8315

Student conduct shall reflect consideration for the rights of others. The school committee's intent is to establish a rational position between freedom for each individual and the necessity for sufficient order to permit the operation of the instructional program.

To this end, the committee looks to its administrative staff to develop and communicate clearly a set of reasonable rules of student conduct. In the development process, it is expected that parent groups will be involved at all levels of the system. In addition, input from the student governing bodies at the high and junior high schools will be included.

Students shall respect duly constituted authority and use established processes to bring about desired change. These processes shall be, in the following order; (a) appeal to the student governing body, (b) appeal to the principal, (c) appeal to the superintendent, and (d) appeal to the school committee.

Maintenance of discipline within the classroom is the responsibility of the teacher. Cooperation may be obtained, if necessary, from the principal, superintendent or the school committee. For the purpose of discipline and maintaining order in the classroom, teachers are in "loco parentis." However, a teacher shall not resort to force except (a) to protect another person from personal attack or imminent threat thereof, (b) to protect himself, (c) to remove a recalcitrant pupil from a class or from one part of the building to another and in such event at least one other professional employee shall be present to assist, (d) to protect the student from doing harm to himself or to others, and (3) to protect property from vandalism.