At Samohi, it’s a textbook case of uneven punishments
Teachers and administrators here are working together to more consistently enforce school rules following complaints that students are often punished differently for the same offense.
A committee comprised of six teachers and six administrators at Santa Monica High School met last week for a full-day discussion focused on creating a concrete disciplinary policy throughout the high school, which is broken up into six “houses” — each with its own principal, counselors and set of students.
Harry M. Keiley, president of the Santa Monica-Malibu Classroom Teachers Associa tion, said the committee was formed by the district as a response to a formal grievance filed by the more than 160 teachers at Samohi, who claimed the house system was to blame for a lack of any unified disciplinary policy because some house principals dish out punishment at different levels than others for the same offense.
“We are asking for consistency across all houses, nothing more, nothing less,” Keiley said. “This is not a grievance against the house system. It’s specifically about discipline and campus security and it is our goal to make sure Santa Monica High School is the safest and most conducive environment for our teachers to work and for our students to learn.”
The committee — which will examine everything from chronic tardiness to fighting and disrespectfulness in the classroom — plans to make a formal presentation of its findings to the school board on June 1, Keiley said.
Dr. Ilene Straus, head principal at Samohi, acknowledges there has been a problem with equality when it comes to discipline, but she and other administrators have worked throughout the year to improve enforcement and security on campus. This past fall, they introduced a new set of consequences for offenses that each faculty member and administrator has agreed to follow.
8DC,“Whenever you have more than one person dealing with discipline, there is always a question of enforcement,” Straus said. “When we had two deans, there was always the impression that one dean was easier on the students than the other. We’ve addressed that and I think the discipline is more consistent now than it has been. I think we have a good set of guidelines for progressive discipline for general consequences. The issue we are dealing with now is the issue of tardiness.”
According to Straus, oftentimes punishments are changed for a particular offense if the student in trouble has never visited the principal’s office before. Some students may arrive late once a semester, and therefore, should not receive the same punishment as a student who is tardy three times a week, Straus reasoned.
Don Hedrick, a history teacher at Samohi and member of the union’s executive board, said the problem should be an easy fix.
“Some of what’s been done just doesn’t make sense,” Hedrick said. “It’s like having a family with six kids and a father who has different rules for each of them. One of them gets to stay out all night without doing his chores, another one has to make his bed every day and do all the dishes at night or he gets no allowance. It just doesn't work that way. Same thing here.”
Madeline Moore, a senior at Samohi who is on the principal’s advisory committee, said there have been complaints from students about the level of discipline in each house.
“It’s always been an issue,” Moore said. “People see situations differently and there are always unique circumstances around each event. One person can perceive it this way and another that way, it all depends on the person. Some say one principal is softer than another. I think the school has really made some progress recently in addressing this.”
Moore said students will probably have a mixed reaction to any changes to the disciplinary policy, much like they do now when someone is busted for breaking the rules.
“It will be received positively and negatively,” Moore said. “Those who haven’t received harsher punishment will be disappointed while those who have will be glad that it will not be harsh. If people get into a fight, they’ll both be punished. And I think that’s a good thing.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 2, 2006. Read the original PDF.