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Process for Maintaining our Principles and Ideals.
Our principles are ideals which we all struggle to maintain and support. We therefore believe it is important to
have a process - a process that is understood by everyone in the community - for dealing effectively and
respectfully with disrespectful, unsafe or disruptive behavior. Our process has the following steps.
1.
a)
Whenever a teacher or adult observes disrespectful, or unsafe or disruptive behavior, that adult will
speak to the student or community member about it. The adult will seek clarity about the situation and
will ask each child or person involved to accept responsibility for his/her part and to be sympathetic to
other people's feelings about the situation. All involved are given an opportunity to share their views of
the situation. A student who observes inappropriate behaviors is encouraged to speak to the student or
community member directly, and/or to ask for assistance in doing so from the adult in charge.
b)
Often conversation and clarification are sufficient to address questionable behavior. When
appropriate, however, the adult will also take action, and whenever possible will make consequences
logically related to the inappropriate behavior. We may ask the student to apologize, to clean up or
repair a situation, to sit out and calm down for a short while, or to use a recess to make up for wasted
classroom time, as examples. The purpose of the consequence will be to allow the student to make
amends for an action that showed disregard for any of the four principles, and to bring clear and quick
closure to the situation for all involved.
c)
The teacher or adult dealing with any recurring problematic behavior will notify the student's teacher of
the problem. It is the child's teacher who best knows the child at school and is the child's counselor and
advocate. She will make sure that communication is clear and that the student understands the
problem. As noted above, we expect that as children grow older, they will take more responsibility for
their behavior and need less teacher explanation or intervention. The teacher will notify parents when
appropriate.
2.
When disrespect or rule-breaking is repeated, we expect parents to join with the school to send the student
even clearer signals that the behavior must change or stop. The school uses two signals to alert students
and parents that a situation is serious: a first and a second alert.
a)
First Alert
- A first alert means that the disrespect or rule-breaking has been serious or repeated and
needs to be addressed. The parents of the student will be notified, and they and the student's teacher
will address the issue directly to make sure that expectations are clear and parents and teacher are
working together with the child to address the issue. Both student and parent should understand that
the behavior must change, for if the behavior continues, the student will be put on second alert.
b)
Second Alert - On second alert, any unacceptable behavior will mean that the child will be sent home.
Parents will be required to meet with the Head of School and the student’s teacher to decide what
further steps will be taken to address inappropriate behaviors. Whether the child should continue at
Touchstone, and under what conditions, will be considered at this time. The child may be suspended
from the school while the conversations are taking place. The duration of a second alert status will be
determined by the Head of School.
Finally, consistency of expectations is important if our system is to be a fair one. It will be up to the teacher or
adult in charge to determine whether disrespect is being shown or rules being disregarded. There are bound to
be individual differences in interpretation, and an opportunity to present these differences is built into our
process. For safety reasons alone, however, the judgment of the person responsible for the children at the time
must be respected by community members - students, parents and staff.