As a discipline dean at the HS for Environmental Studies in midtown Manhattan, Elizabeth Del Rosario splits her teaching duties with managing behavior issues, enforcing school policies and responding to incidents to promote a safe learning environment.
What does your school day look like?
I spend first period in the office greeting students. Second period is my prep time, and third period I teach AP statistics. I spend fourth and fifth periods doing dean work. That means I’m walking the hallways and making sure students are in class, or I’m responding to calls on my radio if teachers report incidents. I take lunch seventh period and teach another class eighth period — last year it was algebra 2.
Sometimes I need to respond to a call during my prep period, so I might do dean work during that time and use fourth or fifth for teaching prep. I have to be flexible and respond to incidents.
What sort of incidents come up, and how do you respond?
Physical fights are rare at my school, but I sometimes respond to students having disagreements, being disruptive in the classroom or having a mental health crisis. I was a dean 16 years ago at another school, and it was much more punitive then. My job was narrower in its focus on discipline, and the school safety officers intervened more often. Students could be suspended for things like cursing or refusing to get out of their seats. Now, we avoid suspension whenever we can.
We also use more restorative justice practices. If students are in a disagreement, for example, we sit down and mediate before it escalates into a fight, whereas in the past, we’d just stop the behavior.
It’s important for me to be calm and even-keeled. I may be interacting with a student who is enraged and saying things to get me upset, and I can’t take those things personally. I understand that it’s not about me. If I want what’s best for the student, I need to put my feelings aside.
How else has dean work changed since 2010?
We try harder to minimize suspensions. I think that’s a positive change. If a student has committed an infraction less severe than fighting, but that could call for a suspension, we’ll meet with the parents first to try to avoid that outcome.
With whom do you collaborate in your school?
I work with the assistant principal, who oversees discipline schoolwide. I serve as the liaison between the assistant principal and the teachers. I also coordinate with school safety officers for sweeps of the building during class periods. I make sure I’m always in the room if a student is interacting with a school safety agent because my role is to advocate for the student. I sometimes meet with a school counselor and a student if, for example, a student I catch cutting class is struggling with their grades, to help the student make a plan. I also meet with students and their parents to address behavioral issues.
What do you enjoy most about working as a discipline dean?
When I can help a student. I see the job as being about helping students who feel unheard. I can sit with a student and show them that they’re important. I have to balance enforcing protocols with being there to help. When a student is scared of being in trouble, and I can help them make a plan so things will turn out OK, that’s gratifying.