Updated January 19, 2009
Maintaining Safety in Your School
Key rights and responsibilities all educators have for school safety are outlined below.
Proactive Measures
Mandated Reviews:
On organization day, administrators must meet with teachers to review:
Policies Sent Home
Schools are required to send 2 items to students' homes by September 30:
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The school's discipline policy.
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Each teacher's classroom discipline policy.
Visitors
Any non-school personnel entering a school must report to the office. If authorized to proceed to a classroom, visitors must be escorted by the school administrator, school leader, or his/her designee.
Joint Committee on Safety and Discipline
The committee has an equal number of members appointed by the School Board and by the MTEA. It's 3-fold purpose is to:
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Improve communication over safety and discipline issues.
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Review policies and procedures for safe learning environments in MPS.
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Provide a forum for raising issues and solving problems.
The committee may discuss topics such as:
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Alternative placements (sites/models)
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Legislative action/lobbying
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Police/community/MPS issues
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Training/staff development on safety and discipline
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Methods for notifying staff of students with significant behavior problems (for student and staff safety).
Caution Advised: Avoid Imminent Danger
Be alert to the possibility of weapons and use sound judgement to protect yourself and your students. If you learn that someone in or near your school may be in possession of a gun or other dangerous weapon, you should notify your principal or other administrator immediately so that the police can be called.
Do not investigate the presence of a gun or other weapon. Do not attempt to take a weapon away from a student or outsider!
Expulsion Recommendation for Serious Safety Offenses
School board policy and the contract mandates an automatic expulsion recommendation for assault, battery, and possession of a gun or other weapon.
The "MPS Code of School/Classroom Conduct and Discipline" in the Parent/Student Handbook on Rights, Responsibilities and Discipline provides definitions:
Assault - "aggressive behavior exhibited in an attempt to do immediate bodily harm or to threaten to do immediate bodily harm to others, or to put others in fear of immediate bodily injury."
Battery - "unprovoked/unanswered intentional physical contact without consent causing bodily harm."
Gun - "Possessing, having under one's control, using, or threatening with a gun (pistol, BB, pellet, rifle, starter, replica, or toy gun).
Weapon Other Than a Gun - "Possessing, having under one's control, using, or threatening with a knife, razor, karate stick, metal knuckle, box cutter, laser pointer used to do bodily harm, pepper spray, or any other object that by the way it is used or intended to be used is capable of inflicting bodily harm."
Teacher Action Needed to Initiate Discipline Steps
If you are involved in an assault, battery, or weapon incident, your prompt action starts the expulsion recommendation process. You need to complete an "Incident Referral Form" and recommend expulsion.
Requirement to File an Assault Report
You must report an assault on the official MPS form. "Report of Assault Suffered by School Personnel" forms are available in every school. This report is for 3 "assault" situations:
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battery - actual physical contact,
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assault with intent to commit battery - a battery attempt that was prevented,
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personal threat with the ability to carry it out.
In addition, you should review the 10 steps to follow if you're assaulted . Ask for your BR's help to make certain all appropriate steps are taken.
Immediate Removal for Assault or Battery
A student who threatens a teacher with bodily harm, attempts physical contact, or commits battery must be immediately removed from the teacher's classroom. The student must be suspended and excluded from the school during the expulsion process.
Suspended Students Excluded From School
Suspended students are prohibited from attending class and other school activities, and are excluded from the school building.
They must be under administrative supervision until escorted out of the building."
If a student refuses to leave, the administration is to use assistance - other than teachers and educational assistants - to remove the student.
Student Remains Suspended During Expulsion Steps
After an expulsion recommendation is made, the decision to expel a student or take other disciplinary action is determined through a series of steps outside the school building. Until a resolution is reached, the student is suspended from school.
The statutory due process rights of the student must be upheld throughout the proceedings. Keep in mind that an offense for which an expulsion recommendation is mandated by board policy, may not result in expulsion. For example, MPS may decide to administratively transfer the student to another school.
Teachers at Hearings
If you have been phsycially assaulted, you will be offered the opportunity to testify at the central services suspension and/or expulsion hearings.
The statutory due process rights of the student must be upheld throughout the proceedings. An expulsion recommendation is mandated by board policy, but may not result in expulsion. For example, MPS may decide to transfer the student to another school.
Scheduling Requirements
Every effort will be made to schedule expulsion and suspension conferences and hearings during the teacher's workday. If that is not possible, they must be held immediately before or after the teacher's workday.