Coming into the new school year, students and teachers of DSST: Cedar alike were met with a wide array of changes compared to years past. The 2023-2024 school year has so far switched its name, trimester system, schedule, off-campus system, and bathroom passes amongst other additions. Perhaps the most notable change, however, was the introduction of a new disciplinary system: LiveSchool. In comparison to more demerit-based systems of Refocus and College Prep of the past, LiveSchool’s premise is built upon its reward-focused structure. Students can earn points from staff through actions rooted in the Core Values and can then spend said points in the LiveSchool store. However, students can also lose points, or earn logs, leading to serving Responsibility Prep, or even further down the line to a Dean Intervention. With this new complex beginning to be set in place, sentiments of dissent, approval, and above all, confusion seemed to fill the conversations surrounding the latest update.
The most critical component in ensuring LiveSchool’s success is reliant upon the LiveSchool store, a set of incentives formed by some of the students of the Leadership class in collaboration with the administration. “We wanted this to be student-led so that they [students] feel like they add value to the system themselves,” stated Senior Dean Jermaine Jones. In having students shape the benefits of the rewards, students are more likely to feel incentivized to participate in earning and spending points and may also improve school life. Andrew Atkinson, a senior and forerunner of the LiveSchool Store gave his thoughts on how the LiveSchool store posed new opportunities in contrast to middle school. He pointed out that in middle school’s times of “punishment-driven” learning, there was never an emphasis on behavior that could be deemed positive but instead only seemed to chastise students to keep them in check. Now that the focus has shifted to giving students opportunities rather than taking them away, there’s an inclination to demonstrate exemplary behavior. Not only do you keep students from taking away from a classroom environment, but you also encourage them to outperform in comparison to other classmates who may not take away from the classroom but yet disengage or lack contribution to it. “However,” he adds, “That can only come true if teachers are giving and taking points.”
With that being said, are teachers and administrators handing out a properly balanced amount of points and logs to students? The answer across the student body and staff seems to be no. Despite there being a general bar of what classifies points or logs, each teacher fluctuates in the amount that they give. In other cases, points may simply not be given out at all.“Every student is in the system, but not every student has been identified for the great behavior that they’re doing. Some students get away with behaviors that do not meet expectations again because staff members aren’t privy to the behavior outside of students ‘dry-snitching’ on each other.” Mr. Jones continues by saying that there are a large number of students who have not been in Responsibility Prep, or Dean Intervention, nor has he been able to log them for positive behaviors because they end up falling under his radar. With the student-to-staff ratio being about 15:1, it becomes harder, specifically for the Culture Team and Deans who have even smaller numbers, to accurately give students the points that they deserve. Although these numbers are good compared to other schools, the ratio still makes it difficult for all students to be accurately accounted for. This issue doesn’t only manifest in the administration but also within the classroom. With teachers having different levels of leniency as well as personal standards, what becomes worthy of logging within one classroom is dismissible within another, and can easily stir conflict. When discussing this in comparison to how different teachers may handle foul language, Mr. Jones affirms, “It’s not okay for a student to be able to cuss around one teacher, but not another. I can completely understand how students will feel targeted or feel like someone’s playing favorites.” So while there is a set expectation, if there’s a lack of group reinforcement the system starts to crack, and there becomes a hole in the expectation itself.
Not counting this, the ratios that teachers log and reward are also unstable. Some teachers may hand out too many positive points while others may log too often. In a conversation with Gavin Hulse, a senior as well as an advocate against LiveSchool, he calls out that while some logs do have merit, categorizing a wide set of different behaviors and issues into logs ignores situational factors that may contribute to case-by-case scenarios. He brings up an example where “Someone who may not be able to bring school supplies because of outside factors like a financial citation can have a log while someone else could be skipping.” This brings up the question: Is it fair to have this as a catch-all solution? Despite these concerns, tracking and coaching with teachers has also been occurring in giving feedback on how they may operate LiveSchool in their classroom. If teachers are regularly given feedback on how they merit their classroom from students and administration, it can be preventative in furthering the issue and possibly give a balance. This feature may also prove to be beneficial in combating another flaw within our pre-existing systems. Racial discrimination has always been a discussion when it comes to disciplinary measures. Gavin asserts that what also made older policies more precarious was how they treated and failed students of color. But with tracking and data available in LiveSchool, there seems to be a way to prevent this. At this point, Mr. Jones hopes that “being able to have teachers see how they’re impacting our students, especially our black and brown students by having more logs when it comes to negativity rather than positivity is crucial.” If true and if there does come interventions with it may be capable of protecting students of color in ways where in the past it may have gone unnoticed. But as mentioned it requires improvement, teamwork, and action to see this fully realized.
Regardless, LiveSchool continues to cement itself as part of this year’s new disciplinary system and into the next as students and staff improve and utilize it to be equitable and rewarding to all parties. Will LiveSchool prove itself to be a lasting part of our community or possibly change into a different structure? For now, time will tell what directions the school will further take it in solidifying LiveSchool.
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