....What Student discpline Should look Like....

...update...I had the opportunity to sit down with the administration of two schools in which I am concerned about bullying and student behavior on the school bus.  The meeting was mediated by a administrator who I admire greatly as well as her assistant administrator. The two have done wonders in turning the school's behavior around. I only wish that I could mention their names.  I am taking this opportunity to share what Pro-Active Administrative Support should look like in Atlanta Public Schools....

Ms. Soughters is a all smiles but "no play" kind of administrator.  She loves her kids, but quick to correct their actions.  She get parents involved in their child's lives and truth be told she is a fun administrator to work with day to day.  A person cannot help but appreciate Ms. Soughters because she is supportive of school bus drivers and deal with student misconduct "right there on the spot" before the child gets more than three feet off the bus.  Not that I love seeing little babies cry when they get into trouble, but it's a beautiful to see when an administrator put the fear of God in a child when he or she tells them that "you're coming with me to call your momma." Proverbs 22:5 states "Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him."  Of course,  Ms. Soughters does not engage in any kind of corporate punishment, but she effectively use parent intervention, time-outs, silent lunch, suspension in away that drives folly far away from the hearts of children. In fact, I have only had to "write-up" two students this year, compared to the twenty-something at another school.  The "on-the-spot" discipline is very effective and beneficial to school bus drivers.  

In addition to the "on-the-spot" discipline, Ms. Soughters is a proactive administrator, who is not afraid to ride a school bus.  I remember the time that APS Transportation had combined two schools on my bus route and the students from the other school were bothering her babies, so she rode my bus! (Very rare from an Administrator) She got all the students to sit down, but one.  When the child who wouldn't sit down exited the bus to go home, I pointed out to Ms. Soughters that the child engaged in this deviant behavior every morning and afternoon and get all the other children stirred up.  "Oh, really," she said. "I believe that I need to talk to this child's momma."  "Hey, kid get back here!"   The child turns and with a few choice words the kid expressed to her "get some where."    I am certain that being cussed out by a child did not sit well with Ms. Soughters, because her next response was to ask me for my phone number, which I gave her. Then she did something that I haven't ever seen an administrator do before or since, she RAN after the child!  "What are you doing," I screamed.   She replied, "I am going to find the child's parents, come find me when you finish your route."   At that moment, the child so happened turned around and saw her coming and the child took off running...lol.  I thought that Ms. Soughters would've given up on the pursuit, but she picked up the pace......pause.....

...so I am pausing now because I have to explain something to everyone that my bus route is in the HOOD of Atlanta...not just any hood, but The Hood. A place where there are more people in prison than any other area code in Georgia. It's in a place where twice last week I had windows busted out my school bus,  gangs, drug dealers and prostitute hangout on all the corners, and less than a 100 yards from where I dropped off this child, a gun was pulled on my kids, while I was stopped at a stop sign...smh (shaking-my-heading)

.....so to have a female administrator jump off my bus to chase down a kid from the hood was something very new to me.  Believe it or not, she tracked down the child and spoke to the parent, because the next morning the mother was at my school bus door stating that "If her child ever cause me anymore problem to give her a call." Yes, the mother gave me her number. Go Ms. Soughters! 

What trips me out that she chased down a child from the other school whose kids were picking on her babies.  True Pro-Active Administrative support!  

I share this story because there are several schools in the Atlanta Public School system who are failing to do what they need to get student misconduct on the bus and within the schools under control.  But there are also schools and administrators who are fighting to win our children back from the street/hood mentality that encourages them to not amount to anything and become deviant individuals. Ms. Soughters style of administration gives me hope that our Atlanta Schools will soon become safe havens where a child can come and learn without fearing what might happen to him or her on the bus.  Hats off to the Ms. Soughters out there!  

What's the key to Pro-Active Discipline: 

1.  On-the-spot discipline.  Do not let the child get two feet from you without them knowing what's going to happen to them. 

2.  Being Pro-Active by Innovative means. Yes, up and to the point of riding a school bus or chasing a child down on foot to find his parent so they can get involved. 

3. Getting, Encouraging, and Forcing Parent Involvement.  There are times when you have to go that extra mile to get that parent involved.  Here's the reality.  Many parents want to be involved in his or her child's life, but just don't know how. 

4. Love your kids as if they your Own.  What drives us to love and protect our babies is when we accept and adopt them into our lives. Children will see this love and will do right in order to please us.  This form of bus management is the most enjoyable =)

5. Make sure that administrators, teachers, and school bus drivers are on the same page with student management.  

6. Provide monitors for school bus drivers who find it difficult to control student behavior and safely drive. 

" Laugh often, love continually, and correct diligently."

-jeramy