Journal of K-12 Educational Research 51 Latino males (Losen et al., 2015). Fabelo et al. (2011) found school policies and practices to be the primary sources of school suspension rates, not student discipline. Methodology The current study used a phenomenological design using a series of interview questions to highlight the experiences, actions, and motivations of nine middle school assistant principals. The interview questions were analyzed to identify themes, patterns, commonalities, and differences. To assist with the triangulation of the data and as recommended by Creswell (2012), the researcher conferred with a key informant who worked with all 55 campuses in the district. In addition, the researcher validated the data through an expert panel. Three research questions were used to examine middle school discipline administrators’ perceptions on the role policies and procedures play in discipline decisions and the effect of race on those decisions. Research Question 1 (RQ1): What is the role of middle school assistant principals in administering discipline policies and procedures? The assistant principals balanced a variety of roles and responsibilities at the school campus. Not only do the various roles substantially influence the decisionmaking process, but they also affect the type of behavior consequences students receive for disciplinary actions. The assistant principals made decisions regarding suspension in a variety of ways, some of which included balancing the time it takes to investigate the behavior and distribute a consequence to their personal beliefs regarding sharing responsibilities with other discipline administrators. Although each campus delineated discipline duties to two or more assistant principals, the assistant principals mentioned the influence the various roles have on suspending students and administering discipline policies. Balancing multiple roles led assistant principals to make decisions based on their individual beliefs, knowledge of the student at the time of the discipline decision, or in one instance, based on their relationship with the parent. Research Question 2 (RQ2): How do discipline policies and procedures impact middle school assistant principal’s discipline decisions? Policies and procedures involving Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), Restorative Practice, and the various ways the assistant principals interpreted the Student Code of Conduct made an impact on the District. Although PBIS is the District behavior model, training for teachers and some assistant principals is needed to ensure the District model is being implemented with fidelity based on the essential components of PBIS. While some schools utilize PBIS teams or committees, others have administrators who make discipline policies and relay them to the staff. In contrast, all schools reviewed discipline data, yet discipline data was not used to change behavior. The assistant principals lacked training in Restorative Practice even though the 2016-17 District Improvement Plan indicated administrators and staff would be trained. The Student Code of Conduct was used to assist in decision making, to determine discipline practice, and served as a reference tool to clarify or determine categories of discipline at the campus level. Not only did the inconsistency and lack of full implementation of district initiatives impact the District, it also impacted the campus. Most administrators and staff utilized a variety of campus discipline practices even though PBIS was the District model. This led campuses to create different ways in which to curb discipline. Although many of the ways created to curb discipline were established to help student behavior, they were not fully research based and did not include a tool for measuring if the efforts were working. Research Question 3 (RQ3): What is the impact of race in middle school assistant principal’s discipline decisions? This research question was aimed at discovering the impact race has on assistant principals’ discipline decisions. RQ3 is important because limited research exists on the impact of race on disproportionality of discipline at the school building level. The current researcher found race and gender impact assistant principals in decision making, distribution of consequences, and their personal
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