Shelby Cty, TN: District hires 19 behavior specialists to find the "root cause" of misbehavior

Feb 22, 2018, Chalkbeat, Memphis: Looking for the ‘why’ behind student suspensions, Memphis schools turn to behavior specialists — again https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/tn/2018/02/21/looking-for-the-why-behind-student-suspensions-memphis-schools-turn-to-behavior-specialists-again/ … Shelby County Schools hired 19 behavior specialists for the 2017-18 school year. Shaw and Spikner are among 19 behavior specialists hired this year by Shelby County Schools to serve nearly all of its 145 schools. By giving students individual attention, they seek to pinpoint the root cause of misbehavior and then work with those students to make better choices. The goal is to help avoid school suspensions, as well as to acclimate suspended students back to school. … Behavior specialists are different from counselors because they don’t have power to recommend or impose punishment. They visit weekly with students and also meet with teachers and principals to develop behavioral improvement strategies. … This “progressive discipline” chart is being implemented in schools with the help of behavior specialists. … And the policy for automatic suspensions is also unchanged for fights, assaulting a school employee, or maliciously damaging school property. …