assaults against students	0	0	5	0
Assaults against teachers or staff	1	8	2	1
Acts of vandalism or criminal mischief against school property	0	0	0	0
Acts of vandalism or criminal mischief against student property	0	0	0	0
Acts of vandalism or criminal mischief against teacher or staff property	0	0	1	0
Number of firearms confiscated	0	0	0	0
Number of other weapons confiscated	2	4	2	0
Total Offenses	616	1,240	1,541	126

Source: PAISD, 1996-97.
*Middle Schools student counts only.
**Represents number of incidents that occurred in the alternative education school.

FINDING

PAISD's Student Code of Conduct specifies the types of behavior deemed unacceptable and subject to disciplinary action. The disciplinary options available to school administrators include the use of corporal punishment, detention after school hours, reassignment of a student to another class, placement in an alternative education program, suspension, in-school suspension, expulsion, placement in a Juvenile Alternative Education Program (JJAEP) in the Jefferson County Youth Academy, or home-based instruction. The code details a list of actions of general misconduct that may be punished using one or more of these disciplinary methods. Actions characterized as general misconduct include:

• violating school safety rules;
  
• violating dress and grooming standards;
  
• cheating or copying another student's work;
  
• throwing objects that can cause bodily injury or property damage;
  
• leaving school grounds or school-sponsored events without permission of authorized school staff;
  
• using profanity, vulgar language, or obscene gestures;
  
• fighting;
  
• stealing;
  
• vandalizing or damaging property;
  
• misconduct on school buses;
  
• hazing;
  
• failing to comply with directives given by school personnel;
  
• repeatedly violating other communicated school or classroom standards of behavior;
  
• possessing or using matches or a lighter;
  
• possessing, smoking, or using tobacco products;
  
• committing extortion, coercion, or blackmail;
  
• committing or assisting in a burglary or theft that does not constitute a felony according to the Texas Penal Code;
  
• name-calling, ethnic or racial slurs, or derogatory statements that school officials have reason to believe will substantially disrupt school activities or incite violence;
  
• any other behavior that gives school officials reasonable cause to believe that such conduct will substantially disrupt school activities or incite violence;
  
• inappropriate physical or sexual contact;
  
• conduct that constitutes sexual harassment or sexual abuse, whether the conduct is spoken, gestured, or is some other form of sexual conduct;
  
• possessing a paging device or cellular phone; and
  
• behaving in any other way that disrupts the school environment or educational process.

PAISD has developed a comprehensive Student Code of Conduct that covers a variety of possible behavioral offenses and offers appropriate disciplinary actions to deal with those offenses. The code has been updated to reflect the most recent changes in the Texas Education Code.

COMMENDATION

PAISD's Student Code of Conduct provides a comprehensive guide for disciplinary actions that complies with state law and local policy.


FINDING

PAISD's disciplinary process contains most of the appropriate student management components to help the district adequately deal with student disciplinary problems. However, TSPR noted concerns about the application of some of these components. In interviews with TSPR team members, principals, administrators, parents, and law enforcement officials said that the district's discipline policy is not applied consistently, and in a way that would prevent small disciplinary problems such as arguing or rough-housing from escalating into larger problems, such as fighting or even more violent behavior.

Many people interviewed about PAISD's disciplinary process said that while disciplinary problems ideally should be dealt with at the classroom level, teachers often do not possess the skills needed to address these issues. Comments from the community as well as from some school principals revealed that teachers need additional training to help them cope with disciplinary problems before they get out of hand and disrupt the educational process.

The ultimate responsibility for managing PAISD's schools lies with the principals and assistant principals, and they too expressed an interest in needing additional assistance in learning how to handle disciplinary situations more effectively.

Recommendation 139:

Provide additional training to school principals and assistant principals, classroom teachers, and other school personnel in ways to manage discipline problems.

PAISD should develop a training module and merge it into the existing training on the Student Code of Conduct. Principals, assistant principals, and teachers need training in the appropriate ways to apply the elements of the Student Code of Conduct.

IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES AND TIMELINE

1. The assistant superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction works with the superintendent to develop an appropriate training module for dealing with disciplinary problems.	June 1998
2. The assistant superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction and the superintendent combine this training with existing training on the Student Code of Conduct.	July 1998
3. The assistant superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction presents the training module to school principals to be used in the 1998-99 school year.	July 1998
4. The assistant superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Schools begins using the training module to train teachers.	September 1998

FISCAL IMPACT

This recommendation can be implemented with existing resources.

FINDING

Teachers and administrators alone can not solve PAISD's disciplinary problems. Students also must play a role by finding more effective ways of dealing with problems, particularly those that are likely to escalate into violence. PAISD does not use peer mediation as a technique to assist students in learning appropriate discipline skills.

Other school districts have found that peer mediation programs can be quite effective in curbing discipline problems. Peer mediation trains students to intervene and help to settle disputes between fellow students through negotiation. A peer mediation program encourages students to take more responsibility for their fellow students' actions and `take back' their schools from students who would otherwise disrupt the classroom, and does so, in a way that does not require the intervention of traditional adult authority figures. Examples of model peer mediation programs follow.

• The peer mediation program at John Glenn Elementary School of Northside ISD in San Antonio trains students in grades four and five in the art of conflict resolution. The school has 33 student mediators who help their fellow students work out their conflicts by helping them talk through to a solution in formal and informal negotiation. The suspension rate at John Glenn has dropped dramatically in the two years in which the program has been in place.
  
• The peer mediation program at Matilija Junior High School in Ojai, California has trained 15 peer mediators from grade eight; in the first year of the program, students conducted ten mediations to help their fellow students resolve their differences in a peaceful manner. The school also requires a class in conflict resolution for students in grade seven. The peer mediation program has reduced conflict and confrontation among the racially diverse student population.
  
• The peer mediation program at Santa Maria Middle School in Phoenix, Arizona, in its third year of operation, has trained 45 mediators, 15 each from grades six, seven, and eight, in dealing with conflicts among their peers. Program administrators are developing a database to track the number of mediations conducted and their success rate.

Recommendation 140:

Pilot a peer mediation program in PAISD.

PAISD should conduct a pilot test of a peer mediation program to determine how well it works and whether it could be expanded to all district schools.
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES AND TIMELINE

1. The superintendent or designee contacts other school districts in Texas and across the country to obtain information on successful peer mediation programs.	September 1999
2. The superintendent reviews the information with the executive cabinet; the cabinet determines if such a program should be established in PAISD.	October 1999
3. The assistant superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction selects three schools (one elementary, one middle, and one high school) to conduct a pilot peer mediation program.	October 1999
4. The assistant superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction selects a committee made up of representatives from the three pilot schools to develop a training curriculum for the pilot program.	November 1998
5. The committee develops the training curriculum using information on curricula used in other school districts for their peer mediation programs.	November 1999
6. The committee selects the first group of students to be trained as peer mediators.	January 2000
7. Peer mediators conduct mediation sessions in their schools under the guidance of the principal or the principal's designee.	Beginning February 2000 and ongoing
8. The assistant superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction and the committee evaluate the results of the peer mediation program, and determine whether to expand it to other PAISD schools.	May 2000

FISCAL IMPACT

This recommendation can be accomplished with existing resources.