Honesty is the School Policy

(Note: scary themes and brief mention of childhood trauma/poverty)

“Easton, stop writing on your desk. We’ve talked about this,” Mrs. Anderson told her 3rd grade student. 

“I wasn’t writing on my desk,” Easton said, putting his pencil down. 

“You were. I was watching you when I asked you to stop.” 

“I wasn’t,” Easton repeated. 

“There are words written on your desk right now, that I just watched you put there,” Mrs. Anderson explained, running out of patience for this old argument. 

“I didn’t write them.”

“Easton, you know Principal Tiller’s new rules about being honest and telling the truth.” It was easier to blame the principal than explain what a school board is to 9-year-olds. 

“I am telling the truth! I didn’t write on my desk!” Easton’s voice was getting louder. 

“Easton, I will give you one more chance to take accountability for your actions. You were already suspended this year. Writing on your desk is a little thing that can be cleaned up, but lying about it is the real problem. Just apologize for writing on the desk.”

“I didn’t do it!” Easton screamed at his teacher. 

Mrs. Anderson took a deep breath and walked to her own desk. She looked at the newly laminated poster on her bulletin board, next to the district calendar and lockdown procedures. 

FIR GROVE ELEMENTARY’S HONESTY POLICY

The Fir Grove School District adopted a zero-tolerance policy for dishonesty as of the June 2024 school board meeting. Teachers must be 100% certain of the dishonesty before submitting a claim to their administrator. 

Consequences for students caught lying to staff:

First Offense - An administrator will call home with a reminder about the new policy. 

Second Offense - The student will meet with the school counselor for reflection and education on the importance of honesty. 

Third Offense - The student will serve one week of after-school detention with the school resource officer. 

Fourth Offense - The student will be suspended for one week. 

Fifth Offense - The student will be surrendered to the Truth Titan and transferred to the Independent School of Integrity, both located in the old district office building. 

Easton had started breaking pencils and throwing them, muttering to himself about his awful teacher. The rest of the class was silent with understanding of just how bad this was. They kept their heads down, writing or pretending to write in their journals. 

You definitely won’t like your next teacher, Mrs. Anderson thought as she dialed the office. 

“Hi Barb, it’s Jenny,” Mrs. Anderson said into the phone. “Easton is lying again… Yes, it’s the fifth time… I’ll submit the report right now… Thanks.” 

Mrs. Anderson opened the FGSD Shared Drive on her computer. She found the Discipline folder, then the Honesty folder, then the Forms folder, and clicked on the Fifth Offense document. The classroom door opened and two behavior department staff members walked to Easton, who was conveniently located closest to the door. 

“Good morning Easton,” Mrs. Fisher said. 

“It’s not a good morning! Teacher says I’m lying and I’m not! I didn’t do anything!” Easton yelled. 

“Did you write on your desk and then break all your pencils?” Mr. Maxwell asked, looking at the pencil fragments littering the floor. 

“No! Teacher is lying!” Easton said, throwing a highlighter toward Mrs. Anderson. 

“Okay, Easton,” Mrs. Fisher continued. “Let’s have you come up to the office and we’ll talk about it.” 

“FINE!” Easton screamed and stomped out of the room. 

Mrs. Fisher waved at Mrs. Anderson before following Easton out of the room. 

Mr. Maxwell walked over to Mrs. Anderson. 

“This was the fifth time, right?” he asked. 

“Yep,” Mrs. Anderson replied. “Do I need to do anything other than submit the report?”

“You’ll need to collect all his stuff, like his notebooks or whatever. He won’t be back to get it. Everything can go in his backpack and be sent to the office.” 

“Thanks, I’ll do that.” 

Mr. Maxwell nodded and left. Mrs. Anderson began typing up Easton’s final lies. 

~~~

Easton was loaded onto a short school bus. The school resource officer sat across from him. The bus driver stamped out his cigarette before boarding the bus.

“Are you excited about your new school?” Officer Cooper asked. 

Easton didn’t answer him. He was shaking, but trying not to cry. His parents had been notified, but they declined to come see him first. 

The old district office was only about 5 minutes away. As the town had grown, and the school district had increased in size, the old building had become too small a space for all the administrators and assistants needed. For years it had been used as a miscellaneous space, for meetings and storage. Over the summer, it was converted into a small charter school. The Independent School of Integrity. An honorable name for students who would never again be dishonorable. 

When the bus parked in front of the ISI building, Officer Cooper led Easton around to the back of the building. 

“This door leads directly to the basement,” Officer Cooper explained, gesturing at a steel-reinforced external door. It had several locks, which explained the ring of keys he pulled out of his pocket. There was also bright red sign that said 

WARNING

TRUTH TITAN HEADQUARTERS

NO UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL 

DO NOT ENTER 

DO NOT KNOCK

DO NOT LINGER

Officer Cooper opened the door. Inside was a landing before a staircase led down into darkness. A small, flickering light was barely visible at the bottom. It reminded Easton of fire, but he knew there couldn’t be fire in a basement. 

“Go ahead,” Officer Cooper told Easton, pointing toward the stairs. 

Easton didn’t move.

“I have permission to push you in if you won’t walk yourself,” Officer Cooper said, finally losing the friendly tone.

A low growl seemed to emanate from the basement. 

“I’m sorry!” Easton suddenly cried. “I lied! I lied to my teacher! I wrote on my desk! I broke the pencils! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I won’t lie anymore! I want to go back to my class!”

“It’s too late for that,” Officer Cooper told him. “You should’ve learned your lesson after one of the first four warnings you got. This is the fifth time. This is where you go now.” 

“But I’m sorry!” Easton tried again. “I won’t–” 

Officer Cooper picked Easton up by the back of his shirt. Easton was too stunned to even kick as he was dropped just inside the doorway. 

Before Easton could turn around, the door slammed shut behind him. He could hear Officer Cooper relocking the door from the outside with his many keys. 

The flickering light became brighter. The low growl became louder. Easton’s pants became wetter. 

Officer Cooper had just finished the final lock when he heard a thud and screaming come from inside. He returned his keys to his pocket and walked quickly back to the bus. 

The bus driver was smoking another cigarette, but paused to ask, “How do the students upstairs focus with all the screaming below them?” 

“It’s probably not that different from a regular classroom. Kids are always screaming somewhere,” Officer Cooper responded. 

“As long as they scream the truth!” the driver laughed. 

~~~

ANNIVERSARY OF CONTROVERSIAL SCHOOL HONESTY POLICY

Reported by Martha Singleton

This week marks the one year anniversary of the Fir Grove School District adopting its controversial honesty policy. The school board approved the policy in response to rampant behavior problems in the schools. One major problem that had been identified was students’ unwillingness to admit to their actions. Teachers, counselors, and administrators reported being unable to help students who wouldn’t acknowledge their actions. Students wouldn’t reflect or change behavior they claimed never happened, even after being shown video evidence from security cameras. Parents often sided with their children, making discipline even more difficult to accomplish. 

The district created a zero-tolerance policy for dishonesty by students. It includes a tiered system of consequences based on how many times a student lied. In order from first offense to fourth offense, students would receive a call home, a counseling session, after-school detention, and suspension. The fifth and final offense culminated in behavior intervention from the “Truth Titan” and subsequent transfer to the Independent School of Integrity. 

Fir Grove has been secretive about the Truth Titan, which is listed as a “behavior intervention specialist” in district documents. Students who have lied to school staff five times spend 24 hours with the Truth Titan in the basement of the former district office before enrolling at the Independent School of Integrity. 

Despite speculation over the Truth Titan and its methods, it has provided positive results in improving student behavior. A tour through the Independent School of Integrity reveals perfectly-mannered, uniformed students who are quiet and attentive during lessons in small class sizes. ISI teachers call it the “perfect environment for teaching and learning.” 

Opponents to the policy claim it unfairly punishes students with a background of poverty and trauma. Nearly all of the ISI students come from low-income families, and many of their parents have police records of domestic violence or other serious crimes. Those in favor of the policy say the Truth Titan is the best way to help students who suffer from trauma and mental health concerns. They argue that the program improves student behavior to the point of creating responsible citizens, breaking the cycles of crime and abuse. 

Approximately 75 FGSD students received Truth Titan intervention and were transferred to the Independent School of Integrity. The spring standardized test scores of ISI students were higher than district and state averages. Staff and students at the traditional schools reported a calmer environment without the presence of their former classmates. District leadership hopes to expand the program next school year. The superintendent recently sent a survey to teachers and parents about potentially lowering the requirements for referral to the Truth Titan to just four offenses of lying.