RHS Responding To Changes in Discipline Law

By Michael Coughlin Jr.

In response to some changes to one of the statutes that govern discipline for public schools in the state, Revere High School (RHS) has set out plans for both supporting and holding its students accountable in accordance with the law.

Specifically, three statutes under Massachusetts General Law govern discipline for public schools. The first statute, 37H, deals with suspension or expulsion for weapons, drugs, or assaulting staff. While the second statute — 37H ½ — deals with suspension for a felony charge or conviction.

Both of those statutes remained unchanged. However, back in November of 2022, the third statute — 37H ¾ — which deals with all other offenses and what is coined “handbook violations,” was changed.

These changes make it so principals of public schools in the state are now required to consider ways to re-engage a student in the learning process who has committed a violation that falls under statute 37H ¾  and not suspend them until alternative remedies are employed and their use and results are documented.

It should be noted that schools like RHS still have the authority to suspend a student who commits an infraction that falls under statute 37H ¾ before employing “alternative remedies.” However, school officials must be able to document why “alternative remedies” would be unsuitable or counter-productive.

“If it doesn’t fall into one of those four categories: weapons on campus, drugs on campus, assaulting a staff member, or a felony charge — which most things that high school students do don’t result in felony charges — the statute that schools are relying on to justify a suspension is that 37H ¾,” said Christopher Bowen, Principal of RHS.

As noted, this law change happened back in November of 2022 amidst a school year in progress, and for many schools across the state, trying to employ these alternative remedies mid-year was a challenge.

“Our teams last year were so stretched thin with other things going on that to do that good intervention work prior to considering a suspension was an additional step that was very hard to accomplish effectively,” said Bowen.

“It wasn’t like we had all summer to plan; how are we going to implement this? We got notice that this was happening, and then several weeks later, the law took effect,” he added.

Although implementing strategies mid-school year to comply with the legal change was a challenge, after months of working, RHS has developed a response to the changes to hold students accountable while supporting them.

Back in January of this year, RHS had both educators and students analyze some of the issues concerning school climate, and out of this work, the Restorative Framework for Accountability and Support was born.

“The idea is that when we are trying to be restorative with students as we respond to things that happen in school, we need to ensure that we’re both holding kids highly accountable for what they do and how they impact the climate of the school but that we’re also being highly supportive of students when they are struggling to meet expectations,” said Bowen.

As part of this framework, RHS went through all of the different handbook infractions assigning each a level based on severity and then outlining both interventions — or support measures — and consequences — or accountability measures — that could be used for a specific violation.

“In our framework, each incident depending on what level it’s in, will have a menu of interventions that are appropriate as well as a menu of consequences that are appropriate,” said Bowen.

The team then spent the summer building out the processes, protocols, and support systems required to operationalize this framework this fall.

At the same time, the Revere Public Schools district has been working to modify the school handbooks into a guide for caregivers that is more clear, concise, and restorative. Bowen says that his team was in frequent contact with those on the district handbook committee to ensure that these equitable practices were aligned.

At this point, the final touches are being put on a document outlining the interventions and consequences for handbook infractions. According to Bowen, this will be available on the school’s website. He also mentioned that the document is “living” and can be adjusted as time goes on.

Moreover, RHS is also working with an organization called Lives in the Balance to help implement this new framework by training RHS staff in its Collaborative and Proactive Solutions model, which will be used as a primary intervention measure for the new framework.

Speaking about the model, Bowen said, “It’s a very well respected model of working with all youth to problem solve around challenging behaviors.” To learn more about the model, you can visit https://livesinthebalance.org/.

Finally, it is essential to note that these changes are made possible partly due to the restructuring of RHS’ student support model, which will separate groups of about 450 students into five houses, each serving students in grades 9-12.

Each of these houses will have its own dedicated student support team comprised of one assistant principal who leads a team of two school counselors (guidance counselors), one social worker, and two new positions, a student support specialist and a student engagement coordinator.

These support teams will play a big part in ensuring that the introduction of this new framework is a success.

This support team restructuring was covered in depth in the August 9 edition of the Revere Journal and can be read at https://reverejournal.com/2023/08/11/student-support-restructuring-coming-to-rhs/.

Overall, it is clear that with the introduction of this new framework which builds off of the restructuring of student support, RHS is doing its best to provide high levels of support and accountability for its students.

“It is a false choice to say that we need to either be supportive or hold kids accountable. The point of being restorative is the belief that you can do both,” said Bowen.

“The idea is that we can do both of these things well and consistently, and by doing both of them, behaviors will change because we’re building skills that allow kids to make better choices.”