Dean of Students

During my time as Dean of Students, I really considered myself the Dean of Teachers, not because I was in any way in charge of teachers, but because I knew the position wouldn't last long, and I thought Dunkirk Teachers deserved to feel behaviorally supported for at least a brief time.

Consequences

Any time a consequence was questionable or any time it wouldn't meet what I knew my colleagues' expectations were, I would reach out and have conversations with the teachers to make sure we were all on the same page, to make sure all parties were heard and covered, and that everyone felt supported and covered. Pam Cooper and I planned some excellent, restorative consequences for a bunch of her students who insisted on grabbing each other's butts, and we included the parents, students, and each other's opinions to change those students' behavior.

Referral Etiquette

When working with students who had misbehaved, the teacher's account of events was trusted 100% of the time, and I operated on the belief that if a behavior was bad enough for a colleague to write a discipline referral, the behavior was severe enough to warrant a consequence. Oftentimes administration wouldn't support ISS as a response, but I would keep problem students out of the class where their egregious behavior occurred for several days to ensure that the teacher felt supported, and that the other students realized that such behaviors have consequences.

A lot of what I did during my brief stint as Dean of Students was run interference for teachers at administration meetings. Topics would get brought up about how "teachers should just do this," and "if teachers would just do that..." as if we were the problem, and I was proud to share the complicated and challenging work environment of a post-COVID classroom teacher. I was the only voice in the room pushing back against the administrative narrative that teachers were the problem. ...I was not surprised when Swatland no longer wanted me to serve in that roll.

Survey Results

To this day, one of my proudest moments in my teaching career was reading the results of the Dean of Students survey that I sent out to improve my practice. I am a firm believer that my colleagues were in the best position to offer criticism and constructive feedback. I was staggered by the positive responses and as always, the brilliance and diversity of our DTA voices.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse