STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT

Greensted High School is a public high school located in Lavington, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Greensted is a four years high school, from grade 9 to grade 12. The school has a total of 700 students and 50 members of staff; teachers and administration staff. The behaviors of the students are guided by a code of conduct. The disciplinary committee of the school is responsible for the code of conduct (Department of Education, 2008).

Code of Conduct

School and class attendance

All students are expected to attend all classes without fail and on time. Teachers will record the attendance of all classes.

School Uniform

Both parents and students should support the learning environment by ensuring that students wear the right attire when coming to school. Clothes that are revealing or those that promote racism and the use of drugs are not allowed.

Intimidation and harassment

All students, regardless of their grade, should feel safe in the school compound. Therefore students should not be involved in any bullying activities, and it is also the responsibility of the students to report any bullying they come across.

Appropriate Language

Language use by all the school members should be polite and appropriate. Communication that is disrespectful and demeaning to others is not acceptable.

Cell Phones

Students have the right to use their electrical gadgets for educational purposes at the direction of the teachers or any other school staff. The misuse of these gadgets may lead to confiscation.

Supervision

It is the responsibility of the school staff, including teachers, to supervise the students while on the school grounds or during any school events. All students are expected to comply with the authority.

Security and safety

All students are required to refrain from any actions, including verbal and non-verbal, which may disrupt the safety of the school.

The majority of schools incorporate the code of conduct, which serves as a blueprint that helps the students to achieve their goals. An effective student code of conduct should be simple and entail all the expectations that the school has towards the students, teachers, and the administration staff. The student code of ethics is the expectations and rules given to the students and parents to ensure the behavior expected of the school are clearly communicated (O’Conner & Peterson, 2014). Schools are accountable for making a safe and structured environment that promotes the goals of the school. The code of conduct helps clarify the mission and values of the school.

Codes of conduct outline the students’ rights, therefore, ensuring that there is equality and that no student is treated differently, and students can only be penalized based on the violation of the codes of the school. However, this means that not all activities of crime are specified in the conduct, but it is important to state clearly the actions that are not acceptable by the school. Therefore the code of conduct includes a list of unacceptable behaviors even if the specific behavior is not on the list, and the student still faces the consequences. By applying the code of conduct, it ensures there is consistency across all the classes in the school.

Depending on the seriousness of the offense, the code of conduct indicates the process of dealing with all the offenses. The codes vary from one school to the other because different schools have different missions and objectives; therefore, they handle violation of the codes differently. The code of conduct ensures the safety of the students, teachers, and the administration, this is because the conduct outlines the rights of every individual (FindLaw Team, n.d.). Also, it ensures that they are all treated the same through the conduct, as all violations are handled fairly to everyone.

An effective code of conduct focuses on ensuring that everyone portrays positive behavior, thus, the codes are meant to eliminate all the improper behaviors of the students. Most of the guidelines are concerned with the students’ behavior in class or when they are on school grounds.

References

Department of Education. (2008). Example of a Code of Conduct for a School. Pretoria, South Africa. Retrieved from https://www.education.gov.za/Portals/0/Example%20of%20a%20Code%20of%20Conduct%20for%20a%20school.pdf?ver=2009-10-13-121912-523

FindLaw Team. (n.d.). Student Codes of Conduct: Background. Retrieved March 1, 2020, from FindLaw: https://education.findlaw.com/student-conduct-and-discipline/student-codes-of-conduct-background.html

O’Conner, A., & Peterson, R. L. (2014, September). Codes of Conduct – Policy Q & A. Retrieved from University of Nebraska-Lincoln: https://k12engagement.unl.edu/codes-of-conduct-policies