Desert Oasis High tests new approach to resolving disciplinary problems

By Ian Whitaker

Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015 | 2 a.m.

Desiree Morris and her friends knew they had better not take the bag of goodies they found in a restricted staff area after school at Desert Oasis High School.

But the freshmen did it anyway and were recorded by a nearby security camera. They were caught and slapped with a suspension for their trouble.

In most other schools, they would have been sent home for a few days or kept isolated in school, punishments meant to exclude misbehaving students from classes as well as force them to think about what they did.

There’s a problem with that, says AJ Adams, Desert Oasis’ principal.

“Those programs are traditionally just stick them in a room, close the door, give them makeup work and they never really do anything,” he said. “It never really teaches them anything or helps them change their behavior.”

Desiree and her friends were put into Door 2 Success, an in-school program which started at Desert Oasis this school year.

Instead of being in isolation at home, the students are kept on campus in a special classroom. They’re still punished — students sit quietly in the classroom most of the day and do school work. Most important, they receive one-on-one counseling sessions with school staff, who play the role of mentors.

School assistant principal Karmen Miller is one of those mentors. In the one-on-one sessions, she makes sure the students know why they are in the program, but also coaches them on how to develop ways to deal with things like anger and peer pressure.

“We could just punish them, but then they would lose instructional time,” said Miller. “This is an opportunity to say, ‘Yeah I did this, I paid my consequences and I’m going to do better.’”

It’s a departure from the traditional model of discipline in schools, which usually puts punishment above rehabilitation. The Clark County School District has a program called HOPE Squared, which funds character building classes. Desert Oasis currently receives some funds through HOPE Squared, according to the district.

Desiree and her friends spent a week in Door 2 Success — the average amount for lesser offenses — though some students can spend several weeks. For students getting closer to graduation, program staff identify if they are missing required credits and allow them to make it up in a nearby computer lab.

The reason for all this is to show the kids that, while they did something wrong, they can make things right and get back on track. As part of her program regimen, Desiree must write an apology note to the staff member that she and her friends stole from.

“You can’t expect people to have a certain behavior if you haven’t modeled and applied it,” said Miller. “Desiree’s a very bright young woman. Why throw it away for one bad choice?”

Door 2 Success goes hand in hand with Desert Oasis’ mentoring program, which pairs seniors with incoming freshmen. The mentors meet regularly with their peers to talk about everything from their social lives to how they’re doing in school.

They also act as a safety net in case school staff members start to see some students going astray. Desiree met with her mentor, Taylor, soon after she was put into the program.

“She told me that I shouldn’t start messing up as a freshman,” Desiree said. “She guided me like a parent.”

So far the school likes the program and wants to continue it. A lot of the repeat offenders — students who constantly showed up in the school’s previous suspension program — are starting to transition back into the the rest of the student body.

It’s also proven to be a good way in to talk to students about what they are going to do after high school, and encourage them to go to college.

Posters throughout the school feature the colors and mascots of popular universities around the country. In the middle of the school, a large banner strung across the atrium reads #YouBelongHere.

“We’re not going to set them up to fail. We want them to be successful,” Miller said. “We can’t do it after the fact, so we need to be proactive.”