Code of Conduct and Behavioral Expectations

Canton High School maintains that a safe, inclusive, and engaging learning environment is essential to the academic and social-emotional development of all students. A comprehensive education should endow students with the skills to develop and maintain respectful, healthy, and productive relationships among themselves and with faculty members, and should prioritize citizenship and responsible behavior at school and at school-sponsored events. 

Purpose of our Code of Conduct:

• Outline expectations for maintaining positive relationships and upholding the fundamentals of good citizenship within the Canton High School community

• Establish accountability for students who fail to act as safe, respectful, and responsible community members at school and during school-sponsored events. 

The Canton High School Code of Conduct and the potential approaches to accountability for violations of the Code of Conduct apply to students during the school day, when students are on Canton Public Schools grounds, while students are engaged in or attending school-sponsored activities, and while students are traveling to and from school or a school-sponsored activity, whether that be on a school bus, in a personally owned vehicle, walking, riding a bike, or any other individual method of transportation. Students may be held accountable for violations of the Code of Conduct while away from school at other times if the conduct or incident is related to school, adversely impacts the school community, disrupts the school environment, or creates an unsafe environment at school. 

Behavioral Expectations

The physical and emotional safety of all students and Canton High School community members is a top priority of the Code of Conduct. Additionally, in keeping with the Core Values and Beliefs of the Canton Public Schools, Canton High School community members are expected to foster respectful and responsible relationships and contribute positively to a diverse and inclusive learning environment. Students who detract from these community goals, or fail to act as positive community members, will be required to account for their behavior in accordance with the school’s restorative or progressive approach to accountability. Students will not engage in behaviors including but not limited to: 

• Discrimination against a student based on that student’s race, color, religion, national origin, ethnic background, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability status. 

• Targeting, ridiculing, or using as a source of humor another student’s race, color, religion, national origin, ethnic background, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability status.

• Create, post, or inappropriately comment on any online or social media item that harasses, threatens, intimidates, abuses, or demeans individuals or groups on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, creed, national origin, or disability status.

• Possession, intent to possess, consumption, distribution, selling, purchasing, or being under the influence of any drug or drug paraphernalia, alcoholic beverage, or intoxicant of any kind including the possession, use, or distribution of tobacco-related products, electronic cigarettes, vaping products, and vaping paraphernalia. 

• Possession of a weapon of any kind, including, but not limited to knives, blades, guns, or other dangerous instruments such as lighters and pepper spray. This includes the possession of mock weapons.

• Sexually harassing another person, either by words or actions. This includes words, expressions, or images posted online or on social media platforms.

• The issuance of a criminal complaint charging a student with a felony or the issuance of a felony delinquent complaint.

• Assaulting, fighting, or striking another person, or threatening to assault, fight, or strike another person. 

• Profanity, obscenity, discourtesy, or disrespect directed toward members of the school community.

• Insubordination, failure to comply with/ignoring the requests of a staff member. This includes a student’s failure to properly identify themselves when asked by a staff member for their name. It is the expectation of all students that they comply with staff members’ directives. If a student disagrees with a directive, they should at first comply and then appeal to their counselor or assistant principal for support. 

• Dishonesty including but not limited to academic dishonesty (i.e. cheating and/or plagiarism), forgery, and dishonesty about incidents or behavior. 

• Theft, or attempts to steal, the belongings of another. This includes the theft or attempt to steal school equipment, materials, or supplies.

• Vandalism or the destruction or attempt to destroy school property or the property of others. This includes the misuse of lockers.

• Leaving the building, school property, or a mandatory school-sponsored event without permission.

• Being present in an unauthorized area of the building or the Canton High School campus. This includes, but is not limited to, loitering in bathrooms, unsupervised use of the athletic facilities before, during, and after school, parking in unauthorized (i.e. faculty) parking spaces, and being in the lower parking lot during school hours.

• Failure to report to an assigned detention (teacher or administrative).

• Ordering food and having it delivered to school during school hours.

• Disrupting school by pulling a fire alarm or falsely reporting a risk that leads to an emergency response (i.e. a bomb threat). 

• Inciting or provoking another student to violate school rules, disrupt school or a school-related event, or engage in dangerous or inappropriate behavior.

• Any behavior not listed above that compromises the discipline and routine of the school day or a school-sponsored event or a person’s physical or emotional safety, or that the administration determines is inappropriate for the school environment.

Attendance Expectations

There are occasions when violations of the school Attendance Policy may also be violations of the Code of Conduct, and students may be held accountable for those violations. The following attendance related concerns are considered violations of the Code of Conduct.

• Tardiness to school, before 8:15am. Students can be assigned an Office Detention if they arrive tardy to school more than three times in a single term. Students who arrive tardy to school more than 8 times in a single term may be ineligible to participate in extracurricular activities, which may include athletics, for the remainder of that term. This includes students who arrive late to school with or without parental notes or call-ins.

• Tardiness to school, after 8:15am. Students who arrive to school after 8:15, without appropriate documentation (i.e. signed doctor’s note), have missed more than 15 minutes of class and will therefore be considered to have skipped their first period. These absences will count against the student’s absence limit in that class. Additionally, students may be assigned an Office Detention for skipping that class. 

• Tardiness to class, by less than 15 minutes. When students arrive late to a class by less than 15 minutes, without a proper pass or permission, that student may receive a Teacher Detention. If a student’s tardiness continues, the teacher may submit a referral to the administration.

• Tardiness to class, by more than 15 minutes. When a student arrives late to a class by more than 15 minutes, without permission, that student will be considered to have skipped that class. 

• Skipping class. When a student misses more than 15 minutes of a class, without permission, that student has skipped class. The administration will address students who skip class. That absence will count against a student’s absence limit for the class. Additionally, students may receive an Office Detention for skipping class. Students may not be permitted to make-up work or receive credit for work missed as a result of skipping. If students continue to skip class, the administration will consider interventions consistent with a progressive accountability approach.

• Truancy. Students are truant from school when they are absent without parental permission or knowledge. Absences due to truancy will count against a student’s absence limit. Students who are truant from school may not be permitted to make-up work or receive credit for work missed during their absence. 

When working with students to account for attendance-specific violations, the administration will make every effort to avoid exclusionary accountability (i.e. suspension). However, there may be occasions when a student’s poor classroom attendance disrupts the school learning environment and compromises the experience of other students. Additionally, there may be cases when students continually fail to account for or improve their poor attendance or tardiness. In these instances, the administration may consider exclusionary accountability. 

Process for Responding to Code of Conduct Violations

1. All staff members are responsible for upholding the Code of Conduct, and are encouraged to address concerns about potential violations of the Code of Conduct directly with students and their parents.

2. In the event that students fail to correct their behavior after a staff member’s intervention, potential violations of the Code of Conduct should be reported to the appropriate grade level Assistant Principal, or other staff member in the event that Assistant Principal is not available. This includes staff in the Main Office, the Principal, school counselors, school adjustment counselors, or individual department coordinators. All students will have the opportunity to discuss incidents with their Assistant Principal before any school-based accountability measures are determined. 

3. The reporting staff member will be notified as to the outcome and additional interventions or supports may be implemented to assist the student in refraining from such behaviors in the future. 

Accountability

An essential part of learning is the expectation that students be required to account for the decisions they make and behaviors they engage in. At Canton High School accountability should include students accepting responsibility for their actions and engaging logical, timely, and equitable consequences for these actions. The Code of Conduct is rooted in the theory of restorative and progressive accountability and attempts to limit the use of exclusionary accountability practices (i.e. suspension) when appropriate. 

Restorative Accountability

• Either in lieu of or in conjunction with traditional, progressive accountability practices, the school administration may recommend restorative approaches to accountability, especially when incidents arise as the result of conflict between Canton High School community members. 

• Any restorative approach to an incident or conflict will be with the intent to assist a student or students to accept accountability by working with them to:

  • Acknowledge responsibility

  • Directly engage with the person or people impacted, and 

  • Agree to a plan to avoid similar incidents or behavior moving forward. 

• A restorative resolution to an incident will also be with the intent to restore a sense of safety and belonging for any Canton High community member impacted by an interaction or incident. 

• Prior to facilitating any restorative response to an incident, the administration will confirm that all parties are willing participants, and have been oriented to the restorative response protocols. Additionally, when possible, the administration will enlist the support of the school counseling faculty, or other sources of student support, to assist with the process.

• Restorative accountability interventions may consist of but are not limited to:

  • Restorative conferences

  • School or community conferences

  • Restorative community service

  • Additional supports for community members in need

  • Restitution

  • Academic and social-emotional support upon reentry/return to school

Progressive Accountability

When requiring students to account for their behavior or decisions, the staff may consider interventions/consequences including but not limited to:

• Parental Outreach- The school faculty will prioritize parental engagement when requiring a student to account for violations of the Code of Conduct. This engagement may be in the form of email communication, a phone call, or a meeting. Parents may be required to meet with the school administration when students repeatedly violate the Code of Conduct. This includes violations of the Attendance Policy.

• Teacher Detention- Assigned by a classroom teacher and held in their classroom after school; will usually last from 15-60 minutes.

• Office Detention- Assigned by an administrator or their designee; will be held in a designated classroom; will be supervised by a designated supervisor; will run between 2:35-3:15pm after school.

• Administrative Detention- Assigned by an administrator or their designee; held in a designated classroom; will be supervised by a designated supervisor; will run between 2:35-4:00pm after school.

• Confiscation of belongings- If the administration determines that a student has something in their possession that either violates the law or substantially disrupts the learning process for that student or for other students, the administration may confiscate those items.

• Withholding of Privileges- This will be determined by an administrator and may include the withholding of privileges during scheduled study halls or participation in extracurricular activities, which may include participation in after-school athletics.  This may also include parking privileges for infractions related to parking/driving and responsible use of that privilege. 

• Referral to the School Resource Officer (SRO)- Serving as a liaison between Canton High School and the Canton Police Department, the SRO is a valuable resource in the Canton High School community. The administration may refer students to the SRO when students engage in unsafe or unlawful behavior, or when the administration worries that a student’s attendance may be the result of unsafe or unlawful behavior or truancy. 

• Short-term Suspension- Will be determined by an administrator; will result in a student’s removal from school for no more than ten (10) school days.

• Long-term Suspension- Will be determined by an administrator; will result in a student’s removal from school for more than ten (10) school days.

• Emergency Removal- Will be determined by an administrator; will result in a student’s temporary removal from school for no more than two (2) school days.

• Expulsion- Will be determined by an administrator; will result in a student’s enrollment being terminated.

When considering progressive accountability measures, the administration will consider all relevant facts, which include, but are not limited to 1) previous incidents involving the student, 2) the severity of the disruption caused by a student’s actions, 3) the degree of the safety risk or the harm to a student or other students or staff members, and 4) the degree to which a student is willing to change their behavior, or has been willing and able to change their behavior in the past.

When school administrators consider suspending students from school, as the result of an inappropriate exchange, incident, or behavior, they will adhere to the notification protocols and due process requirements contained in Massachusetts General Law Ch. 71, Sections 37H, 37H1/2, and 37H3/4. 

Student Leadership

Any student who holds a leadership position at Canton High School will be held to a high standard of behavior to maintain their position. If a student leader engages in a significant violation of the code of conduct or exhibits chronic behavioral problems, the principal or designee maintains the right to remove the leadership position from the student.