Students often take teachers and staff for granted. At times, they take out their anger or other pent-up emotions on these individuals. In order to minimize outbursts and prevent further disruption from occurring, these students are sent to recovery rooms D14 or D15 to reflect on their actions. Depending on the situation, they can be sent there for either a reflection or a referral. 

Kavon Gardner and Lenise Vaughn-Williams are the two behavioral specialists at Loy Norrix. While Gardner has been at the school for two years, this is Lenise’s first year here as a behavioral specialist.

One of the largest problems that comes with the job is finding out what exactly happens when students are sent down for a reflection. Often, students will minimize the situation in order to spend less time reflecting, and unlike the referral process, behavioral specialists aren’t given a clear picture as to what exactly the student was sent out for.

“I would normally sometimes call the teacher to get the teacher’s side of it,” Gardner said. “It’s hard to have a kid talk about reflections when I don’t know what they’re down here for, as opposed to having a referral.”  

While recovery rooms benefit students by providing a safe place to reflect on their actions, they also benefit the teachers who have to deal with disruptive behavior.

Sandra Craft’s article Teacher Burnout Statistics: Why Teachers Quit in 2024 attributes the large number of teachers leaving their classrooms to general burnout. According to her, “around 34% of teachers reported feeling some feelings of anxiety around their work and managing students.”

Recovery rooms help prevent the causes of the general feelings of burnout that both students and teachers experience. De-escalation is their primary function, and the behavioral specialists at hand are often able to help students and teachers defuse the situation.

Williams notes that teachers yelling at misbehaving students is one of the least productive ways to try dealing with these types of situations.

“I don’t know if it’s because if they trust me or because I listen, but the other part of that is something I can just talk to them about,” Williams said.

Students can get burnt out and need a minute to calm down and get out of the stressful grasp of school. When schools offer these behavioral services, it shows students that they’re not alone and gives them a chance to voice their problems to people who will listen.