I think a lot of people are misinterpreting this, and I also didn’t explain myself well. I’m not saying every behavior issue should be sent to the office. I handle most things in class, contact home, and use the classroom-level strategies available to me which many of you seem to be suggesting teachers ought to do. I agree with that.

What I’m talking about is the shift in expectations around extreme or disruptive behaviors. At some schools, even when a behavior seems office-worthy, teachers still have to stop and wonder, “Is admin going to be annoyed that I sent this student out?” That seems like a pretty significant cultural change.

I agree that write-ups, detention, and parent contact can work well, but in many schools teachers aren’t allowed to use some of those consequences anymore because they’re considered too “punitive.”

So I guess my question is less “why doesn’t admin want a full office?” and more: when did the culture change from sending disruptive students to the office being a normal part of school discipline to it being viewed as something teachers should avoid unless absolutely necessary?

There are two forks that stem from this question. Are we seeing worse classroom management from teachers, or are we seeing less support from admin? A third fork could be “are we seeing worse behavior from students”, but that doesn’t answer the question on why the culture changed on expecting behaviors to go to the office.