Student Code of Conduct

Parents should review the Code of Student Behavior with their children. This policy will be discussed with students on a continual basis throughout the year.

Discipline Philosophy

Our approach to behavior issues and discipline is designed to be a proactive one whenever possible. Our teachers and staff are trained to be sensitive to situations which may result in challenges for our students. We implement the Talk It Out conflict resolution program to assist and train our students in the subtleties of negotiating through challenging social and emotional situations. It is our expectation that students and teachers treat each other with respect and consideration at all times. There are varying ways in which our faculty responds to behavior issues depending on the developmental level and maturity of the students involved.

The intention of our discipline policy is to keep the student engaged productively in his or her classroom and the program except in extreme circumstances. When necessary, reasonable consequences will be implemented. Consequences are designed to guide students toward better behavior. The goal for the individual is to learn from the experience so he or she can make more productive choices in the future. Some possible consequences are: reminders, warnings, redirection, student action plans, phone call to parents, conferences, counseling, demerits (for Middle School students only), detention, suspension, and withdrawal by the Director. These consequences are not necessarily implemented in the order listed. A more specific overview is detailed below for the Elementary and Middle School programs.

Discipline Policy/Code of Student Conduct – School-wide

The mission of Columbia Academy is to provide our students with successful learning opportunities. These opportunities are designed to meet the individual needs of our students as we prepare them to be responsible citizens and valued members of the community.

The student code of conduct serves as a framework in support of behavior and discipline policies to ensure Columbia Academy is a safe and inviting place for all students to learn.

Columbia Academy students are expected to

Respect themselves, other students, staff, and the personal property of others as well as school property.
Obey school rules and follow school policies.
Attend school regularly, be on time, and be prepared to learn.
Seek alternatives to verbal or physical conflicts.
Take responsibility for their behavior.
Engage in learning activities and take schoolwork seriously.

Columbia Academy School Rules:

Keep hands and feet to yourself,
Be prepared with books, pencils, and paper.
Speak and listen in a quiet, polite, and caring manner.
Walk quietly in the hallways and classrooms so that people can work and learn.
Treat everyone as you would like to be treated.
Chewing gum is not permitted in the building or on school property.

Cafeteria Rules:

Students must remain seated and are expected to receive the permission from a cafeteria supervisor before they leave their seats.
The cafeteria is a place to talk quietly, not to scream, whistle, or yell.
Food is for eating, not throwing.
Students are to clean their areas after they have finished eating.
Students are to walk in the cafeteria not run.
Students are not permitted in the kitchen area.

Playground Rules:

Playground toys are to be collected at the end of each recess period. Students are to assist in the cleaning up of the playground area.
Students should wash their hands at the conclusion of outdoor play.
Staff members are to circulate among the children to ensure adequate supervision of their play.
Use of outside water fountains – students may not be sent back into the building to get drinks of water.
The school building doors must remain closed and locked at all times. Doors may never be propped open.
Students may be sent in to use the restrooms during recess. It is required that a teacher let them in the building, stand at the playground door, to monitor the playground and bathroom hallway until the student is finished in the bathroom and returns to the playground.
Students may not be sent in to the building unsupervised for any reason.

Talk It Out - A Conflict Resolution Program

This program will be used school-wide in all classrooms. The steps for this program are included in this handbook so that parents and students together may refer to the steps when dealing with conflict.

Rules of the Game

Treat Each Other with Respect
Listen Without Interrupting
Work to Solve the Problem

Talk It Out Options

Option 1: Conflict Corner/Center
Option 2: Class Meetings
Option 3: Peer Peace Maker
Later: On-the-Spot Problem Solving
Later Still: Independent Problem Solving

Six Steps to Talk It Out

Step 1: Stop & Cool Off

Recognize the early signs of anger
Strategies for cooling off

Step 2: Talk & Listen

Talking – “I” message and “You” message
Listening skills
Eye contact
Listen without interrupting
Non-verbal gestures

Step 3: Find Out What You Both Need

Identify the problem in terms of what you NEED rather than what you WANT

Step 4: Brainstorm Solutions

List all ideas with no comments
Evaluate ideas after all suggestions have been given

Step 5: Choose the Idea You Both Like Best

Consider the reasonableness of each idea
Compromise is key

Step 6: Make a Plan and Go For It

Outline the plan in concrete & specific steps
Act out the plan
Create a back-up plan
Congratulate the students on their hard work

Working With Children Who Have Limited Social Skills

Begin with easy situations and build the skills until they and/or you are more confident in approaching the harder issues.
Focus on the problem behavior, not the child’s personality.
Involve the student as much as possible.
Establish non-punitive consequences.
It’s not what you say; it’s how you say it.
Speak to the child in private.
Be patient and realistic.
Ask for help.

The Talk It Out Payoff

What conflict resolution education does for everyone:

Saves time
Teaches valuable skills
Teaches children to care about others and treat them respectfully
Reduces stress
May contribute to the prevention of drug and alcohol abuse
You can use your new skills at home with family and friends
You can feel good about making a contribution to world peace.

Guidelines for Mediating Conflicts

Each participant should have equal time to express his or her version of the conflict. (the mediator may act as timekeeper.)
Each participant’s views and opinions are to be respected. Put-downs, shout downs, and other interruptions are not permitted.
Each party to the conflict should be required to listen actively. In responding to the other participant, each should first restate what the other person has said and, then specify precise areas of agreement or disagreement.
After discussion, the mediator may restate the facts that are agreed on and then narrow the focus to the areas of continuing disagreement.
The mediator might ask each party to imagine and then describe what the other party is likely to be feeling. As each does so, the same rules for speaking in turn and not interrupting apply.
The mediator then asks each party what outcome would be welcome (e.g. “I want her to quit picking on me,” or “I want him to pay for the tape he ruined”.
The mediator asks each party whether the outcome desired by the other seems reasonable and can be achieved. If indicated, the mediator might suggest ways to help achieve the desired outcome, such as signing contracts, agreeing to monitoring, using incentives, or some other means.

Incentives – School-wide

A major goal of this policy is to encourage students to exhibit good behavior. This is reinforced with a system of praise and reward for all children.

Student achievements are celebrated in assemblies. Our teachers give oral and written praise. Each class can earn points for demonstrating exceptional behavior. Class points are counted at the end of each month, and the class with the most points will be announced at the monthly assembly. Classes may earn rewards such as: pizza, ice cream parties, movie and popcorn day, or lunch with a selected teacher.

Elementary School Discipline Policy

Columbia Academy is committed to providing a positive learning environment by promoting and modeling respectful, responsible, and safe behaviors school-wide and in our community.

The primary concern of the school is to create and foster a learning environment where everyone has access to achieve his or her greatest potential. This will allow all students the opportunity for academic, social, and emotional growth.

“Give Me Five”

“Give me five” is the signal for all students to become quiet, listen, and focus on the teacher. It will be used throughout the building at all grade levels.

The teacher will count to 5. Each number represents the step the students must take to be an active listener.

Eyes on the speaker.
Lips closed.
Sit up straight.
Hands and feet quiet.
Ears open.

Steps to Use When Correcting a Student

Talk It Out – Review the situation. Speak to all students involved.
Review alternative actions the students could have taken.
Apply an immediate and meaningful consequence. Consequences may include but are not limited to a warning, Talk It Out, phone call to parents, Email or written notes to parents, written reflection or apology, or a conference.
Communicate an expectation that the student will improve their behavior in the future.

At Columbia Academy the majority of children behave well. There are, however, occasions when individual children exhibit behavior that is unacceptable. As part of our Discipline Policy all staff should use behavior modification strategies to improve an individual child’s behavior.

Each child is unique, so it is important that we investigate the cause of the misbehavior and apply an appropriate remedy. Various rewards are used to reinforce positive behavior:

Change in classroom organization
Using different resources
Rewards of stars/smiley faces on work, on charts and in special books
Use of special stickers for such things such as listening, demonstrating kindness and respect, being helpful, and so on
Commenting on a child’s good behavior to other children.
Celebrating achievements in Assemblies
Involving parents at an early stage to co-operate on an action plan.

By using a positive system of rewards and reinforcing good behavior, Columbia Academy fosters children’s positive self-esteem. When corrective efforts have been implemented and there is no observed improvement, the child should be referred to the administration.

Procedures for Dealing with Major Breaches of Discipline

An oral warning by the administration concerning future conduct.
A letter to parents informing them of their child’s unacceptable behavior.
A particularly serious problem could result in the child being sent home immediately and a conference set. At this conference a warning is given about further sanctions, unless there is an improvement in the child’s behavior.
All steps in the process must be documented in writing, with copies sent to the Administrative Head.

The teachers and administration have the responsibility for taking appropriate actions when a student is involved in a situation which disrupts the learning environment. Learning and teaching cannot take place without sound discipline and parents should recognize that staff will deal with behavior problems patiently and positively. When determining consequences we will take into consideration:

The severity of the incident.
A student’s previous violations and/or consequences for the same or related offense.
If the offense interfered with the rights, responsibility, privileges, or property of others.
The logical relationship between the offense and the consequence.
The age-appropriateness of the consequence.

Middle School Discipline Policy

At the Middle School level, Columbia Academy implements a reward and demerit system for documenting and responding to behavioral issues. This system is not implemented in place of Talk It Out, which supports our philosophy of providing good counsel to our students. However, when attempts by teachers to bring about cooperative efforts from a student or students fail to achieve the desired result, demerits are issued and recorded in a Behavior Log.

There are many layers to the plan; the most significant aspect is the use of demerits. Each infraction, or broken rule, has been leveled with a specific number of demerits – the more significant infractions are given a higher number of demerits. The demerits are earned and remain on the Behavior Log for ten school days. Every ten school days, one demerit is subtracted until the student’s behavior log is returned to zero demerits unless another infraction occurs within that ten school day period. At that point, the new demerits are added to the student’s current total and the ten day probationary period begins anew. It is our hope that these steps will not have to be taken, but we feel it is in the best interest of the students and the Columbia Academy community to operate with consistency regarding behavior issues. It is important that all students and teachers are aware of the boundaries and expectations for conduct becoming of a student at Columbia Academy.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, students can also earn rewards. The teachers issue “reward coupons” that are placed in a drawing each month. At the time of the drawing, a student can be awarded gift cards or other rewards such as a “Dress Down Day” for their homeroom, homework passes, and celebratory lunches. The students will have ongoing input into this portion of the plan.