Bumps in the road

Today was by far the most difficult day in the Kindergarten classes (across the board). There were tantrums, trips to the no-sensory room (for the most defiant and unsafe behaviors), trips to the deans' office (though that's not unique to today), and apparently a suspension.

Because we are faced with such dangerous behaviors in conjunction with a whole slew of other inappropriate behavior, we often find that we must pick and choose our battles. As a result, despite the huge emphasize on 100% of scholars on task and sweating the small stuff at our school, students tend to get away with relatively less harmful behaviors that are still highly unacceptable (e.g. not sitting in SLANT position on the rug is okay because a scholar isn't hitting her neighbors). At some point, it's necessary to consider the impact that these little behaviors have on the general classroom culture.

I have my own hypotheses, but I'm curious to hear from you-how do you think not "sweating the small stuff" with certain students because it's not developmentally appropriate affects classroom culture? What strategies might you use to get 100% appropriate behaviors?