To function properly, education must provide an equal learning opportunity for all students by recognizing, valuing, and addressing the individual needs of every student. In addition to the regular curriculum, principles and practices of good citizenship must be taught and modeled by the school staff. This includes an appreciation for the rights of others.
However, no school or school system can discharge these responsibilities if it permits students to act in an objectionable manner or to disregard rules and regulations adopted for the benefit of all persons. The school has both the responsibility and authority to enforce the Student Code of Conduct, question students, counsel them, and assign discipline when deemed appropriate.
Students live and function, as do adults, in the general community. As citizens, students are entitled to our society’s benefits; but as citizens, they are also subject to its national, state, and local laws and rules governing various aspects of their conduct. Not all laws are easy to follow, nor need one necessarily agree with each and every law or rule. Often a law or a rule seems unjust or inappropriate, but the law or rule must be obeyed.
In much the same manner, students live and function in a second community as well—namely, the school community. Education confers its own benefits, but it, too, requires acceptance of individual responsibilities. It must at the same time have an orderly and manageable framework within which to operate.
The rules and standards set forth in this Handbook apply to conduct:
- on school premises or on school vehicles or involving school property,
- off school premises which directly affects other students or the school, and
- at school functions of any kind.
This Handbook does not define all types and aspects of student behavior; however, the Board of Trustees has the responsibility to set forth policies, rules, and regulations to help each student conduct himself or herself in a proper manner as a good citizen of the school community. If changes in state law become effective after the printing of this Handbook, the state law will supersede the local policy. The Board of Trustees and the Superintendent may establish written policies, rules, and regulations of general application governing student conduct in all schools. In addition, each Campus Director, within his or her school, may establish certain rules and regulations not inconsistent with those established by the Board and the Superintendent.
Any conduct that causes or creates a reasonable likelihood that it will cause a substantial disruption in or material interference with any school function, activity, or purpose, or that interferes or creates a reasonable likelihood that it will interfere with the health, safety, or well-being or the rights of other students is prohibited.
A teacher may send a student to the Campus Director’s office to maintain effective discipline in the classroom. In addition, a teacher may remove from class a student:
- who has been documented by the teacher to repeatedly interfere with the teacher’s ability to communicate effectively with the students in the class or with the ability of the student’s classmates to learn; or
- whose behavior the teacher determines is so unruly, disruptive, or abusive that it seriously interferes with the teacher’s ability to communicate effectively with the students in the class or with the ability of the student’s classmates to learn.
The Board of Trustees has authorized detention, in- school and out-of-school suspension, and expulsion as methods of disciplining students. The Board of Trustees has also given authority to the Superintendent or designee to use any other disciplinary actions which, in his or her judgment, is appropriate for the violation.