When You Should (and Should Not) Send a Student to the Office

Amanda’s Admin Perspective:

Note: Amanda taught English for 10 years at an American public high school.  She has been an administrator for the last 12 years at both public and private high schools.  During that time, her administrative roles included Assistant Principal, Principal, and Dean of Teaching and Learning.

Here’s her take:

In general, the administrator’s preference is for students to be in class and not miss instructional time.  

With that overall preference, there are situations where a student should be immediately removed:

1. The student poses a threat to the overall safety of the class
2. The student has said something that qualifies as hate speech

The gray area: In my experience, most office referrals result from incidents that escalate to defiance and disrespect.   (Think of stories you have heard where a student was “thrown out of class” for sharpening a pencil.)

Teachers rarely remove a student from class on the first offense–however, it can appear that way to your administrator.  You want to avoid that perception.  

Here is a strategic approach that, in most cases, should be taken before a student is sent to the office for defiance or disrespect.

1. Interventions attempted with the student 
2. Parent contact made
3. Contact with a counselor, behavior specialist, or the student’s assigned administrator

A Few Additional Notes:

• Document all steps you take and share with your administrator.  

• Explicitly tell the student where to go and then immediately call (not email) the person to whom you have sent the student.  

• If possible, provide an assignment for the student to do.  This can be a reflection form, answering questions, or reading a text. 

• Communicate with the parent about the incident.

• Work with the counselor or administrator to plan out the student’s reentry to your class.  The goal is that going forward you and the student have a working relationship.

The reality is that the teacher bears responsibility for managing and resolving classroom challenges. Demonstrating proactive problem-solving is crucial.

The key takeaway is this: Sending a student to the office should be seen as a last resort.  Making a practice of sending students out of class loses its impact very quickly and will undermine your authority.  

Brad’s Teacher Perspective:

Note: Brad taught Social Studies for 19 years in public schools.  15 of those years he taught middle school; the rest were spent at a high school.

Here’s his take:

First, we should acknowledge that the issue of sending students to the office is complicated and dependent on many factors, including school culture.  In other words, teacher disciplinary actions that might be fine at one school could be considered inappropriate at another.

To be concise (and as helpful as possible) I’ve put together a short list of things to consider.

“Top 5 Principles for Sending Students to the Office”

1. Exercise your right to send a student ultra-sparingly.  For several reasons, it’s important to establish a reputation that you don’t send many students to the office. Administrators are, in my opinion, not as supportive if a teacher abuses the power to kick a student out of class. And, fair or not, new teachers who send a ton of students to the office run the risk of not being rehired. 

Think of writing a referral as the “nuclear option” – a deterrent more than anything. 

#2: Restart your discipline steps daily. Unless the student is violent or using hate speech, you should calmly (or, as calmly as possible) go through the progression, including verbal warnings and speaking privately with the student in the hall. Resist the urge to toss a student for the first thing they do – even if you’ve warned them a hundred times in the past.  Note: If a discipline step involves contacting home, you shouldn’t be expected to do that daily.

#3: Try every intervention you can think of before sending a student. Have you spoken privately with the student? Have you contacted home? Have you moved their seat? Have you emailed an assistant principal or counselor about the issue? Your “case” gets stronger with every attempt, and so will the support from the office.

#4: Maintain control of the situation by NOT sending a student to the office. I know there are times when a student has to go. But when you send a student to the office, it’s like admitting that you don’t know what to do with that student. As a result, you give up control.  As such, you should be ready to accept whatever discipline (or lack thereof) the office decides on – that’s the deal.  This is a major reason I urge new teachers to create a classroom management plan that doesn’t rely heavily on any administrator.

#5: Set a limit on how many students you send to the office each quarter, semester, or year.   I recall one faculty meeting when the principal handed out a list with the number of referrals from every teacher. (You don’t want to be near the top of that list.) If you can’t meet your goal, think about how you might adapt your classroom management going forward.