Elizabeth A Fuller

EDUC 650

6/14/21

Standard Activity 5.22B Discipline Policy Review

I acquired Huntington High School’s discipline policy from the student handbook, located on the
Huntington High School webpage per Randall Black (sysop for HHS). It states the following:

Discipline Referrals (Behavior Reports)

“The staff at Huntington High believes the instructional leaders are the primary disciplinarians of
the classroom. If the instructor deems that a student needs some form of discipline, they may assign a
form of detention, which meets the instructor’s schedule. This may be morning, or after-school. Refusal
to attend teacher detention will result in a disciplinary referral issued to students for failure to comply
with the Cabell County Public Schools Code of Conduct. If you should receive a discipline referral, you
are to follow the instructions of the person who issues it. Failure of a student to report to the office with
a disciplinary referral will result in out-of-school suspension.”

The way this is written, it has the appearance that the teacher would be “handing out the
discipline” which is not the case. The behavior referral for a student is found on the WVEIS portal. A
teacher begins by finding the student’s name and the infraction for which they are writing them up.
Next there is a box to explain what occurred. After that, it is in the hands of the principal. Oftentimes,
the principal will call and speak with the teacher before calling in the student; however, sometimes
there is not time to do this. So, the teacher’s words in the explanation box are critical. Sometimes, this is
the only information the principal gets regarding the behavior that occurred. The principals at
Huntington High take discipline referrals very seriously and consult the student handbook to “refresh
students’ memories” on why the behavior that occurred resulted in the student being written up and
disciplined for their actions.

One area of weakness (brought up often in leadership meetings) is inconsistency of discipline

depending on the administrator. This is an issue that is often discussed, but never really remedied. For
example, you may have a student that cusses a teacher. They get out of school suspension. Then
another student, one with a more prominent parent, may cuss at a teacher and get in school suspension
or after school detention. I realize that the severity of the behavior warrants the discipline of the
student; however, some are written in stone in the student handbook (a full copy can be found on the
Huntington High website). If a student is found in possession of a vape or nicotine, for instance, it is a
three-day suspension. However, that is not always the case.