Students at BHCA are responsible for their own actions and behavior. The discipline policy for BHCA has been developed upon this basic concept.
One of our primary objectives in discipline is to maintain good communication between home and school. It is our belief that parents should be informed and involved in the discipline process. The teachers and administration of BHCA strive to notify parents of behavior problems related to their child.
BHCA provides a variety of consequences for improper behavior or violation of school rules:
- Mediation: Mediation is often the most effective first step in resolving problems. Counselors, administrators, and student mediators will be available to mediate disputes among students. Students can prevent a problem from escalating by requesting mediation.
- Lunch Detention: Lunch detention is used for minor school violations or improper behavior during the lunch period (i.e. not cleaning up after oneself, horseplay with other students, etc.). Students receiving lunch detention will assist in campus clean-up during their lunch period for a specified amount of time.
- After School Detention: This is used as a consequence for classroom related discipline problems and repeated minor rule infractions. A parent is notified if a student is assigned to after school detention up to 24 hours prior to the detention. This allows time for parents to arrange transportation. Time frame for detention is 2:30 PM - 3:00 PM.
- Parent Conference: Parent conferences are used by teachers or administration to review student's behavior and to identify necessary changes. It is a valuable tool to maintain or establish communication among school, parent, and student.
- Behavior Contract: Students with behavior problems may be subject to behavior contracts. Failure to comply with behavior contract parameters may constitute dismissal.
- Saturday School: Saturday School is an alternative to out of school suspension (OSS) and is used for students who have excessive unexcused tardies (four or more), or for students who exhibit habitual behavior problems. Students report to BHCA on the specified Saturday at 7:30 AM and are released at 11:30 AM. Students will bring with them all materials, books, and notebooks for them to work on class assignments.
- In School Suspension: ISS is used by the administration for dealing with major habitual discipline problems. A parent is notified of placement in the program.
- Out of School Suspension: OSS is a consequence used by the administration after all other approaches have been used in working with a student as well as accrued violations. Weapon possession, fighting, vandalism, use of or possession of drugs or alcohol, and other major violations are cause for OSS.
Students are required to make up work missed due to their suspension and will receive the educational benefit of the missed work. However, the student will not receive credit for the work as outlined in policy.
Our efforts and discipline are directed toward making each child a responsible person, one who develops self-discipline. |