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Administrative Procedure 350: STUDENT DISCIPLINE

Background

The long-range purpose of discipline is to encourage students to exercise self-control, while the short-range purpose may be to maintain a satisfactory learning environment in the school. Consistent and clear communication home to parents is helpful in maintaining positive relationships and effective student discipline. The staff are therefore encouraged to keep the long-range purpose in mind while dealing daily with the short-range challenges. The following procedures are to be followed in that regard.

Procedures

  1. School personnel are to deal with all discipline matters in a calm, objective and professional manner reflecting individual differences and situations.
     
  2. Each Principal is to develop school procedures that will guide and assist staff with student discipline, consistent with Division procedures.
     
  3. The Principal, in administering discipline procedures, shall be patient and courteous to students, teachers and parents, at the same time encouraging staff to deal with the problem as near to the source as possible as often as possible.
     
  4. The teacher shall be responsible for discipline in the classroom and is to communicate expectations to students early in the school year. The teacher would be justified in employing tactics such as those listed below in enforcing expectations:
    1. Restraining by force any individual attempting to inflict harm.
    2. Removing from class for a brief period of time, a student who, despite warnings, disrupts the work of other students.
    3. Communicating clearly the unacceptable practices of the student and is usually done in privacy.
    4. Maintaining classroom awareness acute enough to spot potential problems and deal with them before they become major problems.
       
  5. Actions that cannot be supported by the Division include:
    1. Physical contact by the teacher upon a student except as outlined in clause 4.1 of Administrative Procedure 354.
    2. Use of corporal punishment.
    3. Mass detention where non-guilty are punished with the guilty.
    4. Inappropriate verbal or written communications.
       
  6. Teachers may detain individual student(s) for disciplinary reasons; however, a cooling-off period is recommended so that the teacher can deal with the matter in a calm and professional manner.
     
  7. Teachers or principals are to involve the parent(s) in dealing with continuing behavioural problems in the school.
     
  8. When matters are referred to the Principal, teachers are not to expect to dictate resolutions for the problem.
     

Appendix

Administrative Procedure 350 Appendix: Student Dress

Reference

Section 31 Education Act
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Alberta Human Rights Act
Ministerial Order (#042/2019)
Standards for Seclusion and Physical Restraint in Alberta Schools

Board Policy 13 – Appeals and Hearings Regarding Student Matters

 

Approved: October 10, 1995

Amended: December 2, 2014; November 13, 2000; August 21, 2018