Calendar

• September 3, 2026
• Denise O'Brien

This practical, hands-on workshop equips school and district leaders, teachers, counselors, behavior specialists, MTSS/PBIS teams with the research, mindset shifts, and ready-to-use toolkit needed to move away from ineffective, exclusionary suspensions toward equitable, meaningful, and sustainable alternative discipline practices.

What Participants Will Experience Throughout the Day

Building the Case & Shifting Mindsets

• Examine the compelling research showing why traditional suspensions fail to improve behavior, widen equity gaps, and harm long-term student outcomes.

• Complete the Discipline Belief Self-Inventory (featured in the book) to surface personal and school-wide beliefs that often drive suspension decisions.

• Explore the core Alternative Discipline Framework—centered on practical decision-making questions such as “Is this incident one that will result in the student returning to campus?”—to guide consistent, equitable responses.

• Address common pushback from staff, parents, and stakeholders with proven strategies for bringing policy to practice.

The Alternative Discipline Menu in Action

• Dive deep into the Alternative Discipline Menu, which provides specific, grade-level-appropriate responses and interventions for the 13 most common suspendable offenses:

From Theory to Implementation

• Analyze authentic case studies from schools that successfully reduced suspensions using the Alternative Discipline Framework, including lessons learned and measurable outcomes.

• Practice using the updated toolkit resources: tools, templates, processes, and the Alternative Discipline Contract—all designed for immediate classroom, office, and school-wide use.

• Work in collaborative teams to apply the framework to scenarios from participants’ own schools or districts.

• Develop a personalized implementation action plan, including strategies for sustainability, data monitoring, and stakeholder communication.