JCBE/POLICY FILE: 446
Approved: 6/20/74
Revised: 8/22/85
Revised: 8/27/90
Revised: 1/23/03
The Jefferson County Board of Education is dedicated to operate its schools in a manner that will provide an orderly process of education. To accomplish this goal, the Board believes that students must maintain respect for Board employees, for other students, and for the general public. The Board views discipline as the key to good conduct and appropriate consideration for other people. Principals, teachers and other school personnel have both the authority and the duty to take appropriate action whenever student behavior is not consistent with established rules of conduct.
Rules and regulations shall be disseminated to students, parents, and staff by such means as the Code of Student Conduct, local school student handbooks, faculty handbooks, school newsletters, and through classroom instruction.
The Code of Student Conduct is the primary method of establishing rules and regulations regarding student conduct. Established rules and regulations contained in the Code of Student Conduct are appraised yearly by a committee of school and central office personnel, teachers, parents, and students, in accordance with state law. The Code of Student Conduct is approved by the Board of Education prior to the beginning of each school year, and such approved Code of Student Conduct shall be considered part of the discipline policy.
Corporal punishment shall be defined as bodily punishment by use of a paddle on the buttocks and may be used as an option prescribed in the Code of Student Conduct. It shall not be administered as punishment for failing grades, nor in the presence or sight of students engaged in instructional activities.
Corporal punishment shall be administered by the principal or principal’s designee. A certified person other than the one administering the punishment shall be a witness to all such incidents.
Parental approval of corporal punishment shall not be required prior to its administration; however, a parent’s written request to restrict the use of corporal punishment shall be respected.