Discipline is most effective when it deals directly with the problem at the time and place it occurs, and in a way that students view as fair and impartial. School personnel who interact with students are expected to use disciplinary action only when necessary and to place emphasis on the students’ ability to grow in self-discipline.
Disciplinary action, when necessary, will be firm, fair and consistent so as to be the most effective in changing student behavior. In determining the appropriate disciplinary action, school personnel authorized to impose disciplinary consequences will consider such things as age, the nature of the offense, prior disciplinary record and information from parents, staff or others deemed appropriate and other extenuating circumstances.
If the conduct of a student is related to a disability or suspected disability, the student shall be referred to the Committee on Special Educational and discipline, if warranted, shall be administered consistent with the separate requirements of this Code of Conduct for disciplining students with a disability or presumed to have a disability. A student identified as having a disability shall not be disciplined for behavior related to his/her disability.
Consequences and Procedures
Students who are found to have violated the district’s Code of Conduct may be subject to the following penalties, either alone or in combination with one another. The school personnel identified after each penalty are authorized to impose that penalty, consistent with the student’s right to due process.
- Verbal warning – any member of the district staff.
- Written warning – bus driver, hall and lunch monitors, teachers, dean of students, assistant principal, principal, and superintendent.
- Written and/or verbal notification to parent-bus driver, hall and lunch monitors, teachers, dean of students, assistant principal, principal, superintendent.
- Detention – dean of students, assistant principal, principal, superintendent.
- Suspension from transportation – dean of students, assistant principal, principal and superintendent.
- Suspension from social or extracurricular activities – dean of students, assistant principal, principal, superintendent.
- Suspension of other privileges – dean of students, assistant principal, principal and superintendent.
- Time out from classroom – teacher, dean of students, principal, assistant principal.
- Removal from classroom – teachers, dean of students, assistant principal, principal, superintendent.
- In-School suspension – dean of students, principal, assistant principal, superintendent
- Short-term (five days or less) suspension from school – principal, dean of students, assistant principal, superintendent
- Long-term (more than five days) suspension from school – superintendent, board of education.
- Permanent suspension from school – superintendent, board of education.
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 situation to the school personnel imposing the disciplinary penalty in connection with the imposition of the penalty.
Students who are to be given penalties other than a verbal warning, written warning, written notification to their parents or detention are entitled to additional rights before the penalty is imposed.
Grades 6-8 After-School Detention
- Parents will receive written notification when a student is in violation of the Code of Conduct.
- Students must report to detention on time. Detention begins at 3:05 PM. and ends at 3:50 PM. Any changes must be cleared with the assistant principal or dean of students before the scheduled detention.
- Students must come to detention prepared to work the full period. An atmosphere of academic study will be maintained at all times.
- Students who must stay for academic help will begin detention at 3:30 PM in the detention room. A late arrival pass signed by the helping teacher should be presented to the detention supervisor.
- 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.
- Students who skip a detention will serve an extra detention the following day; students who continually skip detention will receive additional consequences.
- Students who are removed from detention due to disciplinary consequences will receive additional consequences.
Suspension: In-School
An in-school suspension is assigned at the discretion of the administration unless otherwise stipulated. When a student is assigned to in-school suspension the parent or guardian of the student will be notified by telephone and in writing. A parent conference may be required before the student returns to regular classes. Parents are entitled to a conference any time a student is suspended and this request should be made to the middle school administration.
The students assigned to in-school suspension will report to the main office at the beginning of the school day. They are expected to work quietly on their assignments and will be dismissed at 3:03 P.M. if their work is completed and behavior has been appropriate. If not, the student will stay for detention.
Suspension: Out of School
An out of school suspension is assigned at the discretion of the administration unless otherwise stipulated. 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 any time a student is suspended. Request should be made with the middle school administration.
- The suspended student must be signed out of school by the administrator before leaving the building.
- A student suspended out of school is not permitted in Glens Falls Middle School or on any school grounds and is not permitted to participate in or attend any school-sponsored activities until the suspension has been lifted or ended. If the suspended student enters Glens Falls Middle School or is on school grounds during the suspension period, the student will be declared as trespassing and immediate and appropriate action with the appropriate authorities will be taken.
- If the student is continually disruptive to the educational process a recommendation to the Superintendent of Schools and a Superintendent’s hearing may be convened to consider further disciplinary action.
Teacher Removal of Disruptive Students
A disruptive student is a student who is substantially disruptive to the educational process or substantially interferes with the teacher’s authority over the classroom.
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 Discipline Referral and meet with the building 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 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. The teacher will notify the disruptive student’s parents the same day as the removal was precipitated.
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 by the day after the student’s removal at the last known address for the parent, when possible notice should also be provided by telephone if the school has been provided with a telephone number for the purpose of 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 students 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 and a suspension will be imposed.
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 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 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 or sending the students briefly into the hallway are not considered removals from class. The removal process should not become a substitute for good classroom management.