May 5th, 2025
By Adreanna Halliman
When rapper Lupe Fiasco released Prisoner 1 & 2, he painted a chilling picture of how both incarcerated people and prison guards are trapped within the same system; different roles, same cage. This framework echoes far beyond the prison gates and can be applied to high discipline school systems.
In one of my recent interviews with a former charter school teacher, this parallel emerged powerfully: students are Prisoner 1, teachers are Prisoner 2. Both find themselves bound to a system that prioritizes control over connection, silence over expression and compliance over curiosity. Within high-discipline “no-excuses” charter schools, this carceral ideology doesn’t just shape the experiences of students, it shapes the teacher’s experiences as well.
This episode of Disciplined by Design will center on educators who worked at one of the Big 7 charter networks: Democracy Prep. Their stories offer an insider perspective into how “no-excuses” punishment systems impact both students and educators.
Meet the Educators
To protect their identities, I am using aliases. This episode will focus on the stories of: Michelle, Jason and Adam. Each of these educators worked within Democracy Prep for varying lengths of time. Though their roles and subject areas varied, their experiences resonate with an uncanny consistency.
Compliance as Culture
What exactly is compliance?
In educational contexts, compliance refers to a student’s adherence to school norms/rules and behavioral expectations. In many charter school contexts, compliance doesn’t just meaning following directions, it also means performing obedience. This obedience is performed through posture, silence, facial expression and immediate deference to authority.
In my conversation with Michelle, she shared that all the charter school really did was make kids be compliant and that teachers weren’t asking them what they needed. We were just labeling them disruptive. Students were either compliant to the rules or non-compliant and received a label and a punishment.
Adam described the school environment stating “it was closer to a militaristic setting than anything else.” He goes on to say that “assuming most of our kids aren’t joining the military, this kind of discipline isn’t very useful.” Adam spoke candidly about the ways that the discipline systems led to compliance in kids. In our interview he shared:
- “All you’re doing is policing extremely normal child behaviors…Why?”
- “It just felt like a vessel for control, not a space for joy or learning”
For Jason, in terms of the environment and push towards compliance, there was no gray area. He states “if you showed up to class, you either did the work or lost points. There was no in-between.” There weren’t options for how students were able to show up within the discipline system.
The educators interviewed weren’t just witnessing compliance, they were expected to enforce it by way of the tiered discipline system and bodily control. Michelle states: “I felt like I was a police officer, not an educator” as she reflects on the expectations of her in the role.
Tiered Discipline and Bodily Control
When you step into a “no-excuses” charter school with strong alignment to their discipline policy, the first thing that stands out is the quiet. Students typically walk in single file – and not just elementary students. They sit perfectly straight, turn their heads to track the teacher at the same time and only speak when spoken to. Students act in unison and any disruptions are dealt with swiftly in an effort to maintain the silence.
Michelle reflected on the intensity of the environment sharing that it was the first thing you noticed—kids walking on yellow lines in complete silence. She shares about the silent transitions, silent lunches, naming that it felt like a factory. Michelle began her career in education during the 2020 global pandemic. She initially assumed these rules were all about safety protocols. She states: “I thought it was just safety stuff. Lines on the floor, space between desks, walking a certain way.” But then COVID rules lifted. And the structure didn’t change. That’s when she realized—it wasn’t about health. It was about control.
Michelle would have a moment of reckoning when a student asked her why they had to be quiet when returning to class from recess. She told me she didn’t have an answer for him and that changed her perspective.
Adam shared about his experience and the discipline management system stating: “They gave me a script, but I had to throw it out. I wasn’t going to spend every day policing posture or pencil grips. That’s not education. That’s surveillance.” Teachers within the Democracy Prep system were given scripts to follow to ensure streamlined curriculum and allow educators to focus more on implementing this tiered behavior management system.
Jason recalled students’ bodies being under constant management at the school. He shared that the teachers were taught to track every movement. Eyes forward. Hands folded. Feet on the floor. If a student leaned back or put their head down, teachers were told to redirect them immediately. Jason spoke of having to focus on managing the bodily actions of students all while getting through the lesson. He further reflects on his experience and states: “I remember standing in front of the room thinking…we’re managing inmates.”
These no-excuses discipline systems connection to the school-to-prison pipeline is clear. They don’t just resemble carceral systems in language and bodily control, but they produce the same outcomes. In 2024, Bacher-Hicks et. al conducted research that highlighted how exclusionary discipline increases the risk of student’s future involvement with the criminal justice system. This fact is a hallmark of the school to prison pipeline. In these teachers’ stories, we hear about an emotional displacement. Students are learning that survival within this kind of school system means silence and compliance. Being seen, being loud or being unique often means being punished.
In my discussion with the teachers, students who “acted out” or didn’t follow the rules received a demerit. Three demerits led to exclusion, with students being sent to the Dream Office. But what exactly is that?
The DREAM Office
One of the most interesting revelations of Democracy Prep’s behavior management system is the DREAM Office. The DREAM Office, according to the educators, is a place where students who have received three demerits or automatic sendouts go. It is staffed with a social worker and a Dean of Students who will counsel the student and give them time to reflect on their actions. Students should leave the DREAM Office with a plan of how to course-correct.
On its face, it sounds restorative. Aspirational even. The reality, however, is far more complicated.
Jason described the DREAM Office as a conflicted space, stating: “It felt like solitary confinement…It wasn’t restorative” He also shared that sometimes the kids wanted to get sent out. Jason told me that the Dream Office felt like an escape from the punishment of the classroom. He said “it became this weird reward.”
Michelle saw the same paradox, using almost the same language as Jason. She stated. She shared with me that the classroom often felt incredibly hostile, so the DREAM Office could be an escape. That didn’t mean there were zero consequences to be received in the DREAM Office. Michelle states that students would “come back more quiet, more sad…you could see it in their bodies.”
The outcome not only impacted the kids’ emotional well-being, but also had a major impact on how students and teachers could connect or build relationships. Jason names this saying: “It’s impossible to connect with kids while also punishing them the way the system wants you to.”
So, if this discipline model is supposed to help kids grow and learn, why does it leave them feeling smaller? And were kids simply finding workarounds for the system? Well, according to the educators, many students were able to work the system. When eyes were on them, they’d follow the rules, but they’d find sneaky ways to be defiant. From sneaking to look at phones that were intended to be locked away in Yondr pouches to completing assignments for one class inm another class, students found a way. Adam bluntly put it: “They weren’t learning discipline. They were learning how to be sneaky. That’s not character-building. That’s survival.”
Teachers Under Pressure
Let’s talk about Prisoner 2 – the teachers. One of the major takeaways from these interviews is that teachers aren;t immune from the harm that these no-excuses discipline systems produce. In reality, they often bear the brunt of maintaining these systems.
All three teachers shared more about what coaching and preparation to enforce these systems looked like. Michelle and Adam shared that the coaching didn’t feel like support; in fact, Adam recalls getting minimal support, guidance or observation as the year progressed. He attributes this to his choice to not enforce the behavior management system in his classroom. This didn’t come without consequence; Adam was told he wouldn’t be invited back for the following school year despite initially believing he would be there for a two-year term.
Michelle recalled coaching at Democracy Prep stating: “It wasn’t support. It was compliance coaching.” She shared with me that she got pulled into meetings about how she wasn’t giving enough demerits. Jason describes similar experiences, however it seems he could never strike the proper balance. He stated: “One week I was told I was doing it right. The next week, I was told I wasn’t. I got anxiety from all the contradictions.” There was an invisible goalpost that seemed to move every week. He spoke about constantly feeling that he wasn’t doing well as an educator.
Jason goes on to say: “I wanted to treat [students] like humans, but I also had to tell them they couldn’t put their head down, even if they were sick. That’s when the contradictions really started to wear on me.” Over time, he reflected that he was “drinking the Kool-Aid” at first and parroting rationale for following the behavior system back to kids until it became clear that the system was more about control.
The constant pressure to ensure you were adequately following the rules to the degree that the administration desired had a profound impact on educators’ mental health. Jason described his anxiety, Michelle spoke about dreading entering the school building. Adam saw the mental toll it took on his fellow educators up close stating: “It just drove people crazy. You’re saying the same things to the same students every day—teachers started breaking down by midyear.”
“I remember teachers saying, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’ Two of them quit midyear.”
Resistance
Despite being there for varying lengths of time, all three educators reached a breaking point during their time at Democracy Prep. They each chose to resist the system in their own unique ways.
Michelle invested in relationships. She states: “I started writing notes with my students. They’d write me back—about their lives, their friendships, their feelings.”
“It wasn’t discipline. It was attention. Care. And it changed everything about our classroom.”
Adam stopped using the demerit system altogether. He completely rejected the system. He stated: “I didn’t announce it. I just stopped. I replaced it with relationships.” “And the behavior didn’t get worse—it got better. They trusted me.” During times when Adam had to revert to the system – times when administration or leadership would enter the classroom – it backfired. He shared: “Kicking a kid out felt like betrayal. They’d look at me like, ‘You know me. Why would you do that?’” “Once the trust broke, the behavior got worse. Kids don’t forget that kind of betrayal.” Adam’s resistance had consequences, he wasn’t asked to return the following year despite believing he had a two year contract with the school.
Jason’s experience is eerily familiar to other charter school teachers. He had a gradual unraveling of faith in the system. He states: “At first, I was fully compliant. Then I got whiplash—too many demerits, then not enough.” “Eventually, I started bending the system. Letting kids sleep if they needed rest. Talking to them one-on-one. Those were the moments that felt like real teaching.” “I didn’t need the rulebook. I needed to see them as people.”
What Do The Teachers Think Discipline Can Look Like?
At the end of each conversation, I asked the same question. What should discipline look like in schools? They each shared a view of discipline that echoed principles of restorative justice. This is a growing movement within school systems that centers harm repair, trust and emotional safety. Within many charter networks, however, this shift still feels far off. As more stories from members of high-discipline charter school communities come about, the harder questions will be asked; we can only hope this leads to policy changes.
Conclusion
Charter schools aren’t inherently bad; it’s important to approach these stories with nuance. They offer tangible options for families who have been consistently failed by traditional systems. The communities they service often see them as spaces of hope.
That said, we cannot ignore the very real harms and the costs that they bring.
Discipline focused on silencing students and educators instead of supporting them is the antithesis of what we should expect from education. Compliance being taught over critical thinking and individuality should be concerning. When we confuse compliance with growth and development, we lose some of the most important parts of learning: curiosity and agency. When we design schools that disregard the humanity of both students and teachers, we have to ask ourselves: what are we really teaching?
We’ll explore that further in the next episode of Disciplined by Design. Until then, thanks for engaging with the podcast and articles.
Let’s continue to imagine a better future.
References
Bacher-Hicks, A., Billings, S. B., & Deming, D. J. (2024). The School-to-Prison Pipeline: Long-Run Impacts of School Suspensions on Adult Crime. American Economic Journal. Economic Policy, 16(4), 165–193. https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.20230052
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