PROCEDURES
➢ The amount of due process a student is entitled to before a penalty is imposed will depend on the type of penalty being imposed. In all cases, regardless of the penalty, the school personnel authorized to impose the penalty must let the student know what misconduct the student is alleged to have committed, and must investigate the facts surrounding the alleged misconduct. All students will have an opportunity to present their version of the facts to the school personnel imposing the disciplinary penalty in connection with the imposition of the penalty.
DETENTION – AFTER SCHOOL
➢ Parents will receive notification when a student is assigned after-school detention.
➢ Students must report to detention on time – detention begins at 3:05PM and ends at 4:00PM. Any difficulties or changes must be cleared with the assistant principal or principal before the scheduled detention.
➢ Students must come to detention prepared to work the full time. An atmosphere of academic study will be maintained at all times. (NO PHONES / Electronic Devices)
➢ Students will report to the appropriate room for detention.
➢ If a student is absent on a day of an assigned detention, the detention will automatically be made up the next day detention is held.
➢ Unexcused absences from detention will result in ALA.
ALTERNATIVE LEARNING AREA (ALA) PROGRAM
➢ The ALA Program is a concept of school discipline that requires a student to be accountable for his/her behavior. This concept requires the student to examine the behavior that caused the offense and choose an acceptable alternative behavior to use in the same or similar situation. The alternative behaviors are expressed in a written plan of action that is completed when a student is referred to the ALA Room.
➢ If a student is absent on any of the day(s) assigned, the student still has to make up the time before being allowed to return to class.
➢ A student assigned to ALA must report to the ALA room during homeroom
➢ Students must report to ALA with all books and supplies
➢ There will be no talking or cell phone use.
➢ A student must complete work assignments provided
➢ Students will not be allowed to sleep
➢ Students will turn cell phones in to the room supervisor
SUSPENSION: OUT–OF-SCHOOL
➢ When a student is suspended from school the parent or guardian of the student will be notified by telephone and in writing. A parent conference may be required before a suspended student returns to regular classes. Parents are entitled to a conference anytime a student is suspended. Requests should be made to the building principal.
➢ The suspended student must be released after administration communicates the suspension with the parent/ guardian.
➢ A student suspended out-of-school is not permitted on school property or at an event unless attending tutoring sessions. Suspended students are not permitted to participate in or attend any school-sponsored activities until the suspension has been lifted or expired. If the suspended student comes on school property during the suspension period, the student will be declared trespassing and immediate, appropriate action will be taken.
**A Superintendent’s Hearing may be convened to consider further disciplinary action.**
TEACHER REMOVAL OF STUDENTS
➢ A disruptive student can affect a teacher’s ability to teach and can make it difficult for other students in the classroom to learn. In many instances, the classroom teacher can control disruptive student behavior by using good management techniques. Occasionally, however, it may be necessary for a teacher to remove a disruptive student from the classroom to ensure that the other students continue to learn.
➢ A classroom teacher may remove a student from class for up to two days if the teacher determines that the student is disruptive. The removal from class applies to the class of the removing teacher only.
➢ The teacher must complete a Student Conduct Form and meet with the principal as soon as possible, but no later than the end of the school day, to explain the circumstances of the removal and to present the referral forms. If the Principal is not available by the end of the same school day, the teacher must leave the form with the secretary and meet with the principal before the beginning of classes on the next school day.
➢ Within one school day after the student’s removal, the Principal or another district administrator designated by the Principal must notify the student’s parent, in writing, that the student has been removed from class and why. The notice must also inform the parent that he or she has the right, upon request, to meet informally with the Principal or the Principal’s designee to discuss the reasons for the removal. The written notice must be provided by personal delivery, express mail delivery, or some other means that is reasonably calculated to assure receipt of the notice at the last known address for the parent, by the day after the student’s removal. Where possible notice should also be provided by telephone if the school has been provided with a telephone number for contacting parents.
➢ If the parent requests an informal conference, the Principal or Principal’s designee and the teacher who ordered the removal will attend. If at the informal meeting the student denies the charges, the Principal or the Principal’s designee must explain why the student was removed and give the student and the student’s parents a chance to present the student’s version of the relevant events. The informal meeting must be held within two school days of the student’s removal. The timing of the informal meeting may be extended by mutual agreement of the parent, teacher and principal.
➢ The Principal or the Principal’s designee may overturn the removal of the student from class if the Principal finds any one of the following:
- The charges against the student are not supported by substantial evidence.
- The student’s removal is otherwise in violation of law.
- The conduct warrants suspension from school pursuant to Education Law 3214.
➢ The Principal or his or her designee must make a determination as to whether to overturn the removal before the close of business on the day after the day of the informal hearing. No student removed from the classroom by the classroom teacher will be permitted to return to the classroom until the Principal makes a final determination, or the period of removal expires, whichever is less. At the teacher’s discretion, he or she may rescind the removal before the expiration of the full period of removal.
➢ Any disruptive student removed from the classroom by the classroom teacher shall be offered continued educational programming and activities until he or she is permitted to return to the classroom.
➢ Each teacher must keep a complete log (on a district provided form) for all cases of removal of students from his/her class.
➢ Removal of a student with a disability may under certain circumstances, constitute a change in the student’s placement. Accordingly, no teacher may remove a student with a disability from his or her class until he or she has verified with the Principal or the chairperson of the Committee in Special Education that the removal will not violate the student’s rights under state or federal law or regulation.
➢ Nothing in this section of the code of conduct abridges the customary right or responsibility of a Principal to suspend a student. Further, nothing in this code abridges the customary right and responsibility of a teacher to manage student behavior in the classroom. Short-term, time-honored classroom management techniques such as “time out” in an administrator’s office, is not considered removal from class. The removal process should not become a substitute for good classroom management.