President Trump issued an Executive Order ending the era of Obama discipline policies in public schools. In the EO, you will see how Obama pressured schools (by withholding federal funds) so his policies would be implemented in public schools:
*In 2014, the Obama Administration issued guidance pressuring schools (including with threatened loss of federal funding) to impose discipline in a manner designed to equalize disciplinary rates by race, rather than simply imposing discipline based on objective behavior alone.
*As a result, students were disciplined differently depending on their race, and some students who should have been suspended or expelled for dangerous behavior remained in the classroom.
A 2018 Federal Commission on School Safety report found that schools ignored or covered up student misconduct to avoid federal scrutiny over racial disparities in discipline data.
*Following the 2018 report, President Trump rescinded the Obama-era guidance.
*In 2023, the Biden Administration reinstated the Obama practice of weaponizing Title VI to promote a DEI approach to school discipline, which makes schools less safe.
How did these directives from the Executive Branch under Presidents Biden and Obama play out in New Hampshire ?
The New Hampshire legislature voted to change the suspensions and expulsions law in 2020. The law was weakened when HB1558 was signed by Governor Sununu. The revised law forced schools to implement policies that included requiring schools to add “targeted interventions” if a student is heading towards a suspension or expulsion:
III-a. Before expelling a pupil under this section the local school board or chartered public school board of trustees shall consider each of the following factors:
(e) Whether the school district or chartered public school has implemented positive behavioral interventions under paragraph V.(f) Whether a lesser intervention would properly address the violation or behavior committed by the pupil.
You can see here how the law was changed when issuing an expulsion to students in New Hampshire here:
III-c. Any expulsion shall be valid throughout the school districts of the state. However, upon application by the pupil, any school district or chartered public school may choose to admit an expelled pupil at the school district or chartered public school’s sole discretion. The decision by a chartered public school or superintendent to accept a pupil under this paragraph shall not be binding upon any other school district or chartered public school until the pupil is reinstated by the pupil’s local school board or chartered public school board of trustees.
The bolded part was added in 2020, whereas before, a student was expelled from all schools.
This was also added to the law:
V. School districts and chartered public schools shall make educational assignments available to the suspended pupil during periods of suspension. Except as provided in paragraphs II and IV, a school district or chartered public school shall provide alternative educational services to a suspended pupil whenever the pupil is suspended in excess of 20 cumulative days within any school year. The alternative educational services shall be designed to enable a pupil to advance from grade to grade. Any time a pupil is suspended more than 10 school days in any school year, upon the pupil’s return to school the school district shall develop an intervention plan designed to proactively address the pupil’s problematic behaviors. No pupil shall be penalized academically solely by virtue of missing class due to suspension.
The weakening in the law reduced consequences or punitive measures.
Around the same time, another law in New Hampshire was changed that addressed student behavior. The Multi Tiered System of Support for Behavior was added to the law that addresses the system of care for children’s mental health. The MTSS-B is a framework for schools to follow when addressing behavior issues in public schools. This three-tiered framework would include addressing the mental health of children while they attend school.
Now that discipline has been watered down, the school would be set up to provide mental health interventions. Interventions would be handled by hiring more school counselors, social workers, and school psychologists. If you are wondering why your school budgets have increased while enrollment is falling, go look at how many of these positions have been added to the payroll while the school is hiring fewer teachers.
MTSS-B has come with BIG problems in our public schools. Not only is this pseudo-psychology in the classroom, the mental health data collected, stored and shared has become a big problem too. By their own admission, this was a way to move students away from learning the academics, to the school doing what a family normally provides. WATCH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG6VHlrCBLk&list=WL
Tier 1 of the MTSS-B includes social and emotional learning. Not only does SEL provide therapy to children in the classroom, all of their mental health data is uploaded to the SEL vendors, without parental knowledge or consent. We know from the Power School lawsuit that they were charged with sharing behavior data on students. There are no privacy protections on any data uploaded to an online vendor. Second Step SEL has also been a way to bring more CRT, Gender ideology, and anti-racism into the classroom.
Tier 2 of the MTSS-B has children visiting the school counselor if a behavior problem escalates. We know that this level of mental health care has been provided without parental knowledge or consent. Parents have reported this, and Executive Director Lynn Stanley, from the New Hampshire Chapter National Association of Social Workers, testified before a Senate Judiciary Committee indicating that a consent law would not be good for social workers working in our schools. She didn’t know that parental consent was required in federal law. That’s scary.
Tier 3 of the MTSS-B has students avoiding suspension, and visiting mental health providers outside the school system. These providers are known for using “restorative justice” practices with students. This doesn’t come cheaply either. Seacoast Youth Services charges $30k a trimester at taxpayer expense. At one time a student was suspended, but now the taxpayers pay for these students to attend SYS. Where’s the proof it stops the bad behavior? Teachers have reported that many of the kids consider it a joke. Suspensions are down, but where’s the INDEPENDENT proof that this enormous expense had any significant impact on the students? There is plenty of criticism on this non-punitive therapy.
There are also those who want MTSS-B to promote racial equity. But equity is focused on making sure that there are equal outcomes, not equal opportunity.
President Trump’s team is aware of all of this, and is now directing schools to abandon these practices all together. Why? Well it wasn’t that long ago that teachers in Keene left the teaching profession because behavior was out of control. Now you know why. Consequences have been replaced with interventions, and mental health treatment. While teachers are frustrated, there are a lot of profits to SEL vendors, and 3rd party Tier 3 providers. It’s a cash cow.
According to Commissioner Frank Edelbut, there has been $10 million spent on MTSS-B. Where’s the proof that this has improved public education?
New Hampshire legislators and school administrators may want to revisit the laws and the practices in our schools. The President is reversing this trend that is driving teachers out of the profession. Administrators may have to go back to doing their job, and instilling discipline in the school.
