One of the largest public school districts in Texas is completely changing how it punishes students who misbehave.
The Dallas Independent School District will no longer suspend middle and high school students.
“Suspensions and in-school suspensions (ISS) never really fixed why some students were continually misbehaving and doing things that got them sent to ISS or suspended,” Gerre Cortez, an educator at H. Grady Spruce High School, told The Hub. “Now, we’re actually trying to fix the behavior.”
Instead of tossing kids out of class for things like fighting, Dallas students are now sent to reset centers at their school. The reset centers are open classrooms where kids can spend time if they need to calm down.
There students have chance to talk about what's causing them to act out. Reset coordinators work with the students to help them manage their stress and emotions.
“I’ll sit there and we’ll talk. Some have really big walls up and they have a lot going on, but I guarantee you if you take time to build that relationship the results are endless," DISD Reset Lab Coordinator Pierre Fleurinor told CBS DFW.
Students can then go back to class after working through what's bothering them.
Fleurinor hopes this new approach to discipline will catch on in other districts.
“A lot of other districts were you know a little nervous to implement something like this out of fear of behaviors just getting out of control, but I feel like the results that we’re getting are showing that we took the right steps,” he said.