Student Management

Purpose

The purpose of any school-wide discipline plan is to establish a good school climate where the student is ultimately responsible for behavior. Each school has its own age-appropriate plan described in full in the Student/Parent Handbook. Teachers should refer to the Student/Parent Handbook for specific disciplinary procedures.

School-wide discipline focuses on the following major themes for behavior which students should exhibit:

1. Respect, caring, and courtesy for others, both adults in authority and fellow students.

2. Pride in caring for school property, respect for the property of others.

3. Cooperating with teachers, instructional assistants, Principal, secretaries, all school staff and fellow students.

4. Maintenance of a safe, orderly, clean learning environment.

5. Following school procedures which make the school run smoothly so that our time and energy can be devoted to learning.

Teacher Guidelines for Student Management

As in any place that has a large number of people, there are certain limits to each person's freedom. School regulations are set up to help protect students. Without being excessively regimented, we impose boundaries of behavior to insure safety and instill the proper manners in students when dealing with the world around them. Any behavior which interrupts the education of any other student will not be tolerated. Teachers will take all reasonable steps to deal with a particular situation as it occurs and take corrective measures.

Discipline can be defined as, "The establishing of orderly social processes and assisting children to grow into self-direction and self-control."

A good curriculum, good teaching and good materials of instruction are all necessary for good discipline. We also know, however, that many important attitudes are learned in the home and elsewhere, and the school has relatively little control over the formation of these. Nevertheless, these attitudes come to school with the students and affect the teacher's efforts to establish satisfactory social processes.

The following information may assist staff when confronted with student discipline issues.

When Difficulties Arise

· Isolate the student from the group when he/she is rapidly "going to pieces." Use isolation not for punishment, but to relieve both the individual and the group.

· Do not try to talk with the student until he has "cooled off." Avoid making the period of delay an ordeal. When the student is ready to talk calmly about the matter, do it at once. Do not let the matter "hang" over to the next day.

· Be frank with a student. State the situation fairly and in a way that he/she will understand. Try to see his/her side, but don't be "soft." Determine the facts and get at the motives.

· If a student has damaged property, allow him/her to propose a method of restitution. If the idea is practical, let him/her carry it out, but see that he/she does what he promises to do.

· Never force a student to apologize to you. If an apology is freely given, accept it with grace. A forced apology is a humiliation of both student and teacher.

· When the matter is settled, drop it. Do not inadvertently help a student to build up a reputation for disorderly behavior.

· Do not publicize offenses and their treatment before the other students. Never rebuke or punish the whole group for the fault of a few. Do not use sarcasm or ridicule. Never make threats.

· Help students set up their own standards for conduct in various kinds of situations. Students are more apt to abide by rules that they help to make.

· A call to home is often effective. Utilize the cooperation of a home in which there is teamwork.

· Ask for help from your Administrator and others in the school, but do not wait until the class is out of control.

· Do not make an issue of something that is trivial. This depends on the extent to which the beginning teacher is really in control of the situation. Experienced teachers recognize that sometimes it is best to be a little "blind" in one eye and a little "deaf" in one ear.

· The problem that looms like a mountain of disaster at the end of a tiring day often decreases to molehill significance after a refreshing period of rest.

· The majority of all classroom problems should be handled within the classroom by the teacher.

· Noise tolerance is a personal matter and differs with the individual. Learn how to determine the tolerance of your peers and their students--it will help all around.

Detentions

If you are keeping a child after school for disciplinary reasons, the student and parents must be given 24 hours notice so the necessary arrangements can be made. This does not apply if the parents can be notified the day of the detention and if transportation can be arranged for the child.

Corporal Punishment of Students

(Please also refer to the Hopkinton School District Restraint Policy available in the Policy section of this website.)

Persons employed in the public school by the Hopkinton School District shall not inflict or cause to be inflicted corporal punishment or bodily pain upon any student attending a school within the district.

However, any such person may, within the scope of his employment, use and apply such amounts of physical restraint as may be reasonable and necessary to:

· Protect himself, the pupil, or others from physical injury.

· Obtain possession of a weapon or other dangerous objects upon the person or within the control of the pupil.

Such physical restraint shall not be considered to constitute corporal punishment or bodily pain within the meaning and intent of the policy.

Persons employed in the public schools in this district, who have cause to use and apply physical restraint, as specified above, must immediately file a written report with their Building Administrator describing the incidents leading up to the use of restraint.