Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) adjusted its discipline policies for the upcoming school to all first-time violent offenders to avoid expulsion by enrolling in a five-hour anger management course.
The new program was first introduced to MNPS principals two weeks ago as the First Time Violent Offender Program. The district has since changed the name and now refers to the initiative as the First Time Behavior Support Program.
MNPS spokesman Sean Braisted told The Tennessee Star, “The desired outcome is to provide alternatives to exclusionary discipline which will result in students having a greater opportunity to graduate along with their peers and go on to post-secondary opportunities.”
“The program is designed to provide students who exhibit violent behaviors for the first time with an alternative to exclusionary consequences that align with the district’s focus on restorative practices,” said Braisted. “This is a referral option, not a requirement for schools, for certain level 400 codes that do not require expulsion but have that option. It is only an option for those students who exhibit these behaviors within those discipline codes for the first time.”
The district considers level 400 infractions the most egregious student offenses. These include assault of a student, harassment of school staff, threats, bullying, group fighting, and assault of a teacher or staff.
Braisted added, “This would not be an option if there were charges filed or the actions required the response of police or emergency medical personnel.”
The policy change comes amid criticism raised by parents over recently announced district student safety policies.
As part of that announcement, the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) said they would not apply for state grants to fund school resource officers (SRO) in elementary schools. MNPS has 70 elementary schools eligible for $5.25 million in grant funds. MNPD said it doesn’t have the resources to supply all 70 schools with SROs.
When asked by Fox 17 News about the possibility of addressing staffing challenges by moving some high school-stationed SROs to elementary schools, Chief Drake said, “It’s not an option right now, because of the size of the high schools and, quite frankly, some high schools, pretty violent kids are violent, and they don’t care if you have a gun on your side. They don’t care if you’re a principal or teacher.”
Off the record, several MNPS educators have expressed concerns with the policy shift.
One person told The Star, “The lack of care and support for innocent students and educators who have to deal with these violent offenders is concerning.”
Another educator said, “I think it’s kind of telling that they quickly changed the name of the program. It’s always the name of the program that’s the problem. Never the program itself.”
During a recent school board governance committee meeting, a policy change was made to protect a student’s right to a safe school. District 9 School Board Member Abigail Tylor asked, “I see where we are required to provide students with a safe environment, but I don’t see that it’s written where teachers have the right to a safe environment. Is that not in our policies?”
“I’m not exactly sure how it is worded. It’s not in this policy, but I believe that is in a different set of policies,” said MNPS Board Advisor David Sevier. “But I can dig into that.”
Tylor expressed her appreciation to Sevier while noting that the district had seen some incidents post-COVID and wanted to ensure teachers felt safe at school.
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TC Weber is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. He writes the blog Dad Gone Wild. Follow TC on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected]. He’s the proud parent of two public school children and the spouse of a public school teacher.
According to data released by the National Center for Education Statistics nationwide more school shootings occur in elementary schools than in middle or high schools. Back in Nashville MNPS statistics for school year 2022-2023 data shows elementary students
were assaulted 189 , middle school students assaulted 150 and high school students assaulted 142 . Apparently Dr Battles and her safety ambassadors are failing to address or control the violence in our elementary schools. She is on the record as being against SRO’s in elementary schools since day one. Clearly as the statistics of violence indicates the most violence is in the elementary schools. I understand Metro Police are short staffed and can not provide SRO’s to the 70 MNPS elementary schools……has Dr.Battles reached out to Davidson County Sheriff’s Office. All Sheriff’s Deputies are POST qualified .
Beam me Scottie !
That’s right. Go down the path that Dade County Florida did and see what the results will be. Of course, learning performance could hardly get worse so maybe it doesn’t make any difference.
keeping troubled kids in metro schools with a slap on the wrist is not a good situation for other students nor teachers. Will not be surprised when larger problems occur.