Statement of Purpose
• At Sands Secondary School, we accept the responsibility of educating students about the behaviours that will contribute to a safe, caring and orderly environment for learning and working. As students develop through this important time in their lives, they must learn to responsibly exercise their own rights and freedoms as well as respect the rights of others and the larger group to which they belong.
• The Code of Conduct applies to students while they are in attendance at school or participating in school-sponsored activities. Students are also responsible for out-of-school behaviours that impact the safe, caring and orderly conduct of the school. Electronic communications that impact the school and students are behaviours that the school may address.
At Sands it is expected that students will:
• Conduct themselves in an respectful manner when going to and from school, within school, on school grounds, during extended school activities and on school buses
• Apply themselves to the best of their ability in all aspects of their education
• Attend school and classes regularly and punctually
• Be respectful of the thoughts, feelings and heritage of others
• Respect the rights and property of others including photographs of others; do not take or post photos of other students without their permission
• Dress in a manner which is appropriate for a learning environment and not offensive in any manner
• Contribute positively to a safe learning environment
• Report any incidents of threats, bullying, harassment, violence or intimidation to a responsible adult
UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOURS
In general, behaviours that are illegal and unacceptable in the wider society are also unacceptable at school. This includes but is not limited to the following:
• Failure to follow the direction of any staff member
• Interfering with the learning of others
• Inappropriate or abusive language
• Any effort to cause harm or discriminate against another person based on, but not limited to: race, religion, gender, physical or intellectual disability, marital or family status, sexual orientation or age
• Interfering with the emotional or physical well-being of others
• Creating an unsafe situation
• Threatening, bullying, harassing and intimidating including by electronic means
• Physical violence and/or threats of physical violence
• Revenge or retribution against a student who has reported incidents
• Smoking or using smoking related devices on school property
• Possession, use or distribution of alcohol and illegal or restricted substances
• Theft or damage to school property or the property of others
• Gang-related behaviours
• Possession of weapons or dangerous articles including pepper spray, laser pointers, firecrackers, knives and guns.
CONSEQUENCES FOR UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOUR
Consequences for unacceptable behaviour are intended to be thoughtful, consistent and fair under the circumstances with consideration for a student’s maturity and intellectual, social and emotional capacity. As well, the severity and frequency of the misbehaviour will be considered. Where appropriate, the consequence will provide a means for restitution and restorative actions and will involve the offender in determining a corrective plan of action.
Consequences for unacceptable behaviour may include:
• Teacher-assigned consequences
• Detention
• Office referral
• Community Service
• Restitution
• Suspension
• Parent meetings
• Referral to counsellors
• Reminder of expected behaviours
• Behaviour contract
• Loss of privilege (e.g. attendance at school activities)
SUSPENSION
• Students violating the school’s code of conduct, rules or policies may be suspended from school;
• The type and length of suspension varies depending on the violation and circumstances;
• Students may be suspended for one to five days and, in extraordinary cases, suspended to the Assistant Superintendent of Delta;
• In all cases, the school will notify parents and request a meeting with all parties;
• Repeat violations may lead to a withdrawal from Sands.
• Immediate suspension will likely result for any of the following:
• Intimidation, threatening and bullying;
• Any threats to harm or injure students or staff whether written, spoken or via the internet and any high risk behaviour such as possession of weapons will be investigated by trained staff;
• Any investigation may include questioning of students in order to determine levels of risk;
• Parents of students directly involved will be notified;
• Parents and students are strongly encouraged to share any information they have about threat-making behaviour to a member of the staff.
** Assault, fighting or violence;
• Any activity that threatens the safety of students or staff will result in immediate suspension;
• Any student who participates, promotes, encourages or attends a fight will be considered to have threatened school safety.
• Active observation of a fight may also lead to suspension.
** Possession of drugs or alcohol;
• Possession, use and supplying of restricted drugs and/or alcohol is illegal and will not be tolerated on school property or at school-sponsored events or activities;
• Students having, using or supplying drugs or alcohol at school will be suspended;
• Students knowingly in the company of others using or having illegal substances also face suspension.
** Possession of any weapon, firecrackers, or fireworks;
• Delta School Board policy prohibits the possession of any weapon including: pepper spray, knives, guns, laser pointers or any objects that are intended to be used as weapons.
• Possession of fireworks/firecrackers at school is prohibited.
** Vandalism and Property Damage
• Students who destroy or vandalize school property or the property of others will face disciplinary action and be required to pay for the losses or damage;
• The School Act says that students and their parents are liable for any School Board property that is damaged either with intent or through negligence.
** Harassment
• Students who create an unpleasant or hostile situation with uninvited and unwelcome verbal or physical conduct may face suspension. This includes gender, racial, or sexual harassment.
NOTIFICATION
It is understood that communication is essential between home and school. As well, notice will be given to the parents and students within each school of the range of responses that schools may apply to breaches of the Code of Conduct including threat-making behaviours.
Therefore, for breaches of the Code of Conduct, notification may occur as follows:
• Parents of student in breach of the Code of Conduct
• Parents of student victim(s)
• School and District personnel – where appropriate
• Police and/or other agencies – where deemed appropriate or where required by law
• All parents of the school community – when deemed important to reassure members of the school community that school and district officials are aware of a serious situation or incident and are taking appropriate action to address it
• When the breach of the Code of Conduct is criminal in nature, police will be consulted prior to public notification.
SELF/PEER – SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY
Student safety and the development of social responsibility is a priority in the Delta School District. It is important to have standards and guidelines in place to help young people navigate their way through a media-rich technological world that is seeing an increasing amount of inappropriate and even illegal media usage. The Delta School District is committed to reducing and repairing harm, and to ensuring school safety.
Possession, creation, and/or distribution of pornography (self/peer media exploitation) is strictly prohibited and will be treated as a serious matter and potentially could result in a series of escalating consequences that may include suspension and/or withdrawl from the Delta School District. Possession, creation and/or distribution of child pornography may also result in criminal charges. In all cases, young people need to be educated and supported.
In order to further protect the well being of our students, social media devices may be subject to search and seizure any time there is reasonable grounds to believe that the device has been used to access, information listed above.
Due to privacy reasons, students are to not take pictures or videos while in school, unless they have permission from a teacher for a school project. Phones and devices are not permitted to be used while in bathrooms or change rooms.
STUDENT THREATS TO SAFETY FAIR NOTICE
The safety of our students is a top priority for all of us in the Delta School District. When a threat or violent incident occurs it is taken very seriously and a student threat assessment is started.
As partners in educating our youth, everyone in the community has a duty to report all threat-related behaviours. These threats include expressing an intent of harm to themselves, another person or property, or acting out violently against them. Whether the threat is spoken, drawn, made with gestures or on social media, they must all be taken seriously. We will investigate and respond to all harmful threats to our students.