Well, this totally would depend on what you think is punishment. Personally, after taking physc, i can tell you one thing, yelling at a child will do nothing...Many things parents do, don't teach their kids anything. It personally is better to take something away that they love. I would say don't expell the student, unless under circumstances that are extreme, like if he's held a knife to a kid or something along those lines. I don't agree with the special class situation either, because quite honestly he can still fight with other kids, unless he's by himself in a classroom, which then you mine as well take him out of public school, and home school him...So i'd suggest the third option, which is keep him in the class, but do not let him get away with anything. That means the school and the parents need to get involved. The parents need to be taking things away from him, such as privelges. And the school needs to be giving him detentions, sitting him in a desk away from the other kids, taking away his freedom to go on his lunch break and play with his friends,(if he has any).

Expulsion.

It would depend on why the person is getting into fights. Are they being antagonized by someone else? If someone is throwing spitballs at someone else's head and the person turns and yells at the person throwing the spitballs - The attnetion is going to be on the person yelling and disrupting class, especially if there is no proof that the other person threw spitballs, etc. at the disgruntled person. In this case, I feel an intervention with both of them to work out the differences would be best. I feel special classes are really only good for people who have been diagnosed with emotional disabilities or learning disabilites and need extra or special guidance that regualr classrooms provide. If the person getting into fights is going through a rough time emotionally and is acting out, perhaps counseling to help them would be a solution. If it's just because the person is spoiled and gets their way and needs to learn consqequences for their actions, in school detention is the best way to go unless the parents are involved and make the out of school suspension not just a vacation from school. The ins school suspension should be sitting alone all day with no other students writing apologies to everyone who has been affected by their behavior from their parents to the other person who they fought to the school staff to grandma in el paso, tx, etc. Essays on how this bevaior will affect them from now all the way through their life are also a good way to get them to think about their actions. If they are stubborn then make it that they cannot return to normal class schedule until they finish the essays and letters.

Well I think that the schools behavior plan is failing this child. He should be left in his school. But there are plently of other options you could take with a student like this. You will probably have to do a FBA for this kid to findout what it is that is making him fight. Then once that is determined then we will find a different way that child can still get what it is he wants. Because if you say you are going to act nice and play wall ball, that isnt going to happen. Then we can work with this kid to get him to do more of the behaviors we want. What you call punishment isnt punishment if the behavior isn't decreasing.