PROHIBITION OF CORPORAL PUNISHMENT

No teacher, administrator, officer, employee or agent of the District shall use corporal punishment against a pupil.

In situations in which alternative procedures and methods not involving the use of physical force cannot reasonably be employed, nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prohibit the use of reasonable physical force for the following purposes:

• To protect oneself from physical injury

• To protect another pupil or teacher or any other person from physical injury

• To protect the property of the school or others

• To restrain or remove a pupil whose behavior is interfering with the orderly exercise and performance of School District functions, powers and duties, if that pupil has refused to comply with a request to refrain from further disruptive acts

DASA/DIGNITY for ALL STUDENTS ACT COORDINATOR

The Dignity Act prohibits discrimination and harassment of students on school property, including at school functions, by any student and/or employee. The District has designated a Dignity Act Coordinator for each school. The Jarvis Dignity Act Coordinators are School Counselors Mrs. Buttacaroli and Mrs. Horner. They can be reached by calling the Main Office at (315) 866-2620 or by email at sbuttacaroli@cvalleycsd.org or ahorner@cvalleycsd.org.

Dignity Act Coordinators are trained in methods to respond to human relations in the areas of race, color, weight, national origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practices, disability, sexual orientation, gender, and sex. They are available to speak with any person who has witnessed possible discrimination or harassment, or if that person has experienced treatment that may be prohibited discrimination or harassment. 

The school will primarily concern itself with the enforcement of the Code of Conduct in school.  However, issues do not always happen in the vacuum of school without moving into the wider community and the internet. Off-campus misconduct or conflict that endangers the health and safety of students or staff within the school or can reasonably be forecast to substantially disrupt the educational process is prohibited. 

This includes the use, both on and off school property, of information technology, including, but not limited to, email, instant messaging, blogs, chat rooms, pagers, cell phones, gaming systems and social media websites, to deliberately harass or threaten others. Text messages, emails, and instant message conversations that bully, threaten, or intimidate will not be tolerated.  This type of harassment is generally referred to as cyber bullying.

For purposes of the Jarvis Code of Conduct and DASA reporting, definitions for bullying and harassment are:

Harassment and bullying means the creation of a hostile environment by conduct or by   threats, intimidation, or abuse, including cyberbullying, that has or would have the effect of unreasonably and substantially interfering with a student’s educational performance, opportunities or benefits, or mental, emotional, or physical well-being; or reasonably causes or would reasonably be expected to cause a student to fear for his or her physical safety; or reasonably causes or would reasonably be expected to cause physical injury or emotional harm to a student; or occurs off school property and creates or would foreseeably create a risk of substantial disruption within the school environment, where it is foreseeable that the conduct, threats, intimidation or abuse might reach school property.  Acts of harassment and bullying shall include, but not be limited to, those acts based on a person’s actual or perceived race, color, weight, national origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual orientation, gender or sex. For the purposes of this definition the term “threats, intimidation or abuse” shall include verbal and non-verbal actions.  (Education Law §11[7]).

Material Incident of Harassment, Bullying, and/or Discrimination is defined in 8 NYCRR 100.2(kk)(1)(ix) as a single verified incident or a series of related verified incidents where a student is subjected to harassment, bullying and/or discrimination by a student and/or employee on school property or at a school function.  This term includes a verified incident or a series of related verified incidents of harassment or bullying that occur off school property where such acts create or would foreseeably create a risk of substantial disruption within the school environment, where it is foreseeable that the conduct, threats, intimidation or abuse might reach school property, and is the subject of a written or oral complaint to the superintendent, principal, or their designee, or other school employee.  

Material incidents of  harassment, bullying, and/or discrimination would include, but are not limited to: threats, intimidation or abuse based on a person’s actual or perceived race, color, weight, national origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practices, disability, sexual orientation, gender, or sex. 

Complete DASA definitions and guidelines followed at Jarvis Middle School can be found at: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/dignityact/rgappendixa.html

(return to Jarvis Middle School Code of Conduct Index)