CODE OF CONDUCT Keeping our schools safe Reference: Safe and Caring Schools Policy 9410 and Regulations 9410.1 and 9410.2 www.sd36.bc.ca/board/policies/section9000.html The Surrey School District is committed to providing safe and caring environments in which all learners can achieve academic excellence, personal growth and responsible citizenship. Safe and caring school environments are free of acts of: Bullying, cyberbullying, harassment, threat and intimidation, violence in any form, Verbal, physical or sexual abuse/exploitation, Discrimination in any form, Theft and vandalism Safe and caring schools do not tolerate the presence of: Intoxicating or banned substances, Weapons (or replica weapons) and explosives and Intruders or trespassers It is expected that students will: Neither take part in, nor condone (provoke, encourage or make a spectacle of) any form of violence, including bullying, harassment, threat and intimidation, verbal, physical or sexual abuse, discrimination in any form. Seek to prevent violence and potentially violent situations. Not use, possess or sell any intoxicating, banned or controlled substances. Demonstrate, when using electronic resources, appropriate on-line conduct including refraining from any acts of cyberbullying. Show respect for the property of others by refraining from theft, vandalism, graffiti and other inappropriate behaviours. Not use cell phones or cameras inappropriately. Be present at schools and school properties for school-authorized purposes only. Use respectful language and refrain from using obscenity or profanity while in a school building, on school or district property and at school-sponsored activities. Demonstrate commitment to learning by coming to school prepared to learn and by contributing to a positive, orderly, peaceful environment. Practice academic honesty and personal integrity by not participating in or encouraging plagiarism, cheating, theft of evaluation instruments, use of unauthorized aids, or false representation of identity. Dress Code Students of Surrey Connect Elementary School are expected to wear clothing that is discreet and appropriate. Slogans that depict, suggest, or promote drugs, sex, violence, alcohol, racism, power groups or use or suggest profanities and the like are not permitted. The expectation is that the students of Surrey Connect use their common sense and be sensitive to the feelings of others. Students inappropriately dressed may be required to return home to change.
Behaviours cited in the code of conduct are examples only and not an all-inclusive list. There are rising expectations for behaviour as students mature through successive grades. Consequences of unacceptable behaviour will consider the student s age, maturity and special needs (if any such as an intellectual, physical, sensory, emotional or behavioural disability), severity and frequency of actions and whenever possible and appropriate, focus on being restorative rather than punitive in nature. Reasonable steps will be taken to prevent retaliation against a student who has reported a breach of the code of conduct and an explanation of the school s responsibility to advise other parties of serious breaches (notification). Student threat assessment protocol: Fair Notice What behaviours initiate a student threat assessment? A student threat assessment will be initiated when behaviours include, but are not limited to, serious violence or violence with intent to harm or kill, verbal/written threats to harm/kill others, Internet website/msn threats to harm/kill others, possession of weapons (including replicas), bomb threats and fire setting. Duty to report To keep school communities safe and caring, staff, parents, students and community members must report all threat-related behaviours. What is a threat? A threat is an expression of intent to do harm or act out violently against someone or something. Threats may be verbal, written, drawn, posted on the Internet or made by gesture. Threats must be taken seriously, investigated and responded to. What is a Threat Assessment Team? Each school has a Threat Assessment Team which is multi-disciplinary. The team may include principal, vice-principal, district resource counsellor, school counsellor and police. What is the purpose of a student threat assessment? The purposes of a student threat assessment are: To ensure the safety of students, staff, parents and others. To ensure a full understanding of the context of the threat. To understand factors contributing to the threat makers behaviour. To be proactive in developing an intervention plan that addresses the emotional and physical safety of the threat maker. To promote the emotional and physical safety of all. What happens in a student threat assessment? All threat making behaviour by a student shall be reported to the principal who will activate the protocol for the initial response. Once the team has been activated, interviews may be held with the student(s), the threat
maker, parents and staff to determine the level of risk and develop an appropriate response to the incident. Intervention plans will be developed and shared with parents, staff and students as required. Can I refuse to participate in a threat assessment process? It is important for all parties to engage in the process. However, if for some reason there is a reluctance to participate in the process by the threat maker by the threat maker or parent / guardian, the threat assessment process will continue in order to promote a safe and caring learning environment. Protecting Surrey Schools Together (PSST) PSST is a website hosted by the Surrey School District with support from the Surrey RCMP and Surrey Crime Prevention. The website provides: A respected, trusted and confidential resource for students to share or obtain information about issues that concern them, An interactive forum for district students to discuss and share experiences, An opportunity for young writers to practice and post stories publicly, An avenue to promote student pride in their school and education and, A tool to communicate topical information to students. Visit the PSST website at www.psst-bc.ca Tobacco-free schools: It s the law In the interests of the health of students, staff and all others who use or visit schools and school district facilities, changes to B.C. s tobacco Control Act, effective September 2,2007, make it illegal to use tobacco on school property at any time. This includes: smoking; using tobacco, including chewing tobacco; and holding lighted tobacco. Ban in effect at all times: The law makes tobacco use on school property illegal both during and outside of regular classroom hours. The law applies to everyone: Students, staff, parents and the general public (including groups that rent school facilities outside of school hours) are affected by the law. All school district facilities are included in the ban: Tobacco use is not permitted on any part of a property that is owned, leased or operated by a school board, or any property that is used for the purpose of delivering educational or other learning programs. All Surrey School District employees are responsible for ensuring the law and board policy are followed in the best interests of everyone s health.
Academic Integrity Policy Surrey Connect sets high standards for its students and expects that all students maintain a high standard of integrity. Student work must be original and sources referenced appropriately. Plagiarism is the passing off of another person's work as one's own, whether deliberate or accidental. Accidental plagiarism is usually the result of poor citation or referencing or of poor preparation or a misunderstanding of plagiarism. Deliberate plagiarism is an attempt to claim another person's work as one's own (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/plagiarism). At Surrey Connect, student work submitted for English, English Literature or Social Studies courses, is routinely check by a plagiarism identification program called Turnitin. This highly successful program is currently used by Simon Fraser University and secondary schools as well as many colleges around the world. Surrey Connect expects all students to understand plagiarism and how to correctly cite another s ideas and words. Students are advised to take some time to visit the following internet sites for information and instructions before starting to submit assignments in Surrey Connect courses. To learn more about how to correctly cite another s ideas or words be sure to check one or more of these sites: http://www.wadsworth.com/english_d/special_feature/plagiarism/definition.html http://memorial.library.wisc.edu/citing.htm MLA style: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01 APA style : http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01 In addition, students may want to learn how to identify a reputable internet resource : http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html To learn more about the Turnitin program visit: http://www.turnitin.com/research_site/e_important_terms.html Invigilation Policy Please go here for information on Invigilation and the Forms: http://www.surreyconnect.sd36.bc.ca/secondary Additional Exam Information Unless explicitly stated otherwise, all invigilated (supervised) exams are "closed book" exams. Students must not use any materials not authorized by Surrey Connect, while writing the examination. Because some exams have to be mailed to the community, last minute changes in invigilation sites will not be accommodated. For additional information regarding invigilation at an alternate location, please contact Surrey Connect at 778 571-2223 or by email to Hogan_j@sd36.bc.ca.
Netiquette 10 Best Rules of Netiquette 1) The Golden Rule: Treat others as you would like to be treated. This rule is an oldie but a goodie and can get you through just about any situation, online or off! 2) No Flaming : Flaming is a form of verbal abuse when you intentionally attack or disrespect somebody for whatever reason. Maybe you didn t agree with something they said, but there s a nice way to share a different point of view without name calling or attacking someone. Harassing or insulting someone will not likely help you gain many online friends! 3) Respect Others Copyrights: There are wonderful things online, information for everyone on just about any topic! However, these things have copyrights and licenses. Copying the works of someone else without permission or saying it is your own will not only ruin your online reputation, but could land you with heft fines and lawsuits! 4) DON T TYPE IN ALL CAPS: It hurts our eyes. It makes people think you are shouting at them. It s okay to type in caps to accentuate a word or two, but please don t do it all the time everywhere you go. 5) Don t Spam: There s a fine line between spam and self-promotion, do it very carefully! 6) Be Honest: Faking website statistics, pretending to be someone else, or trying to cheat people online will not only hurt your reputation but can land you in a lot of hot water. You know the line honestly is the best policy, it s also one of the 10 best rules for netiquette. 7) Use Proper Grammar & Spelling: If u rite like this lol ppl might start 2 get mad lol. :) Spelling mistakes will happen, but if it s distracting from your message, it can be annoying. Using a browser with built in spell check can be a life saver for bad spellers! Be careful not to use too much web jargon, seeing lol used more than twice in a sentence or two is probably unnecessary and does not promote good internet etiquette. 8) Follow the TOS: Most sites have a Terms of Service policy that also lists rules of netiquette. Read it and abide by it! Discussions are constantly deleted because what was posted did not meet the terms of the website. 9) Keep it Appropriate: Never write or say anything that you wouldn t let your parents/kids read. It can really come back to haunt you if you write something that s not appropriate. Be aware that electronic messages are archived, and the archives are available for a very long time. It is generally not possible to retrieve messages once they have been sent. 10) Research Your Facts/Cite Sources: There is so much information online, it can be very difficult to distinguish what is true and not true. Before posting something, forwarding emails, or going off on a tangent, make sure it is factual and cite sources if possible to boost your credibility. Source: Chelle - Yahoo! Contributor Network