Educators in West Virginia, like their peers across the country, are reporting challenges in fulfilling their mission due to increased student behavior issues.
In response to these growing concerns, lawmakers have considered highly punitive school discipline measures. Their concerns are valid — nearly 90 percent of public schools nationwide have reported negative impacts on students’ socioemotional development following the pandemic. At the same time, increased punitive and exclusionary discipline is not the appropriate response for either the short-term or lifetime well-being of children as young as five and six years old.
