PARENT INFORMATION
Wellington-Dufferin Mental Health Resources -
Open Mind Pamphlet, September 2010 (PDF)
Safe and inclusive schools:
Responding to the new Safe Schools legislation
In June 2007, the provincial government passed Bill 212, the Education Amendment Act (Progressive Discipline and School Safety). It is in effect as of February 1, 2008 and amends some of the “safe schools” provisions currently in the Education Act.
The goal of the legislation is to effectively combine discipline with opportunities for students to keep learning. In the Upper Grand District School Board, this supports our commitment to student success, and to providing a safe, respectful and inclusive teaching and learning environment.
The board was directed to create new policies and/or revise policies based on the legislation, regulations and Ministry of Education Policy and Program Memorandums.
These include:
With the help of our central administration, we will be working to provide students and parents with information on our new Safe Schools practices and procedures. Some of the changes and new provisions are very different including the way in which discipline, including suspensions and expulsions, will be applied. A few of the changes are highlighted here, and we invite you to contact your home school for further information.
- Bullying is added to the list of behaviours for which students can be suspended. The Ministry has provided a definition of bullying which we must use. Schools will be developing their own bullying prevention and intervention strategies and procedures based on the new policy.
- The concept of progressive discipline is highlighted as the approach to be used in schools. It provides for a range of interventions and supports, as well as a range of consequences designed to promote positive student behaviour and to maintain a positive school climate. Suspensions and expulsions, which are part of progressive discipline, help deter inappropriate behaviour or to remove individuals who pose a threat to the safety and well-being of others. In some circumstances suspension may be an appropriate first consequence, or in the case of a serious incident, a required consequence for inappropriate behaviour.
- Only principals can suspend students for between one and 20 days. Suspensions more than five days are considered long-term suspensions.
- Principals can no longer expel students. This is now the role of the school board.
- Principals may make recommendations to a Discipline Committee (made up of trustees) who will undertake Expulsion Hearings. Appeals of suspensions will also be heard by this committee. New procedures for suspension appeals and expulsion hearings have been developed.
- Behaviours which previously allowed a principal to expel a student are now ones for which a principal must suspend a student, pending an investigation into the incident which could lead to the recommendation for expulsion to the board’s Discipline Committee.
- In addition to consequences for inappropriate behaviour at school, suspensions and expulsions may result from activities that do not take place at school if they have a negative impact on the school climate, such as inappropriate online behaviour, including cyber-bullying.
- The Board is required to provide programs for students on long-term suspensions, and those who are expelled. The Upper Grand program for students in grade 6 or higher is called Youth Options. A brochure which outlines the type of academic program and non academic, or social/emotional supports offered at the voluntary program is available. For younger students, the board will provide another form of alternative programming
- When principals consider suspensions, they must consider three mitigating factors. These have not been changed from the previous legislation. However, there are new factors that must also be applied. These include a student’s age and history, if progressive discipline has been used, if a behaviour has been motivated by harassment or discrimination, the impact on the ongoing education of the student, and where a student has an Individual Education Plan (IEP). A complete list is in the Board’s policy.
Additional information is being prepared so schools can inform students and parents about the new legislation, and the application of it at the school level.
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