By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
February 22, 2012

Kansas City Public Schools is taking a multi-faceted approach to improving safety and security in schools across the district.

During the Feb. 8 board of education meeting, district officials detailed their goals and initiatives to improve the learning environment in every school.

Tonia Gilbert, executive director of Student Support and Community Services, compared disruptive students to an embarrassing or annoying relative who shows up to gatherings uninvited.

“Our invited guests can often feel uncomfortable and often have a desire to leave our gathering early,” Gilbert said.

To address the issue, KCPS has created a safety committee comprised of students, parents, teachers, school counselors, community leaders and others to brainstorm ideas. During their first meeting in January, the committee concluded the right rules are in place, but need to be enforced, she said.

Disruptive behavior can impede upon valuable instruction time, but suspensions aren’t the answer, she said. Suspended students view the time off like a vacation, she said. Instead, the district is pushing to utilize its alternative schools and in March, it will open a piloted elementary alternative program at Weeks Elementary. That program will begin with six to 10 students and the district hopes a full program will be implemented by August of 2012. Elementary students will be referred to Weeks Alternative School through principal and due process hearing referrals. The district’s strategy is to nip the negative behavior at an early age and teach students to manage their behavior in a healthier way.

Other changes will include providing a series of professional development training sessions throughout the school year for teachers, rather than one in-service day at the beginning of the school year. This will ensure personnel are on the same page when it comes to discipline, Gilbert said. Training sessions will also include discussions on current discipline trends, like dealing with social media, she said.

Interim Superintendent Dr. Stephen Green said the district wants to ensure discipline enforcement is consistent across the district. Also, enforcing those codes of conduct will now be tied to a principal’s job evaluation, he said.

“Our goal is to really have a conversation with teachers and principals with the high discipline areas to say, ‘What barriers do we need to get out of your way so you can teach?'” said Interim Chief Academic Officer Dr.Tiffany Anderson.

KCPS researched schools with the lowest discipline rates to uncover several trends, which included having a full-time assistant principal, students who are engaged in the school’s culture, teachers familiar with the urban school environment, among others.

KCPS will begin reallocating funds to provide full-time assistant principals at schools district-wide, Green said.

“Back in the ’60s, although there were discipline issues and bullying going on, it wasn’t to the extent it is now at schools,” said Dr. Luis Cordoba, executive director of Student Intervention Programs.

Therefore, he said, KCPS must find interventions to fit this “new breed of students.”

Both discipline and intervention are necessary for changing a student’s negative behavior, he said.

Cordoba used the example of a student skipping school and said, “If we don’t look at the root cause of the behavior, we have a problem because we really haven’t identified why the student is not attending school.”

It could be the student is babysitting at home because the mother isn’t responsible or is passed out, he said. A student may be dealing with a family who can’t pay the electricity bill or water bill. Cupboards may be bare at home.

“These are all social issues that come from the home and come into our classroom,” Cordoba said. “So, the question is how can students focus on learning when they have all these other issues? They’re dealing with domestic violence, substance abuse, mental health issues.”

To address the social issues, KCPS is working to strengthen its community partnerships, like working with the faith-based community to help families pay the light bill or stock their pantry. KCPS is also hoping to partner with the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the the University of Kansas to expand the district’s mental health resources.

KCPS Chief Operating Officer Michael Rounds said infrastructure needs are also tied to student behavior. District officials analyzed each school in the district and found that school buildings needing the most maintenance or repair had higher levels of discipline issues. To create an environment more conducive to learning, KCPS will focus on improving heating and air conditioning systems, lighting, noise reduction, overall appearance and cleanliness, he said. As for security, KCPS has installed video cameras at each high school, is implementing swipe card access to certain doors and is coordinating emergency management efforts with the city and county.