AUGUST 2022 ■ VOLUME 24 ■ NUMBER 7 Discipline
Return to Table of Contents EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Tiffany Barrett Keith Burke Rick Hunt Nicholas 11025SteveDanMitchanerPeoSamuelKellyStormsEast25thStreetIndianapolis,IN462291-800-285-2188or317-891-9900www.iasp.orgtbarrett@iasp.org © 2022 Indiana Association of School Principals All rights reserved. Any duplication without prior written permission is strictly prohibited. The Indiana Association of School Principals leads in the advocacy and support of all principals in commitmenttheirtoeverychild. Connect with us AUGUST 2022 ■ VOLUME 24 ■ NUMBER 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS President’s Letter - Sowers of Hope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 IDOE - Back to School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Designed by Indiana teachers! Taught by Indiana teachers! . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 From the AP Lens: Gaining a 30,000 Foot View 10 DISCIPLINE What’s the difference?: Classroom Management vs Classroom Discipline 14 We are a TEAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT Maybe It’s Time for a Dress Code Refresh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Infinite Capacity Community Partnership Series: Social Responsibility and Community: Connecting Dewey’s Discipline Paradigm to Humanitarian Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 IPLI Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 SERVICE Riley Kids Caring & Sharing Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 LEGAL REVIEW Legal Situation Brief: Back-To-School Legal Checklist 23 Discipline
PRESIDENT’S LETTER 3www.iasp.org
Isn’t cultivating hope what we seek to accomplish every year with each of our students? Hope has seemed in short supply over the past few years. Yet, I enter this school year more at peace and excited than I have been for the past two years. I chose to adhere to Mother Theresa’s charge, “We must give hope, always hope.” Why is the so important? When we leave legacies of hope with our students, they reseed future generations, leaving their own legacies of hope. Only then will we see hope rising!
I am honored to serve as your President for the 22-23 school year. In celebrating its 30th birthday, IASP is primed to also be a sower of hope for its members through its advocacy, leadership development, member support and student programs. I want to wish all of you the best as you enter a new school Beyear!sowers of hope! Matt Shockley IASP SowersPresident of Hope
Return to Table of Contents
When taking time away from school, I love being outside. I spend time in my yard tending to the various flowers and shrubs planted over the years. Several of my flower varieties can reseed themselves like Shasta Daisies, Zinnias, and Black-Eyed Susans. As these plants begin to fade and dry out, you can find many seeds in a single flower head - as many as 100 seeds in some cases. These can fall to the ground and sprout next season or you can shake the flower heads and capture the seeds to store for the spring. These seeds and the reseeding process sparked an idea for my final “send-off” remarks to my staff, and I want to use the same metaphor to encourage all of you too.
Entering this new school year, think of your school as new plot of land and you as the lead caretaker. After some rest, you return seeing your plot ripe with opportunity and potential for growth. The reseeding process begins with hundreds of seeds - your students – ready for planting, watering, etc. For some, this may be the first seeds under your care as lead caretaker. Yet others, you have overseen the reseeding process many times, caring for thousands of seeds over your career. Whether this is your first year as a school leader or the 20th year (like me!), I want us all to consider ourselves as sowers of hope with the seeds under our care. In their book Hope Rising: How the Science of Hope Can Change Your Life, Casey Gwinn and Chan Hellman define hope as “the belief that your future can be brighter and better than your past and that you actually have a role to play in making it better.” Essentially, a person with high hope has goals, the motivation and perseverance to pursue them, and a plan to get there. Gwinn and Hellman reviewed hundreds of studies that show that hope is the single best predictor of well-being, and high hope can positively impact work as well as physical and mental health. Bottom line, hope matters!
Speaking of celebrations, IASP is set to celebrate our 30th Birthday! We were formed in 1992 as the secondary and the elementary/middle school associations came together. Since that inception, we have continued to develop our programming and service to you as your needs have also changed. Since my time at IASP (2010), we have worked through many General Assembly bills, 3 State Superintendents and 1 Secretary of Education, and holding virtual conferences in 2020. Through these and many other issues, IASP has held true to our mission statement, “The Indiana Association of School Principals leads in the advocacy and support of all principals in their commitment to every child.” Or as I like to say when describing IASP, “All Principals, All Kids.” So, please make plans to celebrate with us across the year, but specifically at our AP Conference and Fall Professionals Conference in November. We have a fantastic lineup of speakers and will have special events and giveaways during both conferences to honor the tremendous leadership you display, and the leaders who helped make IASP happen! Thanks for taking time to also read through this issue of the Indianagram. We are honored to have Mr. Matt Shockley as our IASP President for 2022-2023, and his message of Hope resonates with me personally, and as your IASP Executive Director. We do believe our association’s future will be brighter, and that with Matt’s leadership (and that of our Executive Committee and Board), IASP has strong motivation and plans for our next 30 years! I invite you to take time to realize your own hope can be a strategy, and that with the right supports in place, continued and greater success will occur.
Return to Table of Contents
the
Future Indianagram themes Celebrations September 2022 Community Partnerships and Grants October 2022 Cultural Responsiveness November 2022 Support Systems January 2023 Relationships February 2023 Safety March 2023 Data Literacy April 2023 Social Media May 2023 Best of 2022-23 June 2023 Share your thoughts on the https://forms.gle/sCmLHwnh4aYcTJdr8Indianagram IASPCommitteeExecutiveMattShockley President Dr.
Dr. Daniel
Assistant Principal Liaison FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 4 www.iasp.org
Past
Dr. Todd D. Bess IASP Executive Director Crystal Murff Holly Arnold President Aimee Lunsford President Amy Niemeier Representative Baker to DOE Peo
Thorpe President-Elect Dr.
NAESP State
Dave Strouse NASSP State Coordinator Steve
Liaison
Vice
Welcome Back to the 2022-2023 school year, and we hope the year is off to a good start. As we have spoken with several principals in the last few weeks, the common theme is that the start this year is going well and teachers (and most kids) are glad to be back for what we all hope is a more normal year. Of course, our definition of normal has changed and likely won’t return to the pre-pandemic time, but as school leaders, we have always taken what has come to our communities and state, and elevated our school practices and instruction to address any issues. It is also important for IASP to note that since early 2020, your leadership has been outstanding and has allowed our students to succeed and grow in numerous ways. We can often look at data that shows our achievement or growth isn’t where it needs to be, or used to be, and then feel that we are not doing enough. We would state that the opposite is true. Without all the measures you put in place, our data would be even more worrisome. We know you continue to strive for greater achievement, yet please also remember that it is important to celebrate small and large successes with your students, staff, and community.
Return to Table of Contents Special thanks to our Platinum Corporate Sponsor IASP hosts events throughout the year to support the growth and development of Indiana school administrators and students. Each event is intentionally designed to encourage and engage all participants in the pursuit of learning! Find A Full List Of Events at www.iasp.org/Events UPCOMING EVENTS Are your students suffering from the Teacher Shortage? Make data driven staffing decisions. Powered by EducationAdvanced.com/Cardonex 5www.iasp.org
Dr. Katie Jenner Indiana Secretary of Education
I am incredibly grateful for this continued collaboration throughout the summer months, and we intend to keep our foot on the gas pedal as we usher in the new school year. Some of the work we will be talking a lot about this fall includes the launch of the Indiana Graduates Prepared to Succeed (Indiana GPS) school performance dashboard, the supply side of our educator supply and demand marketplace, and the continuation of our literacy and STEM initiatives…just to name a few! Through these initiatives, and countless others, we can continue to work together to prepare each and every student for their future and help them reach their full Aspotential.theschool year begins and the hustle and bustle returns to our hallways, I am constantly reminded of the impact you, our school building leaders, have on our students and our state…thank you for your willingness to go the extra mile for our students. I look forward to hitting the road this fall, seeing firsthand the work you are leading in your buildings, and celebrating these successes alongside you! thanks
Return to Table of Contents
Back to School
I hope many of you have been able to relax and recharge this summer…maybe you were relaxing on a beach with a book in your hand, or maybe you were recharging during one of our Get Your Teach On educator conferences! Here at IDOE, our team has been busy this summer curating tailored professional development content in the Indiana Learning Lab to best support you (based on your feedback!), releasing and awarding numerous grant opportunities, forming intentional partnerships to better support our state’s 1.2 million students, and much, much more! Our literacy and STEM initiatives also kicked off this summer (if you haven’t already, check out our priorities for early literacy and STEM) with the deployment of over 100 instructional coaches serving nearly 70 schools. Educators (teachers and principals) in these schools received high-quality training, guidance, professional development, and coaching in the Science of Reading and integrated STEM content and pedagogy. This comprehensive approach also includes partnering with educator preparation programs to train our future educators and will continue over the course of the next two years to ensure both current and future educators are fully equipped with tools they need to best support our students in foundational literacy and STEM learning. This summer, we also partnered with Get Your Teach On to launch a firstof-its-kind partnership to provide interactive professional development and support to educators across the state. This partnership provides Indiana educators and administrators with free access to conferences, workshops, and training sessions developed to ignite their passion for teaching and promote positive educational outcomes for students. This multi-tiered approach, targeted towards educators and administrators serving students in pre-K through grade eight, will continue through this school year and next. In September, administrators will have the opportunity to attend one of four free one-day mini leadership conferences, Get Your Lead On…and I’d definitely encourage you to check one out!
to our BronzeSponsors:Corporate 6 www.iasp.org
Special
Each year, August signals a fresh start, a blank slate, as new children fill our classrooms and bring with them an eagerness to learn…and SO many unique personalities! The start of a new school year is always such an exciting time, with limitless opportunities ahead for our students, and our team at IDOE is eager to kick-off the 2022-2023 school year with you!
Designed by Indiana teachers! Taught by Indiana teachers!
Return to Table of Contents
Mark Conrad, MS., Ed. Leadership Project Management Specialist IU Office of School Partnerships Are you interested in innovative ways to fulfill graduation requirements for students and creative ways to fill instructional capacity? We may have a solution for you!
The Indiana Department of Education has partnered with Indiana University to develop high-quality, engaging, virtual courses designed and taught by licensed Indiana teachers and made available to students across the state. Getting involved now will enable you and your teachers to help transform current course options through the development of innovative partnerships and collaboration with other schools to provide course access to ALL Hoosier Asstudents.partof the Federal Expanding Access to Well-Rounded Courses program, course access relies on a network of schools to collaborate, along with experts from IU, to develop 90 courses (k-12) aligned with Indiana Academic Standards. The development of courses will occur in four phases. 15 courses are already planned for fall 2022-23 and we are beginning to partner with schools for phase II to develop 25 courses to be ready for enrollment fall 2023-24, with additional phases each Interestedyear. in joining this exciting new statewide collaborative network? We have openings for 20 schools to come onboard in the coming year, and spots are filling up fast- don’t miss your chance to bring new and innovative classes to your Tostudents!partner or for more information, contact Mark Conrad @ maconrad@iu.edu. iasp.org
7www.
Return to Table of Contents8 www.iasp.org
Return to Table of Contents 9www.iasp.org
Welcome to the 2022-2023 school year, IASP! I am honored to be able to continue this monthly column in the Indianagram that views our monthly topics through the lens of assistant principals. This month’s topic is one that often falls into the wheelhouse of assistant principals, and in a recent qualitative study that I completed, 12 of 13 assistant principals that I interviewed said that part of their roles and responsibilities involved student discipline (Peo, 2021). As I have been exposed to our growing understanding of brain science and how that intersects with education, I am drawing upon two inspiring voices to kick off this article. Dr. Becky Bailey, the creator of Conscious Discipline, is quoted as saying, “Discipline isn’t something you do to children; it’s something you develop within them.” Dr. Lori Desautels, a leading voice in applied educational neuroscience and assistant professor at Butler University, has said, “Beneath every behavior, there is a feeling. And beneath each feeling, there is a sensation that drives our needs for safety, connection, and calm. And when we meet that need rather than focus on behavior, we begin to deal with the physiological cause, not the behavior.” As a practitioner and assistant principal, I still rely on traditional means of discipline, but I continue to learn and believe that understanding both adult and student dysregulation is key to making improvements in student behavior by addressing the root causes of that dysregulation. My co-author this month is the new principal at North Montgomery High School, Mr. Jonathan Guthrie. Jonathan and I have known each other from District 4 for the past few years, and I value his input on this month’s topic of discipline through the lens of Educational Neuroscience as he has implemented many brain-aligned practices at North Montgomery during his time as an assistant principal there.
Brain Aligned Discipline Creating effective systems of discipline in a school setting is an amazingly difficult task. Our schools serve an extremely diverse range of learners who vary wildly in their environment and life experiences. It has been said by Dr. Lori Desautels that “Traditional forms of discipline work best for those that need
From the AP Lens: Gaining a 30,000 Foot View
Jonathan Guthrie NorthPrincipalMontgomery High School
Dr. Dan Peo Assistant Principal Wea Ridge Middle School it the least.” However, what do we do with the students that traditional forms of discipline do not seem to be effective with? It is the behavior of this group that can potentially make or break the climate and culture of the school. Traditionally, we remove them from the educational setting to preserve the climate and culture, or for lack of a better idea or option. I have been guilty of doing just that as an assistant principal at various times. However, this just displaces the problem, it does not solve it. As someone who lives in the school community I serve and is raising my children in that same community, simply removing students from the educational setting does not make our community better. It will possibly calm the waters of our school, but longitudinally, it displaces those choppy waters to the community at large. It is a tough line to walk, both making decisions that best for a school community, for an individual student, and for the larger local Ifcommunity.ourstudents are extremely diverse as individuals, then how on Earth do we develop systems and structures to address this? I think the question to ask next is, what is the same between all of us? Not just our students, but the educators as well? The answer is that we possess the same biology. Specifically, that biology is primarily driven and dictated by our brains. Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor said, “Most of us think of ourselves as thinking creatures that feel, but we are actually feeling creatures that Ithink.”amof the opinion that the 4 pillars of Applied Educational Neuroscience, as developed by Dr. Desautels, do the best at approximating an understanding of how to address discipline systems that takes into account the brain development of a child. Those pillars are: educator brain state, attachment/ touchpoints, co-regulation, and teaching educators/students about their neuroanatomy. I would argue that educator brain state is the most important of these and that the teaching of educators about their neuroanatomy is what allows you to move the needle on this.
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL CONNECTION
10 www.iasp.org
Return to Table of Contents
Return to Table of Contents
Mr. Guthrie can be reached via email at jguthrie@nm.k12.in.us
References Peo, D. E. (2021). Traits, experiences, and socialization of assistant principals: A modified delphi study (Doctoral dissertation, Indiana State University).
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL CONNECTION 11www.iasp.org
At North Montgomery High School, in 2017, we began a yearlong dive into working with our teachers to better understand our own brain anatomy, how we form positive connections with our students, and we regulate our own emotions so we can co-regulate with our students. We were able to measure our effectiveness based on how often students were kicked out of class. We generated the following data: As you can see, at NMHS we experienced a precipitous drop in classroom kick outs and were able to sustain that trend. The road and path to students being kicked out to class is a complex one, thus, the solution is perhaps just as complex, but the biggest thing we saw as a variable that changed was engaging with our staff about their neuroanatomy, building positive touchpoints with students, and strategies for regulating our own emotions. It feels like that would also stand to Thereason.following has been the quote at the end of my email signature for a while. Dr. Haim Ginott said, “I’ve come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized.” We all have stories as educators, as parents, family members, as friends where we handled situations well and others where we didn’t. When I’m being honest about my own stories, my brain state was the ultimate driver of that outcome. By engaging in an acknowledgement of our ability to control our brain states as a whole staff, we can promote more positive outcomes for the students we serve. Simultaneously, as a staff, we all engaged in practicing the 2x10 strategy. Based on the work of Dr. Raymond Wlodkowski, the 2x10 strategy means you have an authentic conversation with a student for 2 minutes a day, 10 days in a row, and this is enough for an adult to form a positive connection with a student. And isn’t that what a disruptive student is honestly seeking without being aware of it? By systematically having an entire staff engage in this practice consistently, a web of unseen, yet positive support begins to permeate the building. Lastly, part of brain aligned discipline is also honestly reviewing policy and determining whether or not it is having the intended effect in practice. At the secondary level, we’ve all likely experienced the cognitive dissonance of behavior change in the form of e-cigarette use butting up against policy that was truthfully not meant to address this epidemic. Prior to vapes and e-cigarettes, I had very few incidents of students smoking cigarettes and using chewing tobacco compared to the uptick of e-cigarette use. At North Montgomery, our policy stated that a first offense of this nature would result in a 3 day out of school Assuspension.theadoption of e-cigarette use at school exploded, so too did the number of students I was out of school suspending. I’m embarrassed to admit how slow I was to adjust. If the policy was successful, the consequences would lead to a reduction in incidents. However, we did not see that trend. Instead, a lot of instructional minutes were lost. Does that mean there shouldn’t be consequences? Absolutely not. Consequences, when done well, are paramount to our development. However, these consequences were, in my estimation, creating more harm than good. As a result, we’ve changed policy to provide consequences that I think might better address the issue without resorting to immediately taking seat time away from the offending student. Will this have the intended effect? I don’t know, but by engaging in a purposeful analysis year in and year out of our policies and consequences of their implementation, we can make that determination and make adjustments as we need Becomingto. brain aligned as educators starts with us. By understanding our own biology, we can begin to exert better control in stressful situations. We can begin to better develop authentic systems, like employing the 2x10 strategy as a staff, that promote positive touchpoints in our buildings. We can use better methods to regulate our own emotions. Students will seek out positive connections with educators who can better handle stressful situations. Those educators radiate trust. By modeling this behavior, day in and day out, we can stand as role models for our students and for our colleagues. Behavior is contagious, thus, it starts with us.
Return to Table of Contents Join us for this episode of the IASP LeaderCast. A weekly Wednesdaycontainingproductionpodcastshort,sweetnuggetsofWisdomforourleadershipgrowth.Inthisepisode,wemeetMattShockley,PrincipalatAvonHighSchoolandthenewIASPPresident! 12 www.iasp.org
Return to Table of Contents 13www.iasp.org
Return to Table of Contents DISCIPLINE
Aimee Lunsford LincolnPrincipalElementary
School Like many of you, I sat through an exorbitant amount of interviews this year hiring a large number of new staff. One of the questions we always ask our candidates is, “tell us about the difference between classroom management and classroom discipline.”
It is always enlightening to hear the answers. Most often teachers are well aware of the difference, that classroom management is the manner in which you set up your class, your relationships, procedures, routines and classroom environment and that those things play a key role in your classroom discipline. It isn’t uncommon to hear a candidate say, “I don’t love the term discipline as it carries a negative connotation,” or “good classroom management lends itself to strong self discipline within students.”
Indiana Online is a trusted resource and choice educational partner, o ering a wide variety of online courses developed and taught by Indiana licensed teachers. Partnering with us o ers your students flexibility with their education.
What’s the difference?: Classroom Management vs Classroom Discipline
While those are great answers, what I often find is that those philosophies and practices are much easier to articulate than they are to carry out. My wonder then is how well we as principals are supporting our new teachers with this concept and its practices. What classroom management structures are coached up and developed, especially at the secondary level? I for one have been guilty as a leader of assuming that if they can articulate these practices well then they could carry them out. I have also put way more emphasis on instructional developing than I have behavior management developing. This year, we decided to put our money where our mouth is and instead of coming to terms with the disconnect in articulation and practice, we have put a new teacher building mentor framework in place that has a strong focus on classroom management, documentation of behaviors and strategies to use with students when things derail. We want teachers to develop strong relationships with students and for that to be the foundation of their classroom management plan, but we often just assume that these skills are in place and then run triage when they are in a bad state. My hope is that as we embrace large numbers of new staffers this year across the state, we put the supports in place for strong classroom management AND classroom discipline. Our staff and our students deserve it!
14 www.iasp.org
For more information check out indianaonline.org
The largest online high school course provider in o ering student support and rigorous courses. A resource with a complete high school curriculum and managementlearningsystem. Schools and families benefit from full-time virtual synchronous and asynchronous courses in grades 5-12. A 6-week session o ering over 120 high school courses with a flexible schedule and student support.
That mentality is what drives everything we do at New Palestine High School. Led by Principal Jim Voelz, this is what guides us in our daily mission. As administrators, sometimes we are responsible for communicating directives to students and staff. We all know this is due to a wide variety of factors that are most of the time beyond our control. That’s just the nature of the job. But when possible, the team approach has and will always be our first method to creating real and sustainable change within the school.
■ Each student must wear a a common lanyard that had the teacher’s name on it.
■ Cell phones must stay in the Ourclassroom.secretaries ordered lanyards and gave two to each teacher with their names on them. We implemented this when students returned from their Spring Break. When announced to the students, the first two rules seemed to go over just fine. Then that last one - no cell phone?! Yep - no cell phone if you have a pass to leave class. We took a few weeks to see how it went. We didn’t ask our teaches to collect any quantitative data. The last thing we wanted to do was add additional work onto our teachers. But we asked them what they noticed - as they walked to/from lunch, in the hallways during prep, etc. Did they notice a difference? And the answer was a resounding “yes!” Students were in class. Students spent less time out of class. There were fewer restroom behavioral incidents. Did we need to remind students some minor things (such as wearing the lanyards)? Sure - repeated behaviors become habits, which is what we were guiding our students through. It seems simple - a hall pass with a lanyard. But we saw noticeable change within the school. Students were in class longer, engaged longer, and learning more. We’re excited to see where this Problem of Practice process will take us as we work together as a team to be, as our principal puts it, the best high school in the universe!
I don’t have any hard data or citations to share - that’s just what we believe in as we live by our “team” mentality. This is how we lead the school. A hundred brains are better than a few. Our staff worked together to define “problems of practice.” The idea was to look at areas of concern within the school - and identify the causes and potential solutions. This was more than just putting a bandaid on a systemic problem. It was also more than playing the blame game - who was responsible for what. It was an effort to come together as a team to make our school even greater. And to do it together. Teachers were divided into teams to address these concerns - including tardies, hall wandering, cell phones, dress code, etc. The rules were simple: based upon the topic at hand, teachers were to discuss what was going well, where we could improve, and solutions that involved the entire staff working Atogether.fewguidelines were communicated to the staff before this process was started. What this was: an opportunity for staff to collaborate together and share ideas. What this was not: a way to play the blame for any group of people. Staff was asked to be honest with each other and to keep on the task at hand. This was going to be a group effort for the betterment of the entire Toschool.practice this, our teachers were asked to focus on one main problem we wanted to help: hall roaming and skipping. Why are students not in class? Why are students constantly being found hanging out together in the restrooms? What is allowing this to happen - and what’s the reason it does? Teams met weekly - with agendas and goals for each meeting to guide the process. For example, one week teams discussed the “why” of the hallway roaming. They are told NOT to come up with solutions. It’s easy to jump to that point - but the “why” is where we needed to start. As a teacher group, teams were asked to (after the discussion of the “why”) come up with sustainable actions that could be implemented to help curtail this issue. Each team had a member submit their ideas to administration. Some of the ideas we got ranged from harsher consequences to banning cell phones to a pass book with a limited number of passes. A guideline we gave was that it couldn’t be just “admin need to do more.” We needed a plan that involved the entire staff. Each member had a critical role to play. All of these suggestions were put together into a survey and sent to teams to vote on. Teachers were asked to vote on what could be immediately implemented. This was just a few weeks before Spring Break, so the ideas was to implement something as a whole school when students returned. It needed to be simple. We wanted to see long-term change - but needed something simple to start that change. We weren’t looking to add more work to someone - a teacher, administrator, assistant, secretary, etc. And the more complicated it became, the more confusing it would be for our everyone involved. After multiple discussions, the staff come to a consensus on hall procedures. The rules were simple:
15www.iasp.org
■ Students should only leave one at a time (barring of course emergencies - in which teachers can always use their own professional judgment).
We are a TEAM.
Return to Table of Contents DISCIPLINE
Nicholas Mitchaner Assistant Principal New Palestine High School
Return to Table of Contents IASP Presents Indiana State Board of Accounts Extra Curricular Account Virtual Workshop September 14, 2022 March 14, 2023 9am 10:30 EST Presenters, Chase Lenon and Jonathan Wineinger, Government Technical Assistance and Compliance Directors for the Indiana State Board of Accounts Register online at www.iasp.org (under Principal Programs) Questions, email Beth Moore Kissel at emoore@iasp.org Method of Payment - $50 per person Check (payable to IASP), P O , or Credit Card This workshop will provide Extra Curricular Account (ECA) Treasurers occupation procedural information. When you register you will receive a few items to help you prepare for the 90 minute workshop. Included, you will receive a link to a training video as well as a link to submit questions and topics you would like to cover at the workshop. 16 www.iasp.org
Maybe It’s Time for a Dress Code Refresh
It’s August, and that means one thing – especially to assistant principals everywhere: dress code enforcement issues. With that thought, comes the HWGA (Here We Go Again) Syndrome quickly followed by the JWITIHSIA (Just When I Thought I Had Seen It All) Disorder lined up outside the office door. Before we go down in despair at what may seem like the same-old, same-old dress code issues ad nauseam, it would be helpful to look at dress codes from an equity perspective. This is a national trend that has not quite reached the Hoosier state, but it might be good for us to get out ahead of this one! Stick with us for a few, and it will become clearer.
The good thing is, we can address it in schools! First, let’s examine the roots of the issue. Having so many requirements for girls that target “revealing” clothes can contribute to the over-sexualization of girls and send a message that their bodies are problematic. This can communicate, even unintentionally, that the way girls dress or present themselves, can cause boys to be distracted from school, harass, or mistreat them and make the girls feel like they are the problem, not the boys’ misconduct. Girls receive a message that what they wear is more important than their education and that it is their responsibility to prevent boys from mistreating them. Some school handbooks even go so far as to remind students, primarily girls, that their clothing should not be distracting to “teachers or other students so as to create a substantial disruption to the educational process.”
17www.iasp.org
Return to Table of Contents LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Let’s start with the dress code section in your school handbook or on the website. Perhaps your school’s dress code is a bulleted list of “dos and don’ts” that focuses mostly on what students are permitted or not permitted to wear to Nowschool.review the list again. To whom are most of the rules directed – males or females? Studies have shown that the overwhelming number of dress code requirements are directed at girls and, in some cases, nearly double! If your school’s dress code falls into this category, you are not alone. Creating a huge, detailed list of rules regarding clothing only creates more work for administrators who have much bigger, more important problems to solve than what girls wear to school. Why then are handbooks full of very detailed lists of what girls (or boys, for that matter) are not permitted to wear? The answer is simple. The more detailed the list, the easier it is to hand out a disciplinary response. If the handbook says “no jeans with holes” and a student wears jeans with holes, the disciplinary response is easy to determine. The real question is, however, are jeans with holes actually causing a substantial disruption to the educational process, or do we as educators simply not like them? One possible solution to inequitable, extensive, time-wasting dress codes is not complicated. Just refresh and simplify your school dress code. As you start this process, we would suggest addressing the elephant in the room – most of the elements of dress codes anywhere target girls more than they do boys. But let’s be honest, this is more a societal issue than it is a school issue. Most institutions that have dress codes focus more on female clothing a great deal more than they do male clothing.
Extensive dress codes create many opportunities for rule violations that administrators must enforce. Typically, being “dress coded” includes loss of valuable instruction time. Since most dress code rules are targeted at girls, girls are the ones most likely to be pulled from instruction. Again, this sends the message to our girls that wearing “proper” attire is more important than being educated. This creates more work for already overburdened teachers and administrators. Educators’ time is valuable, and that time should be directed to more important problems that need to be solved.
Schools around the country have already done the work of rewriting their dress codes to be more equitable and much simpler. We suggest Indiana schools refresh and simplify their dress codes as well. Instead of an extensive list of rules, school dress codes could outline general expectations for dress and leave specifics up to the students and their families. If clothing includes a bottom, a top, covers private parts, and does not contain violent images, hate speech, profanity, or pornography, it may be worn to school. It does not get much simpler than that! As gender norms and laws regarding equality are everchanging, schools in Indiana would be wise to update dress codes. So, as you review your student handbook, consider simplifying your dress code. You will thank yourself, and so will your students and families.
Rachel Vance RoyertonTeacher Elementary School Dr. Michael Shaffer Department of Ed Leadership Ball State University
Several examples in higher education provide project descriptions of students serving populations who are dissimilar to themselves. For example, at Olin College of Engineering, humanitarian engineering students worked with the elderly population to design cutting boards. At the Colorado School of the Mines, students worked with nonprofit personnel in Guatemala to solve infrastructure issues. Student projects at Lipscomb University Raymond B. Jones College of Engineering are multidisciplinary teams. Students work alongside champions of the community they are developing solutions for. At Purdue University’s School of Engineering Education, students complete capstone projects with a yearly design challenge to solve human problems. Prior cohort design challenges include safety, temporary shelters, and LED lighting systems.
Return to Table of Contents
Krista M. Stith Infinite Capacity, LLC Rachel L. Geesa Infinite Capacity, LLC While many IASP readers are familiar with John Dewey (18591952) and his work in Pragmatism, Functional Psychology, and progressive education, what is not as well-known may be his contributions to the topic of discipline. In this month’s Indianagram, we highlight John Dewey’s ideas on discipline and then consider modeling classroom experiences as humanitarian engineers to build social responsibility. During the 1920s and 1930s, progressive educators were exploring educational disciplinary practices that were more child-centered and less autocratic. While many educators considered some freedom from drill and repetition methods acceptable, Dewey did not believe this went far enough. According to Rich (1985), Dewey was able to place discipline within contexts in which persons seek to solve problems and gain greater control of their environment. Discipline and order become means rather than ends for the resolution of meaningful problems and the growth in ability to deal effectively with subsequent problems. (p. 156) In Dewey’s writings, students and educators exist within a social community and a shared power structure to collaboratively explore solutions to problems, which he believed, increased motivation and creativity (Dewey, 1944). Even 100 years later, the social community can still be a keystone to disciplinary practices through building social responsibility, empathy, and cultural competence in students.
Infinite Capacity Community Partnership Series: Social Responsibility and Community: Connecting Dewey’s Discipline Paradigm to Humanitarian Engineering
Interweaving career and college readiness, STEM/STEAM, Indiana’s K-12 employability skills, and social communitycentered disciplinary practices together- we see value in modeling part of the student’s day to thinking and doing as a humanitarian engineer (also referred to as a global engineer, development engineer, and engineer for developing communities). =According to Moskal et al. (2008), humanitarian engineering is an interdisciplinary collaboration that supports “developing an understanding of the ethical, cultural, historical, and technical dimensions of engineering work applied to community development in the United States and abroad” (p. 162).
How can this career field support student discipline? With these conclusions emerging from research studies, we ponder the possibilities of humanitarian engineering lessons and activities in PK-12 educational settings. With this developing field, researchers (e.g., Dodson et al., 2021; Lynch et al., 2014; Park et al., 2021) have provided evidence to suggest that students engaged in humanitarian engineering increase in the following: ■ professional skills such as teamwork and leadership, ■ engineering habits of mind and professional identity, ■ empathy and social responsibility, ■ increased awareness of local and global contexts, ■ ethical responsibilities, ■ cultural competence, and ■ knowledge of career trajectories.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT 18 www.iasp.org
Conclusion The specialized field of humanitarian engineering arguably aligns well with John Dewey’s vision of how discipline could be implemented in the classroom. School and district leaders can consider how the emergent themes from multiple research studies of humanitarian engineering collegiate students may similarly impact PK-12 students. Infinite Capacity is dedicated to inclusively fostering personal and professional growth for educators, leaders, and community partners through innovative educational practices. Consulting services are available for school and district-level support. Please e-mail us at contact@ infinitecapacity.com for more information. Our book, Leadership in Integrative STEM: Strategies for Facilitating an Experiential and Student-Centered Culture, is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Rowman & Littlefield.
Return to Table of Contents
Democracy,References: D. (1944). Democracy and education: An introduction to the philosophy of education Dodson, K. H., Deckard, C., Duke, H., Cohn, M., Shaffer, N., & Buchanan, E. (2021, July). Studying the impact of humanitarian engineering projects on student professional formation and views of diversity, equity, and inclusion. In 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access Lynch, C., Stein, L. A., Grimshaw, S., Doyle, E., Camberg, L., & Ben-Ur, E. (2014, October). The impacts of service learning on students and community members: Lessons from design projects for older adults. In 2014 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) Proceedings (pp. 1-9). IEEE. Moskal, B. M., Skokan, C., Muñoz, D., & Gosink, J. (2008). Humanitarian engineering: Global impacts and sustainability of a curricular effort. The International journal of engineering education, 24(1), 162-174. Park, J. J., Park, M., & Smith, J. (2021). Engineering students’ concepts of humanitarian engineering and their identity development as humanitarian engineers. Sustainability, 13(16), 8845. Rich, J. M. (1985). John Dewey’s contribution to school discipline. The Clearing House, 59(4), 155-157. Swanson, L., Beaty, J., & Patel, L. G. (2021). Family-school partnerships nurture student SEL. The Learning Professional, 42(4), 46-50.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT 19www.iasp.org
There is hope in the air as a new school year begins. Moving through many obstacles in the last several years has changed us. With those changes, we see new opportunities as well as challenges. We have studied and have been exposed to new research regarding wellness and employing new techniques to support students, teachers, parents, and ourselves as we recognize the stress and distress inherent in the world around us. The new school year is a new beginning.
IPLI Updates
Director Indiana Principal Leadership Institute 20 www.iasp.org
Return to Table of Contents LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Dr. Kelly Andrews
Discipline IPLI is a premier professional development opportunity for the practicing principals of Indiana. We support, encourage, and provide growth in your leadership as we learn together, lead together, and connect.
Traditionally, “discipline” has been relegated to how we manage student behavior in school settings. However, today, I think of discipline as a structure that each of us can be taught to self-manage how we relate to others. As a form of communication and connecting with others, whether adults or children, the discipline to know ourselves and learning how to manage our needs to enable a better connection with others may be a better way to view discipline as we challenge ourselves in the new school year. Reacting, relating, communicating, listening, and learning may be the discipline we employ within ourselves to better connect with others in this new year of hope. We celebrate the lessons learned and keep the best parts, never taking them for granted again. Thank you to all who continue learning together in IPLI. The IPLI Summer Seminar was a great “kick-off” to a new year. We thank everyone in Cohorts 9, 10, and Extended Cohort 4 for bringing your best self to the table, connecting, and sharing the encouragement of beginning a new era of educational excellence. Best wishes to all! IPLI Extended IPLI Extended is a formal, year-long, intensive professional development program for IPLI alumni. Extended allows participants to dig deeper into topics covered during the IPLI experience and beyond. In addition to three-day-long seminars, alumni may meet in regional focus cohorts throughout the state (August, October, and February via Zoom). Topics vary yearly so that alumni can enroll in Extended multiple times. IPLI Extended participants are encouraged to bring teacher-leaders to the seminars when appropriate. This year’s theme is “Leadership in Times of Change,” which feature the following speakers: Rick Wormeli, Doug Noll, and Dr. Mike Ruyle from Marzano Research. We have openings for IPLI alumni to join us for the September and January seminars, work with an outstanding facilitator and be in-person learning at seminars together again. Go to https://www.indianapli.org to complete the application. We look forward to crossing your path!
Applications for IPLI Extended are http://indianapli.org/ipli-extendedOpen
■ National Extra Life Game Day is Saturday, November 5. Is your school’s E-Sports Team registered to support Riley?
& Sharing Update SERVICE
■ September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month - is your high school football team participating in the annual Tackle Cancer campaign supporting the PS We Love You Fund at Riley?
Ways to get involved
And while we are celebrating... Indiana K-12 schools came through for Riley kids in a HUGE way in 2021-2022, raising more than $2.1 million to benefit the families who turn to the hospital for hope and healing each year. Here are some of the incredible statistics:
■ 49 high schools hosted Riley Dance Marathons – a yearround, leadership development and fundraising model –securing $1.4 million of the overall total
including age categories and awards can be found with the online entry here https://form.jotform. com/222076898707166
■ 300 of the 358 participating schools achieved Red Wagon status, raising more than $1 per student at their school.
■ 70 school corporations achieved Riley Corporation status with every school participating in Riley fundraising at some level, or the participating schools collectively raised an amount equal to or greater than the entire school corporation population Kids Caring Susan Miles Officer, Kids Caring & Sharing TM Riley Children’s Foundation
■ School gifts raised online in 2021-22 increased 163% as schools discovered that a personalized giving page is a safe, secure, and effective way of sharing their passion for supporting Riley kids. Create your school’s 2022-23 page here
■ The Riley Hospital School Program is seeking volunteers with experience in a school setting as an educator or tutor. Volunteers provide direct instruction to Riley patients either 1:1 or in small groups. Volunteers should be able to commit to one-day each week (any day is okay) from 10am – 2pm or from 1pm – 4pm. If interested, please apply through Riley Volunteer Services
All K-12 school philanthropic participation, regardless of fundraising model, is recognized through Kids Caring & SharingTM. Participation decals for 2021-2022 engagement should arrive at principal snail mail boxes by mid- September. If you need a new KCS recognition plaque, do not receive a 2021-2022 decal, or have any questions, please contact me at SMiles@RileyKids.org. Let’s work together to find creative ways to keep supporting Riley! www.iasp.org
Return to Table of Contents
■ 25 schools earned Red Wagon Booster status with a $2,500$3,999 gift
■ 8 school corporations achieved Red Wagon Corporation status with every school in their corporation achieving Red Wagon school status
Riley
■ 33 schools entered a Red Wagon into service at the hospital with a sponsorship level gift of $4,000+ school family’s to making a difference in the lives of so many children in need of the special pediatric healthcare services Riley provides. Your philanthropic work is important, impactful and SO appreciated, thank you! Opportunities to help in 2022-2023 Our philanthropic work must continue. Riley Children’s Foundation annually grants more than $35 million to Riley Children’s Health and Riley-affiliated researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine/Herman B Wells Center for Pediatric Research. This support is only possible thanks to the generosity of donors like you. We recognize that many worthy charitable interests vie for your support each year. Please contact me for information highlighting the many clinical programs, research initiatives and family support programs your gifts facilitate.
We are honored by your
21
■ 3 schools newly engaged their E-sports teams in Riley fundraising through the national Extra Life fundraising initiative
Yes, THAT Riley Not everyone knows that Riley Hospital for Children, the beneficiary of gifts raised by K-12 schools each year through the Kids Caring & SharingTM program, is named for the famous Hoosier poet James Whitcomb Riley. Riley Children’s Foundation not only is the fundraising organization for the namesake hospital, but the 101-year-old organization is also charged with upholding the Riley legacy while securing and stewarding gifts benefiting Camp Riley for Youth with Physical Disabilities and the James Whitcomb Riley Museum Home. While we look toward an exciting 100th year celebration for the hospital in 2024, the James Whitcomb Riley Museum Home is celebrating its centennial anniversary this year with a “Hoosier Poetry” themed competition. Who better to turn to join in the celebration than children, who inspired many of Mr. Riley’s Mr.poems.Riley became famous for writing poems about Indiana and the people who lived here. He often incorporated what he called “Hoosier Dialect” into his poems, honoring the way his fellow Hoosiers spoke and acted. Please invite your grade school-age students to write and send in their best bit of verse about Indiana and its Hoosier residents before the September 19th Contestdeadline.details
generous and spirited dedication
Return to Table of Contents LEGAL REVIEW 22 www.iasp.org
Adjunct Teachers
Return to Table of Contents LEGAL REVIEW
School Safety. We trust this topic continues to be front of mind. It is critical to communicate with your staff the policies and procedures for emergency situations. Be sure to discuss with your staff and your students on what to look for and when to communicate a concern regarding safety and ensure that everyone in your building has a plan for reacting to an emergency. Further, do not forget to stress the importance to your staff that they use specified entrances and exits and do not keep any of the doors propped open. Along those same lines, there is a new requirement this school year that a memorandum of understanding (MOU) is used when engaging with law enforcement units for us of school resource Officers (SROs). If you are unsure whether your school is utilizing an MOU with the SROs, raise the issue with your colleagues.
23www.iasp.org
. Educator shortages is the one of the most challenging issues facing the education industry. 2022 legislation provides new flexibility with the new legal concept of adjunct teachers. Starting this school year, schools are able to hire adjunct teachers, without a teaching license, to fill a vacant teaching position, to offer a new program or class, or to supplement an existing program that is being offered. While adjunct teachers are not required to have a teaching license, they are required to have a teaching permit. To qualify for this flexibility, individuals must have at least four (4) years of experience in the content area and must pass an expanded criminal history check and an expanded child protection index check. Adjunct teachers are not a part of the bargaining unit, but schools have the discretion to hire them at-will or on an employment agreement. Also, schools must post open adjunct teacher positions on the IDOE online portal.
. The bedrock of effective administration is consistency, and in order to be consistent, staff and students must understand the expectations within the school building. Of course, be sure that your staff is aware of and understands the policies and procedures. Be especially diligent that you highlight any changes to school policies. Some common changes to policy have been made in light of the pandemic. Be sure those changes are clearly communicated to staff. Emphasize the frequent disputes that you have encountered in the past and how those could have been prevented. We often help school leaders navigate allegations of discrimination and harassment. We recommend including that topic in any refreshers. In regard to student policies, we receive numerous Legal Help Desk inquiries regarding constitutional rights. A particularly hot topic has been dress codes and First Amendment rights. You can skirt (pun intended!) many disagreements over dress code by making the standard clear to students (and to the staff who are the usual enforcers). Regardless of how you communicate your policies with students and their families, make sure you do it in such a way that you can demonstrate that they had every opportunity to review the policies that apply. For example, think about the situation where a student and that student’s parents are claiming ignorance to a policy. You want to be able to show them that they were made aware of the policy and it shouldn’t be new to them.
What is the legal lesson from this brief? To sum up the legal lesson of this brief, your plate will probably stay full today, tomorrow, the next day, etc. But it is critically important that you check off your tasks from your back-to-school checklist, including the trending items that we addressed in this article. We at the KGR Legal Help Desk are here to address legal issues for IASP members. Until the next KGR Law Brief, stay legal!
Addressing Policies (Especially Changes) with Staff and Students
. With the ever-evolving legal standards that apply to situations involving transgender students, there is no “perfect way” to develop your practices. It is however, critically important that you plan ahead and know how to handle various students involving transgender students and bathrooms, pronouns, field trips, harassment allegations, etc. Disputes on this topic are high-risk for litigation and negative attention. While there are still many gray areas in the law, here are a few things we do know from recent caselaw: (1) having a one-size-fits all approach with no willingness to engage in an interactive process students and their families will expedite damaging disputes; and (2) anticipate losing a legal challenge to a requirement for a transgender student to use a faculty or nurse restroom if other cisgender students are not permitted to use that restroom as well.
Séamus Boyce KrogerAttorneyGardis & Regas, LLP With students returning to the school building, your legal checklist can be a long one. The required trainings alone would likely be enough to overwhelm some. While the day-to-day demands of your job may feel like the highest priority, there can be damaging consequences for putting off legal tasks that seem less urgent. In this KGR Law Brief, we cover some of the trending items that may not be on your back-toschool legal checklist but should.
Legal Situation Brief: Back-To-School Legal Checklist
Transgender Student Practices
Return to Table of Contents LEADING HEALTHY SCHOOLS Mark your calendar for a two-day retreat on the Indiana University Kokomo campus for administrators to learn about ways to foster school culture that focuses on educator wellness, connection, and self-awareness. District and building administrators will have time for collaboration, planning, and active participation. September 14 – 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. September 15 – 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Agenda- go.iu.edu/4u3s Register Here $150/person, $100/person for those registering as a team of three or more. Registration Deadline: September 7, 2022 a Provided by the following partners: Questions? Contact Dr. Leah Nellis educiuk@iuk.edu go.iu.edu/4s80 24 www.iasp.org
11025 East 25th Street Indianapolis, IN 46229 1-800-285-2188 or 317-891-9900 www.iasp.org | iasp-info@iasp.org Don’t miss out, stillthere’stime! You have until Oct. 31, 2022 to find out how you and your employees can take advantage of the limited-time changes to Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Horace Mann Service Corporation and certain of its affiliates (Horace Mann) enter into agreements with educational associations where Horace Mann pays the association to provide services aimed at familiarizing association members with the Horace Mann brand, products or services. For more information, email your inquiry to association.relations@horacemann.com. AM-C04627 (6 22) Learn more horacemann.com Connect with us
