Expectations and Step Olympics

Today, I am not feeling as light-hearted as I want to feel. Please feel free to ignore this blog while i vent a little.
At my school, there is a behavior plan called"make your day." No it is not some Clint Eastwood inspired spaghetti western version of classroom rules, it is a plan that is supposed to create an atmosphere of respect for the learning, well-being, and safety of all students. Notice the catch phrases?....Any way when a student "interferes" with one of these area of concern they are sent on steps. Step one is to go sit facing away from the class (for about five minutes for first offenses, twenty minutes for the second offence...Or basically the whole class period in my class), step two to stand up, three to concentrate on the rules and figure out if you wish to move to step four, step four to be sent to the office to call home for an immediate conference with parents, teacher, student and an administrator. So far okay, at each step the teacher conferences with the student before they can move back down the steps. (no conference on the way up). I have a few students who have started to excel in the step Olympics. ... Going to step one, misbehaving on step one and moving to step 2, conferencing going back to one, conferencing and then returning to the learning environment. Then a few minutes later doing something that again interfered with learning (usually that is another name for talking....These are middle school students). In my larger class, there are about five students who choose steps as the alternative to doing class work. At the end of the hour, the student is then supposed to self-evaluate on a scale of 1-4 on whether they have made their day. Four is high 1 is low. It's difficult to get a lesson started because the "expectations" aren't being heard, and the concern is that students are choosing to fail rather than do work. My other concern is that with a large class and no where to go while on steps, steps becomes part of the problem. I feel that I am loosing control of this class, and it's driving me a little batty this week.

may i be blessed with the wisdom of compassion and the strength to meet expectations