Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
–Albert Einstein

You gotta wonder if Charlie Brown will ever figure out that Lucy will always pull the football away at the last second. You gotta wonder if Chicago will ever figure out that, NO, the Cubs will NEVER win a World Series. You gotta wonder if the 6 o’clock news will ever figure out that lab rats are just born with cancer. You gotta wonder if Oklahoma politicians will ever realize that regional average in education funding is nothing to bag about.

You gotta wonder if we’re ever going to figure out that discipline is not going to improve when every stakeholder points finger across the circle and says, “Ya know, somebody’s gotta do something about discipline around here.”
You gotta wonder if the District is ever going to realize that you can’t staff a school when no one wants to teach in dangerous schools already taken over by students.
You gotta wonder when some so-called professionals are ever going to realize a teacher has every right to expect students to learn good behaviors and not make excuses for students who curse, abuse, threaten and commit violence because “that’s just what they experience outside of school.”

You gotta wonder when we will realize that sometimes students behave badly because we let them behave badly.

You gotta wonder when the District is ever going to figure out that principals who tolerate bad behavior, ignore referrals and refuse to suspend violent, abusive students are not solving discipline problems they are compounding them.

You gotta wonder when the District is ever going to figure out that we have enough brain power in TPS to come up with a common sense Discipline Plan that CAN get a handle on District discipline problems without spending big bucks on some unworkable program, written by some salesman who’s never been in a classroom.

You gotta wonder when we will realize that competent, qualified, logical professionals can produce something more than another forgotten report, shoved back on some dusty forgotten shelf at the ESC.

You gotta wonder when we will ever realize people in offices who read books and don’t teach come up with classroom techniques that should be shoved back on some dusty forgotten shelf at the ESC.

You gotta wonder when we will realize that we CAN assemble the talent to devise a logical, workable, common sense approach to EFFECTIVE discipline that has every chance of succeeding if backed by District support, dollars and staff.

The Cubs will win the Series. I believe Charlie Brown will someday kick that football. Don’t waste hope on the Oklahoma Legislature. I hope the District does give the newly called Discipline Committee the support it needs to succeed.