What Not to Do When a Student Makes a Threat

Substituting for rowdy classes can test the professionalism and patience of many new teachers. Substituting for an in-school suspension coordinator, however, will drive even the most seasoned teacher to the limit. There are many positive ways to handle these types of classes, but Carolyn Jones of Stone Mountain, Georgia, choose none of them.

See what she did, and why you should not imitate her.

According to the Associated Press, a substitute teacher and a student at Stephenson High School where charged with disorderly conduct after they broke into a fight during class. Carolyn Jones, 52, claims that she had been having problems with the student. Ms. Jones gave an interview to Fox 5, stating the student had repeatedly threatened to pull off her whig. Later, the student attacked her after class. Police say Jones prompted the fight by kicking the student.

There are three things the Ms. Jones could have done to avoid this situation:

1. Give the student a green slip, citing classroom disruption, endangerment, and assault. Once a student makes a threat to the teacher or any other student, it is an automatic green slip. Green slips allow a substitute to get ride of a disruptive student if they do not reform after at least three warnings. With threats, a substitute can automatically send a student out of the class.

2. Take the student aside and offer to listen to their problems. This option is normally better for regular classes where the students tend to be more reasonable. In an in-school suspension (”ISS”) class, the students tend to be hardened and unwilling to compromise–hence their appearance in ISS. Nevertheless, Ms. Jones could have taken the rowdy student aside–in full view of the rest of the class–and quietly asked her to share her problems with Jones (remain in full view so that the student cannot later claim the substitute did something abusive outside of the view of the class). The idea is to respectfully reach out to the student in order to develop some sort of compromise. Usually, even hardened students respond well when a teacher is willing to quietly offer to listen to their problems.

3. Refused to Take an in-school suspension assignment without proper training or the presence of an experienced teacher. ISS classes are not for the faint of heart. These students tend to have emotional, physical, and academic issues that the normal substitute is not trained to handle. Considering these students are on their way to getting suspended because they cannot behave in a normal class, there is no reason for them to behave in an ISS setting. As such, Ms. Jones should have asked for some crisis management training. Alternatively, she should have radioed to office to send another teacher to help settle the class down.

These are just three tips to help other substitutes avoid from becoming the next (infamous) YouTube celebrity. Do not be a Ms. Jones.