Question: "I would like to use the start of the new school year to improve the strategies of our school bus drivers in working with students who have behavior problems. Some of the most serious problems are related to the increase of gangs in our area."

Response:

As schools and districts are called on to improve school climate, as well as address safety concerns, the contribution of bus drivers and all other school employees warrants the type of attention proposed by this colleague. Here are a few examples of links to online resources and materials:

• Protecting our most precious resource: What we should do to improve school bus safety.
  http://www.aft.org/psrp/pubs-reports/protectingpreciousresource.htm
• School Bus Transportation Security
  http://www.schoolsecurity.org/resources/school_bus_security.html
• A set of websites related to school bus safety
  http://www.hamfish.org/topics/school_bus_safety.html
• School Bus Discipline: Solving the problem
  http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin024.shtml
• The School Bus Driver Training Manual. Tips on Maintaining Discipline; Do(s) and Don't(s) of Discipline
  http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/fbo_transportation.aspx?PageReq=FBOTransManual

The article on school bus safety failed to [note] the longstanding position of the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation about school bus and seat belt recommendations. The laws of physics are not suspended when a school bus traveling at any speed is in an accident. The passengers continue to move at that speed, and sustain injuries or death. The ridiculous observations about how accidents occur, and the placement of camera on buses do not address the fundamental problems. If special education buses supply students with seatbelts to insure their safety, what makes it different for buses than transport any child? Having students in seat belts is one way to contain the behavior. At an SED day treatment program where I worked, a staff member would ride the bus to provide behavior management. Students were on a point system. If a student's behavior was unmanageable, the student was suspended from the bus, and parents were required to conduct that student to school. We were also trained in Non Violent Crisis Prevention (NCPI) in order to learn how to recognize and attempt to de-escalate problematic behaviors.

(1) “I think any good system should include an assessment of the student's behavior problems - including considering the quality of the student / teacher relationship where problems are occurring, as well as the student's learning profile and how well his / her learning needs are being met in the classroom. As mental health workers in the schools, we often find situations when negative behavior is the result of a poor relationship between student and teacher, or the student's learning needs are not being met and their behavior is a way of expressing frustration and fronting their lack of understanding in the classroom. All of the good mental health / problem solving / skills building work we do may not be effective if the student / teacher relationship does not improve or the student's learning needs are not met by incorporating new strategies and student accommodations in the classroom.”

(2) “Relative to the request for a school-wide discipline and behavior management system that is integrated into a student code of conduct, please feel free to look at the Project ACHIEVE website (www.projectachieve.info). Project ACHIEVE is an evidence-based (through SAMHSA) school improvement process that is being implemented as part of the Arkansas Department of Education's State Improvement Grant (and in over 1,500 additional schools nationwide) as the state's Positive Behavioral Support and behavioral Response-to-Intervention system. The PBS component integrates Social Skills instruction with a school-wide accountability system (The Behavioral Matrix), staff and system consistency, and attention to ‘Special Situations’ (common areas of the school, and teasing, taunting, bullying, harassment, and fighting). The Behavioral Matrix is a functional document developed by a school that identifies specific student behavioral expectations, and intensity levels of inappropriate behavior connected with evidence-based responses. The Matrix includes Intensity IV behaviors (Code of Conduct behaviors) within its continuum, but the entire goal is to teach and reinforce appropriate student behavior, while responding to inappropriate behavior in ways to decrease or eliminate it in the future. There are a number of free technical assistance papers and powerpoints on the Project ACHIEVE website with more information.”

(3) “...Each school should have a ‘School Improvement Plan.’ In this plan, discipline is addressed. I don’t have a model school improvement plan, but a review of them should yield something like ‘best practices in school discipline.’ At the same time, I would keep in mind that ‘best practices’ has become overused. If I were developing a discipline plan that reflected best practices, I would emphasize the process of developing disciplinary practices locally. In other words, what is usually characteristic of a best practice is the process in which it was determined, the stakeholders who participated in the process of developing disciplinary practices (and the alternatives to discipline), the leadership of the school, the engagement of families, students, and communities, etc. In ‘best practice,’ the end does not justify the means, but the ‘best means’ usually gets you where you want to be.

Even if there was a published ‘best practices in school discipline’ (and there might be), I would want to ensure that it would work for my school. Best practices don't transfer readily, but good systems do. If a state department of education is looking for ‘best practices in school discipline,’ I think they could best serve the school districts and the schools in the state by publishing guidance on how to prepare a ‘school disciplinary system that works for your school.’"

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UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools
Dept. of Psychology, P.O.Box 951563, Los Angeles, CA 90095.
tel: (310)825-3634
email: Linda Taylor ~ web: https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu