Rutherford’s Code of Conduct
A. Statement of Purpose
§ To
establish and maintain safe, caring and orderly environments for purposeful
learning at Rutherford School
§ To
establish and maintain appropriate balances among individual and collective
rights, freedoms and responsibilities
§ To
clarify and publish expectations for student behaviour while at school, while
going to and from school, and while attending any school function or activity
at any location.
B. Conduct Expectations
Expected
Behaviours
§ Respecting
self, others, the school, the learning environment, and the natural
environment.
§ Help
to make the school a safe, caring and orderly place
§ Report
to an adult, in a timely manner (in advance, if possible), incidents of
bullying, harassment or intimidation
§ Attending
school regularly and on time
§ Accept
responsibility for your own learning
§ Act
in a manner that brings credit to the school, their family and community
Unacceptable Conduct
The following
points are example only and are not an all-inclusive list,
§ Behaviours
that:
o Interfere
with the learning of others
o Interfere
with an orderly environment
o Create
unsafe conditions
§ Acts
of:
o Bullying,
cyber-bullying, harassment or intimidation
o Physical
violence
o Retribution
against a person who has reported incidents
o Inappropriate
use of computers, cellular phones, cameras and/or other communication /
wireless devices
§ Acts of academic dishonesty, such as:
o Lying,
plagiarism, or cheating
§ Illegal
acts, such as:
o Theft
of or damage to property
o Possession,
use or distribution of illegal or restricted substances such as firecrackers,
fireworks, drugs, or alcohol
o Possession
or use of weapons
These expectations apply to
behaviour at school, during school organized or sponsored activities, and
behaviour beyond these times (including on-line behaviour) that negatively
impacts the safe, caring, or orderly environment of the school, and/or student
learning.
Bullying
Rutherford
School believes that all students, staff and volunteers should be provided a
safe, secure and welcoming learning and working environment. To that end, acts of bullying and harassment
will not be tolerated.
Bullying
is any pattern of persistent unwelcome or aggressive behaviour intended to make
others feel uncomfortable, scared or hurt. Bullying often involves an imbalance of power and often
results in feelings of distress on the victim.
Bullying
can occur in a group phenomenon and adults must be aware of the importance of
the roles that bystanders play in
incidents of bullying. While many students report that witnessing bullying
makes them feel uncomfortable, 88 percent of bullying takes place in the
presence of youth other than the bully and the victim.
A
hurtful bystander will support the bullying by laughing, cheering, or making
comments that further encourage the bully. In other instances, bystanders join
in the bullying once it has begun. Most bystanders will passively accept the
bullying by watching and not doing anything.
Bystanders
do have the power to play a key role in preventing or stopping bullying. They
need to accept the responsibility of reporting incidences to teachers or
supervisors.
Bullying
takes four main forms:
Physical
bullying
- includes hitting, kicking, tripping, pinching and
pushing, or damaging property.
Verbal
bullying
- using words to hurt or humiliate others.
Relational
bullying
- includes behavioural actions designed to harm a child’s
reputation or cause humiliation, like lying and spreading rumours, playing mean
jokes to embarrass or humiliate a child, mimicking the child in a mean way,
encouraging social exclusion of a child, etc.
Cyber bullying - includes taunting or humiliation through social media sites or the
Internet, cruel websites targeting specific youth, humiliating others while
playing online games, verbal or emotional bullying through chat rooms, instant
message or texting, posting photos of other youth on rating websites, etc.
Risk/Threat
Assessment
SD 68 takes all threats seriously.
What parents and students need to know? Students and parents need to be
aware of the steps the school district will take in responding to a threat:
- Any threats must be reported to the school principal,
counselor, or some other responsible adult.
- Nanaimo-Ladysmith schools will follow up on every
reported threat.
- Follow-up may involve the police.
- Interviews will be held with the threat-maker and any
other students who may have information about the threat.
- Threatening behaviour may result in discipline for a
student.
Intervention plans may be developed for the student making
the threat and a support plan developed for any students who are the target of
threats
Click HERE to go to the school district information brochure for parents and students regarding Student Threat / Violence Risk
C. Rising
Expectations
Expectations will increase for
students as they become older and more mature, and as they move through
successive grades. Students are expected
to exhibit increased personal responsibility and self-discipline and there will
be increasing consequences for inappropriate behaviour.
D. Consequences
Disciplinary
action will be preventative, educative and restorative, rather than
merely punitive. The goal for the student is:
• to
take ownership for his/her choices.
• to
reflect on the options that could have been chosen.
• to
fix any damage that may have occurred if possible.
• to
prevent the problem from reoccurring.
• to have direct involvement so
that the consequences are purposeful and meaningful. This could include participating
in working through a “Think Sheet.”
This
process is intended to strengthen both the victim and the offender.
Special considerations may apply to students with special
needs if these students are unable to comply with this code of conduct due to a
disability of an intellectual, physical, sensory, emotional or behavioural
nature.
The severity and frequency of
unacceptable conduct, as well as the age and maturity of the student will be
considered in choosing appropriate consequences for unacceptable behaviour.
Specific Consequences – 3 Step Process
Step 1
Discussion between student and
staff member. When students choose not
to meet behavioural expectations, there will be natural, logical and consistent
consequences. Minor indiscretions are
handled by staff. It may involve completion of a “Think Sheet” where
students can reflect upon their actions and consider better choices next
time. Parents are often informed and are
required to sign the “Think Sheet”.
Step 2
Office Referral Forms are issued
for major offences (i.e. rough play, bullying, fighting, physical abuse of
others, throwing objects, defiance of authority, disrespectful/abusive
language) and continual defiance of school rules. Students are referred to Administration. Parents are informed. Students may lose
morning recess or lunch playtime privileges.
Step 3
Parents are contacted for serious
incidents of misbehaviour or if minor incidents persist beyond step two. Depending on the severity or frequency of the
misbehavior, students may be given in-school or home suspensions for persistent
inappropriate behavior, which disturbs, interrupts or disquiets the usual,
orderly operation of the school and/or inappropriate behaviour judged to have a
harmful effect on the safety of other pupils.
E. Notification
In cases of serious breaches of
the Code of Conduct, the school will advise other parties, including:
§ Parents
of student offender(s) – in every instance
§ Parents
of student victim(s) – in every instance
§ School
district officials – as required by school district policy
§ Police
and/or other agencies – as required by law
§ All
parents – when deemed to be important to reassure members of the school
community that school officials are aware of a serious situation or incident
and are taking appropriate action to address it.
Our school's Code of Conduct is
also guided by the BC Human Rights Code and specifically includes the
guidelines pertaining to discrimination as stated below:
Discriminatory
publication
7
(1) A person must not publish, issue or display, or cause to be
published, issued or displayed, any statement, publication, notice, sign,
symbol, emblem or other representation that
(a) indicates discrimination or an intention to
discriminate against a person or a group or class of persons, or
(b) is likely to expose a person or a group or
class of persons to hatred or contempt because of the race,
colour, ancestry, place of origin, religion, marital status,
family status, physical or
mental disability, sex, sexual orientation or age of that person or that
group or class of persons.
Discrimination in accommodation, service and facility
8
(1) A person must not, without a bona fide and reasonable justification,
(a) deny
to a person or class of persons any accommodation, service or facility
customarily available
to the public,
or
(b) discriminate
against a person or class of persons regarding any accommodation, service or
facility customarily available to the public because of the
race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, religion, marital status, family status, physical or mental disability, sex or sexual
orientation of that person or class of persons.