A Different Kind of Muscle: Lessons in Managing Classroom Conflict from the Spring Valley Incident

In October 2015, what began as a quiet student-teacher conflict swiftly developed into pain, confusion, and a viral video that showed a school resource officer forcibly removing a young woman from a classroom. Ultimately, both the student and officer faced disciplinary actions.

What led up to the alarming footage at Spring Valley High School?

Many are familiar with the events at Spring Valley High School in South Carolina and the subsequent arguments about the role of police officers, students, and teachers in the classroom. The incident is currently under review and events are still unfolding. Rather than focus on a timeline of events or the dissemination of blame, it is essential for educators and administrators to look to Spring Valley as an opportunity to review their policies on student discipline and managing classroom conflict.

The story began in a routine way: A teacher and a teenage student engaged in a power struggle. The teacher asked the student to do something. The student refused. The teacher and other administrators requested that the student leave the classroom. Again, the student refused.

Any teacher or parent can attest that power struggles with teenagers are common. Whatever the roots of this clash, it’s important to note that each step of the way, as the teacher called in administrators and the school resource officer, the power struggle escalated as people in a position of authority attempted to exert control over the student involved. Ultimately, the SRO applied “muscling techniques” in order to remove the student from her desk. While outside specialists have declared that the involved officer was within his rights, it’s essential not to get bogged down in that argument.

The way teachers and administrators handle classroom conflict affects school culture

The true question for educators and administrators isn’t one of rights but of responsibilities and how teacher and administrative power should be wielded in the classroom. If the authorities involved in this conflict had engaged in de-escalation techniques, the outcome in this case could have been so different that other students in the classroom would barely have noticed the student’s defiance.

How conflicts are handled has a profound effect on student and school relationships. They also interfere with the cohorts we attempt to build in our classrooms. While some might feel that it is necessary for an educator to remind students of who is “in charge,” building community requires creating and allowing a voice for all members of that group.

Addressing misbehavior with appropriate authority while acknowledging student agency

There were no direct witnesses to the initial teacher-student interaction in Spring Valley. But according to education consultant Dr. Allen Mendler, no matter what the inciting incident, student defiance should be addressed privately. This allows an educator to exert the appropriate authority while still acknowledging the student’s agency.

Such interactions allow for a face-saving wherein behavior is addressed, but students are not humiliated or targeted for their behavior. Public power struggles result in significant embarrassment and stress for involved students, which then furthers the cycle of defiant behavior, according to Responsive Classroom consultant Margaret Berry Wilson. As each act of defiance progresses, conflict escalates.

Planning ahead to defuse classroom disruptions

Rather than removing the Spring Valley student from the classroom, the teacher could have explained that the student would be punished, then carried on with class. The physical presence of the student did not undermine the teacher’s ability to teach.

Dr. Mendler recommends a proactive approach by informing students beforehand that misbehavior will be handled outside of classroom time. Mendler suggests that the best way to de-escalate a conflict is to carry on with the class as though nothing happened or, if concerned with control, simply pointing out that there will be consequences for the student’s actions at a later time.

Got a defiant student? Move the rest of the class instead

If the teacher truly believed that the presence of a defiant student was a threat to learning and the student refused to move, a non-violent strategy that respects the defiant student’s agency is to simply take the rest of the students out of the classroom. The rest of the class can either go to a new place for learning like the library or even the hallway, or for a short walk so that everyone could excuse themselves from the situation.

During the time that the teacher was gone, administration or counselors could step in and deal with the defiant student, allowing him or her an opportunity to voice any issues or problems without worrying about student or administrator face-saving strategies that increase, rather than decrease, tension.

Managing classroom conflict requires teacher empathy

Whichever strategy teachers use, it is essential to practice empathy when engaging with students. This allows us insight into their behavior. It also helps us understand how to address misbehavior in a way that can build, rather than destroy community.

Instilling the fear of being physically extracted from a desk does nothing to build a solid learning cohort. Rather, knowing that teachers and administrators are respectful and responsive to all students — even the most frustrating or defiant — allows for a classroom culture where power struggles and defiance become less common and communication and adherence to communal values takes center stage.

Monica Fuglei is a graduate of the University of Nebraska in Omaha and a current faculty member of Arapahoe Community College in Colorado, where she teaches composition and creative writing.