Surprise! It's not OK to punch the teacher or threaten to blow up the school

Attacking a teacher or threatening to bomb the school might get more than a "restorative" talk and a lollipop, Montgomery County (Maryland) schools have decided. "Bomb threats, for example, could lead to suspension or expulsion," reports Nicole Asbury in the Washington Post. "Previously, the district’s student code of conduct said such threats could trigger the lowest level of response or penalty, such as a detention or other teacher-led intervention."

Student misbehavior has gotten worse. "Since the return to in-person instruction, several teachers have reported being attacked by students," and the schools have been "repeatedly targeted by faux bomb threats," she writes. The county's public schools were closed from spring of 2020 to fall of 2021.

These "extremely low expectations" are being raised, says Peter Moran, the district’s chief of school support and improvement. Starting in the fall, students who attack a staffer at a middle or high school will face a “Level 4” to “Level 5” response, which could include suspension. That means administrators, not just teachers, will be involved.

However, the district will continue to use restorative justice, such as counseling, support from a social worker or a behavioral intervention plan, along with other disciplinary measures, Moran said.

Rules aren't applied uniformly across the school system’s more than 200 schools, administrators concede. According to a district report, black students are much more likely to be suspended, and white and Asian students are less likely to be suspended. (It's not clear what a student had to do to get suspended. Planting a real bomb? Murdering a teacher while affirming a belief that sex is binary?)

Putting enforcement responsibility on administrators, not teachers, might help with consistency, if it is indeed a problem. Raising expectations for student behavior -- and for school safety and order -- is an essential first step.

A parent in the district, Michael Petrilli thinks Montgomery County schools' reputation for excellence is not well earned. The "soft-on-discipline approach, with a big focus on restorative justice," is "clearly failing in some of the district’s toughest schools," he writes. Montgomery County "desperately needs to make a U-turn when it comes to its grading, discipline, and attendance policies."