Running head: PROJECT ONE DESCRIPTION

Project One Description

Danielle Suhr
Admin 591C
February 2, 2016
Mary E Carley

PROJECT ONE DESCRIPTION

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Project One Description

During the course of the authors internship, she has been able to be a part of various
student discipline issues. She was able to observe and lead a few interviews with students about
incidents at school, witness a drug dog search of the building, participate in a drug search,
deliver consequences to students and their parents about their behavior, and work with School
Resource Officer. The three incidents described below will focus on interviewing students about
inappropriate Internet searches, a bullying incident that took place after school hours, a fight
during PE, a drug search, and a student misbehaving in class.
Inappropriate Internet Searches. Falcon School District 49 recently increased their
level of security for student and staff Internet searches and has increased the security level of
their firewall. Every night the administrators receive a detailed list of searches that are
inappropriate by students in the building. Some of these searches are harmless where students
have clicked on a picture or website that was inappropriate or include subjects that are flagged.
In this case, Brian Smith, the principal at Falcon Middle School, received a report that included
three students searching various types of guns. The author was called in to analyze the searches
on the report and interview the students about the searches.
Interviews. The author called each of the three students to office and asked each of them
if they knew why they were there. All three students were surprised that they were called down
and had no idea why they had been called to the office. The author began describing the districts
policy for Internet use and some of their Internet searches that had been flagged as inappropriate.
Two of the students were able to describe their searches to the author and the specific gun
searches were of Nerf guns for a party they were all attending. (Colorado Springs recently
opened a Nerf Wars, which is similar to laser tag but using Nerf guns and participants can bring

PROJECT ONE DESCRIPTION

their own guns to use.) The students were researching what guns they were going to purchase for
the upcoming party and were showing each other what they had found. The author then took the
specific names of the guns down and did research on her own and discovered they were indeed
Nerf guns that the young men were researching.
Another student was researching Black Ops logo for a project he was completing in
Gateway to Technology (GTT). This project included finding logos for different products, the
logo includes a picture of two guns, which flagged the search as inappropriate. The last student
was also researching for GTT, but was looking for ways to make his robot go faster. One of the
links he clicked on described the process to make his robot faster was similar to the trigger of a
gun, which flagged the search.
Discipline. After discussing the searches with the Assistant Principal, the author decided
to give each student a warning call home to let their parents know about the incident. The author
spoke to all three boys about how their searches were coming across to the administration and
why we had to be so careful about what we were searching at school. She also discussed that
some of the searches were not school appropriate during class and that these types of searches
should be done on their own time. The author then called each of the students parents to tell
them about the incident and assure the parents that even though they were called down to the
office that they were each only given a warning and talked about appropriate searches for school.
The report sent to the Assistant Principal is below.
Student Issue
[#1]
Web search
for guns
[#2]

Web search
for guns

Statement
Just looking a Nerf guns because friend
suggested. Doing it in GTT: not for an
assignment
Friend is going to Nerf Wars for a birthday
party and was searching up what kind of gun
to use

Consequence
Parent Phone
Call
Parent Phone
Call

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[#3]

Web search
for Lego Guns
Web search
for Guns

[#4]

Lego robotics- trying to make your robot go

faster.
GTT box assignment looked up bears, GT5,
and Black Ops 3 logos.

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Parent Phone
Call
Parent Phone
Call

Bullying outside of school hours. Brian Smith, the principal at Falcon Middle School,
called the author down to the office during homeroom to discuss an incident the School Resource
Officer (SRO) had brought to his attention. The SRO described an incident that took place after
school the day before where some students were bullying another student and throwing rocks at
him. The student who was being bullied reported it to his parents who then called authorities.
The school was asked to intervene because it happened on school grounds. The author, Assistant
Principal, and Dean of Students were asked to call in the witnesses, bullies, and targets to
understand what had happened the night before and how the school wanted to deal with the
situation.
Interviews. The author called the witnesses down first to discuss what they had seen.
Individually three of the witnesses described what they had seen; one also claimed there was a
video of the incident. The author then told the Assistant Principal and Dean about the video and
they called that student down. They were able to look at the video with matched the other two
witnesses.
The next person called down was the active supporter, the Assistant Principal and
author interviewed this student together. This young man was not considered the bully but
encouraged the bully to fight and throw rocks at the target. When the bully and target were
yelling at each other he continued to say just fight him already.
The last students interviewed were the bully and target. The bully described the incident
saying that the target was making fun of his girlfriend, saying rude things about and imitating

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teachers, and making fun of him. The bully had heard all of this from his friends but mostly from
the active supporter. The bully was confronting him after school and telling him to stop talking
about him and his girlfriend and that if he didnt he would fight him. The bully didnt want to
fight because he didnt want to get in trouble but was willing to if the target wanted to fight.
When the target started walking away, the active supporter told the bully to throw rocks at him,
they both threw rocks but none of them hit the target. Unfortunately, the author was unable to
stay for the interview of target because she had to teach another class.
Discipline. The Assistant Principal and author reviewed the district discipline matrix, and
determined that the supporter of the incident needed to be suspended him for the remainder of
the day because of his actions. They discussed that if his behavior continued he would face a
more serious consequence next time. The bully also received a three-day suspension because it
was not his first offense. The author spoke with the SRO and discussed her role. The SRO
explained that because the incident had been reported the school needed to follow up but that
because no one was injured the parents couldnt press charges because the school followed
through with discipline.
Fight in PE. During a PE class, the students were split into teams for relay races. They
had to complete various activities during the relays like dribbling a basketball, riding a scooter,
and running. The students were in the middle of the relay races when on of the students (student
A) hit another student in the head with a basketball (student B). The two students continued to
argue with each other and began throwing punches. The PE teacher broke up the fight and
brought both students to office.
Discipline. After interviewing the witnesses and both students and reviewing the
discipline matrix the Dean of Students and the author decided to give both students a one-day

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suspension. The parents also came in for a conference with the Dean and the student to ensure
that they both understood what had happened and why the students were receiving a
consequence.
Drug Investigation. Before school had started, a student went to the Assistant Principal
and told her that they saw another student smoking weed from a bong in the baseball diamond.
The Assistant Principal interviewed a few more witnesses and determined that the student was
smoking something and had hidden his bag with the bong somewhere at school.
The author was called down to assist the security officers and principal in locker searches
and a search of school grounds. The School Resource Officer was also called before the searches
began because they were unsure of the amount and kind of material the student had been
smoking. The author assisted the security officer in searching three lockers and their contents.
The author was instructed to put everything back they way they had found it, but to make sure to
search all of the contents and the secret hiding places of the locker. The security guard showed
the author how students hide things behind the inside cover of the locker and around the back
corners and had the author search the contents of the locker (backpacks, books, coats, etc.). The
locker searches did not lead to finding anything.
While the searches were taking place the Assistant Principal continued to interview some
of the witnesses and found out that the bag was hidden in the weeds by the football field. The
Principal, SRO, school security officer, and author began searching the around the football field
and in the baseball diamond. They found the backpack with the bong and weed by the football
field and pulled the student down from class. After reviewing the districts discipline matrix, the
student was suspended for 5 days and the SRO also served the student with an MIP. The other
student who was said to have been smoking was sent home for the remainder of the day.

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Misbehaving in class. In the middle of the morning two students came to the office to
report a student misbehaving in class with a substitute. They told the Assistant Principal that he
was taking photos of the substitute, talking back, and going through the teachers things in
cabinets and drawers. The Assistant Principal and the author had worked with the student in
question before about behavior in the classroom and had only had a student conference about the
previous incident. While the author was being filled with the current situation, another teacher
sent the student to office because he was being inappropriate in class and pulled another
students pants down.
Interviews. The author pulled the two students down who reported the behavior with the
substitute to ask for more clarifying information about what really happened in class. They both
said the student was talking pictures of the substitute from the back of the room and making fun
of her, that he tried to take a soda from the teachers desk, and was going through a cabinet where
the teacher had her personal belongings. The author then went to talk to the teacher who sent the
student down after that incident. In the explanation, the student was messing around with another
student during class, couldnt keep his hands to himself and was moved away from other
students during class; once the class was dismissed he pulled another students pants down to
show his underpants. The other student was then called down who described the de-panting as a
joke and that he wasnt that upset about it but wished it didnt happen in front of his peers.
The student was then brought in to the office and asked about his day and how he thought
it was going. He said he wasnt able to focus today but that he wasnt doing anything bad. When
asked about the substitute he said he was taking a picture of the board so he could use it as notes
for his homework that night and was just joking about taking the soda. He also said that the
teacher didnt give him enough warnings about messing around in class before he was moved

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and that he was just joking with his friend when he pulled his pants down. The author then had
the student describe what his behavior should look like in class and how messing around with the
substitute, the teachers things, and other students wasnt doing his job. They also discussed that
pulling another students pants down could be considered harassment and that it wasnt a joking
matter, especially at school.
Discipline. The Assistant Principal and author reviewed the schools discipline matrix,
which directed them to call home and have a conference with the student and his parents about
his behavior. They called him and the students mom came to the school immediately. They all
discussed what had happened that day at school. The author then discussed that because of his
actions he could be facing a suspension and his parents decided that he deserved a suspension
and took him home for the rest of the day as punishment for not behaving in class.
Conclusion. The author has had experience with student discipline by observing,
contributing, and leading various discipline incidents at Falcon Middle School. Each incident
described was very different in nature and in consequence. The author was able to interview
students, discuss and administer consequences, and participate searches with administration.

PROJECT ONE DESCRIPTION

I.

Project Outline
A.

B.

C.

D.

Inappropriate Internet Usage

1.

Overview of district Internet policy

2.

Analyze report sent to Brian

3.

Interview Students

4.

Determine discipline for students

Afterhours Bullying
1.

Review report from SRO

2.

Interview all students involved-video on phone

3.

Determine discipline for students

Fight in PE
1.

Talk to teachers about incident

2.

Interview student about what they saw

3.

Interview students involved

4.

Discuss discipline with Michael and parents

Drug Investigation
1.

Discuss student allegations

PROJECT ONE DESCRIPTION

a)
2.

Speak with SRO prior to search of lockers and students

a)

3.

E.

Interview students to clarify what they saw

Search lockers and facility

Discuss discipline with Brian and SRO

Misbehaving in class
1.

Talk to teachers about incident

2.

Interview students involved

3.

Discuss discipline with Chad and parents

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