Monday, October 20, 2008

School Safety Week is October 19-25, 2008

During the national observance of School Safety Week, October 19-25, each school and community is asked to take steps to ensure student safety and well-being and to make school safety part of everyday life.

"School safety requires planning," said State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster. "It requires the attention and focus of educators, law enforcement personnel, and policymakers as well as students, parents, and community residents.

"School safety is more than a one-day exercise or a safety plan review; it must be woven into the culture of each school and community. Safety in our schools requires conscious acts to open lines of communication and instill responsibility among students, parents, teachers, administrators, and the community."

Schools can learn more about a broad range of school safety issues through the School Crisis Preparedness and Safe Schools webcast series, sponsored by the Department of Public Instruction and other state agencies and safety organizations.
 

The MTEA has been proactive in efforts to keep schools safe. The new contract contains several provisions aimed at maintaining security and improving discipline throughout the district:

• Non-school personnel will be required to immediately report to the school office when they enter a school. If authorized to go to a classroom, visitors will be escorted by the school administrator or his/her designee.

• School administrators will establish an emergency communication procedure – so that teachers can notify the office and receive help immediately.

• A teacher who has been physically assaulted by a student will be offered the opportunity to testify at the central office suspension and/or expulsion hearing.

• All suspended students will be excluded from the building and not allowed to attend classes or any other activities at school.

• A reinstatement conference will be held prior to reinstating suspended students.

• In addition to the student, parent, and school administrator, the referring teacher will be included in the reinstatement conference if the suspension was due to an assault on a teacher or due to a threat to a teacher’s physical safety.

• In all other suspension reinstatement conferences, the school administrator will make every effort to include the referring teacher.

• If it is impossible to schedule suspension or expulsion hearings or reinstatement conferences during the teacher workday, they will be held immediately before or after the teacher workday.

• In grievances on disciplining a dangerous or chronically disruptive student, the sole issue before an arbitrator will be whether the administrator acted reasonably.

• The new contract will require school administrators to take the following steps with teachers on organization day each school year:

  • Review the school's student disciplinary policy.

  • Review the school's crisis plan, including the staff's role.

  • Provide a copy of the school’s crisis plan to all teachers.

  • Review and provide a copy of the "Parent/Student Handbook on Rights, Responsibilities, and Discipline" to each teacher.

  • Present the school’s emergency communication procedure.

• The new contract will add several specific references to the MPS Parent/Student Handbook on Rights, Responsibilities, and Discipline. The handbook spells out district standards for disciplinary action. The references will reinforce consistent application of the standards in all schools – especially if a teacher is battered (physically assaulted) or if "a student poses a physical threat to the teacher’s safety."

• Schools will be required to send 2 items to the homes of the students no later than September 30 of each year.

  • The school’s discipline policy.

  • Each teacher’s classroom discipline policy.