OHQ 2016-10-21

This week’s hard question comes from – and there are two names on here; I’m not sure which one is correct – it’s Mara or Nara. But this individual asks a very good question; it’s actually a series of questions. I’ll just try to quantify. It says: “I received an email asking me as a parent to fill out a satisfaction survey. I was curious what the student survey looked like... so I clicked on the link for the ‘School Quality Survey for Elementary Students.’ The questions all looked pretty generic... until #12. Students who misbehave receive consequences?” And, of course, this survey is a Likert scale so it goes from Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, Strongly Disagree. The question was “Students who misbehave receive consequences?” “This seems like a question that elementary students shouldn't know the answer to because if the students with behavior issues are being dealt with on an individual basis and not a blanketed ‘shaming’ approach, their consequences shouldn't be evident or any of the other students' concern. (Unless, of course, there is an altercation on the playground or it directly affects another student.) Which leads to my question: Has FCPS come up with a more effective way to redirect the children in the class that are acting outside the set class rules other than time out or isolation or public shaming?” And then another question: “Are the children that are not excelling with the academics and misbehaving and the children that are excelling but bored and need more of a challenging approach being disciplined in the same way? If so, is being forced to chant the alphabet when you are ready to read not punishment enough?”