ABSTRACT
For students, parents, teachers, and school administrators alike, the management of school disciplinary policies and practices during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have been equally confusing and concerning as schools continue to navigate unchartered territory as it relates to managing the nation’s K-12 classrooms during the international COVID-19 pandemic. Initial evidence suggests that school officials have received little to no substantive guidance from federal or state officials on how to effectively manage student disciplinary issues that have arisen in virtual school-related settings. The purpose of this chapter is to examine how current school officials are rethinking their existing approaches to handling student disciplinary issues, including developing school discipline policies and practices uniquely tailored to student behaviors in a virtual school environment. In some school districts across the country, school officials are considering novel approaches to school disciplinary policies and practices influenced by the dramatic and negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The continuing COVID-19 pandemic has prompted many educators and school administrators to formally acknowledge the unusually high level of stress and anxiety caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and consider more lenient student disciplinary practices.
