3206 Safety and Civility in School

Students and staff learn and work in schools that are free from violence, intimidation, threats, harassment, and fear. Because of wise, consistent enforcement of the rules and ethical decision making by both youth and adults, the school environment is attractive to students and creates the most favorable conditions in which to learn.

 

A. Building Level: Creating an Orderly Environment for Learning

Each school community is unique to the adults and students who work and study in it. Therefore, each school will develop a plan to promote safety and civility for all. The plan will:

1. Include the assessment of all aspects of the school facility, the daily schedule, and the program of instruction and activities which identifies conditions that may pose a threat to the safety of staff, students, and guests on campus;

2. Respond to the opinions and concerns of students, parents, staff, and the community in identifying goals and priorities for action;

3. Establish goals for improvement and identify how progress toward those goals will be assessed;

4. Include both the district-level and consistent building rules, plus procedures and systems to be used to assure safe behavior at all times, and the efforts to be made to promote ethical decision making by youth and adults; and

5. Be approved by the superintendent, reviewed and renewed annually, and reported to the Board annually through the end-of-year report.

B. District Level: Providing Leadership and Support for Orderly Schools

Each school’s capacity to implement its plan depends upon the district for leadership and support. The superintendent will review and approve the schools’ plans and will develop a long range plan for the district to support those plans. The district plan will give consideration to:

1. Identification of the financial and human resources needed to support the school plans;

2. Gathering feedback from parents, students, staff, and members of the community to determine effectiveness and needs of programs;

3. Establishing regular communications and cooperative agreements with law enforcement organizations, social service agencies, and other groups in the community for the purpose of developing the community-wide capacity to support and reinforce the schools’ plans for safety and ethical decision making;

4. Assisting each school regularly to survey student, parent, and others’ opinions both to help develop safety and civility plans and to measure progress; and  

5. Providing curricular and instructional support to the schools, enabling them to incorporate concerns for ethical decision making into the regular learning program.

 

The superintendent will report to the Board annually through the end-of-year report regarding progress on matters of safety and civility in each school and throughout the district.

 

Adoption Date: 11/18/08

Franklin Pierce Schools

Revised: 12/8/15

Classification: Priority