The goal of the Board is to provide a safe, supportive, and positive school environment that is conducive to student learning and to prepare students for responsible citizenship by encouraging self-discipline and personal responsibility. High expectations for student behavior, the implementation of effective school and classroom management strategies, and parental involvement can reduce the need for discipline.
When misbehavior occurs, the staff must implement the appropriate disciplinary measures and attempt to determine and address the root causes of the student’s behavior. In accordance with the law, Board Policy, and Administrative Regulation, students who are persistently disruptive may be placed in alternative programs or expelled. The safety of students and faculty and the maintenance of an orderly school environment shall always take precedence when determining appropriate discipline. To promote student learning and ensure their safety and well-being, policies and behavior expectations have been established. It may be necessary to suspend or expel a student for violating these policies and standards. In accordance with state and federal law, the Board endorses a policy of zero tolerance for serious offenses. This strategy makes the removal of potentially dangerous students from the classroom a top priority and mandates that all offenders be punished to the greatest extent permitted by law. The staff must immediately report as suspension or expulsion grounds any violations of the law, Board Policy, and Administrative Regulation. (BP/AR 5144, 5144.1, 5144.2)
Student Conduct
Bullying/Cyberbullying
The District acknowledges the detrimental effects of bullying on student learning and school attendance and seeks to create safe school environments that protect students from physical and emotional harm while promoting mutual respect, tolerance, and acceptance. Employees of the district shall make the safety of students a top priority and shall not tolerate bullying, intimidation, or harassment of any student, whether verbal or physical. No individual or group, regardless of disability, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, immigration status, or any other characteristic, shall, through physical, written, verbal, electronic, or other means, harass, sexually harass, threaten, intimidate, retaliate, cyberbully, cause bodily harm to, or commit hate violence against any other student or school personnel.
Bullying is an aggressive behavior that involves a real or perceived imbalance of power between individuals with the intent to cause emotional or physical harm. Bullying can be physical, verbal, or social/relational and may involve a single severe act or repetition or potential repetition of a deliberate act. Bullying includes, but is not limited to, any act described in Education Code 48900(r).
Cyberbullying includes the electronic creation or transmission of harassing communications, direct threats, or other harmful texts, sounds, or images. Cyberbullying also includes breaking into another person’s electronic account or assuming that person’s online identity in order to damage that person’s reputation.
Students are encouraged to notify school personnel if they are bullied or if they suspect another student is being victimized. Any student who engages in bullying on or off school grounds in a manner that causes or is likely to cause a substantial disruption of a school activity or school attendance shall be subject to disciplinary action, which may include suspension or expulsion, in accordance with (BP 5131.2).
Hate Motivated Behavior
Hate-motivated behavior is any behavior intended to cause emotional suffering, physical injury, or property damage through intimidation, harassment, bigoted slurs or epithets, force or threat of force, or vandalism motivated in part or in whole by bias or hostility toward the victim’s real or perceived race, color, ancestry, nationality, national origin, immigration status, ethnic group identification, ethnicity, age, religion, marital status, pregnancy, parental status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, or genetic information, or any other characteristic identified in Education Code 200 or 220, Government Code 11135, or Penal Code 422.55 (BP 5145.9)
Any student who feels that he/she is a target of hate violence shall submit to a teacher or administrator a verbal or written complaint. A student who has been found to have demonstrated hate violence shall be subject to disciplinary action in accordance with law, Board Policy.