Hi! In my school, if kids were in this position, they would already have had several conversations with the Dean of Students and we would be at the stage of having had them call their parents, sign a contract agreeing to eliminate certain behaviors and promote others in their place, or possibly attend a disciplinary hearing co-led by the Dean of Students and the President of the Student Council (this might lead eventually to suspension or even expulsion, the seriousness and the frequency of the thefts determining how strong our response is).
At my wife's school, which granted is a high school (my school is grades 7-12), they would be expelled on the first offense. They have a strong honor code which they take very seriously, and it makes for an atmosphere of such trust that if you were to tack a $20 bill up on the bulletin board for your friend to pick up, no one else would touch it (this is a true-to-life story). In this case, I would suggest confronting the student about the discrepancies between her story and what is apparently the reality, affirm that this behavior violates trust and is completely unacceptable, ask her to think about how the other kids feel in general about having their stuff taken and how they might feel in particular about her, and then ask to think how she can rebuild the trust she's undermined. I would ask her to call her parents to go over the plan with them, and make it clear what the consequence will be if she doesn't execute the plan. Take care, Bill Ivey Stoneleigh-Burnham School _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive
