The Manhasset School District (the “District”) considers the health and safety of the children who attend its schools to be its highest priority. The District is committed to providing a safe and orderly school environment where students may receive, and District personnel may deliver, educational services without disruption or interference. Responsible behavior by students, teachers, school personnel, parents/guardians and visitors is essential to achieving this goal.  

To that end, utilizing the principles below as a framework, the District has adopted the Code of Conduct as a guide to set out the expectations of the school community, on school property and at school functions whether on or off school property :

1.      Students need to be supported and engaged in school in order to promote strong character and appropriate conduct. It is also essential that students take age-appropriate responsibility for their own behavior. Student engagement is developed when students are provided with multiple opportunities to participate in a wide range of positive social activities while interacting with caring, supportive adults. This helps to ensure that students are better able to:

•         Recognize and manage emotions

•         Develop caring and concern for others

•         Establish positive relationships

•         Make responsible decisions and

•         Handle challenging situations constructively and ethically.

2.      Effective and engaging instruction and positive behavioral supports are the foundations of a positive school climate. School teachers, administrators, and other staff are encouraged to set high expectations for student success, build positive relationships with students, as well as teach and model appropriate behaviors for success. Modeling respectful, positive behavior is especially critical during disciplinary interventions.

3.      All adults - teachers, building principals, administrators, school staff, parents/guardians, and the larger community - have an obligation to help students become good citizens and lead productive lives by modeling desired behaviors and cultivating those behaviors in students.

4.      Appropriate conduct and strong character are reflected in a civil, respectful, healthy and caring environment. Student discipline and support policies and practices will be implemented in a manner which is caring and equitable, respectful and based on trust among administration, staff, students, and families and holds all individuals accountable. This will help students:

•         Learn from their mistakes

•         Understand why their behavior was unacceptable

•         Acknowledge the harm they caused or the negative impact of their actions

•         Understand what they could have done differently

•         Take responsibility for their actions

•         Learn pro-social strategies and skills to use in the future and

•         Understand that further consequences and/ or interventions will be implemented if their unacceptable behavior persists.

The District will continuously monitor results to determine strategies for improvement.

The Board of Education is committed to providing a safe and orderly school environment where students may receive, and District personnel may deliver, quality educational services without disruption or interference. The District is committed to:

•         Ensuring each student is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged

•         Helping students develop self-discipline and social and emotional growth, and

•         Guiding students in improvement and corrections of inappropriate, unacceptable and unsafe behaviors.

Responsible behavior is expected by students, teachers, other District personnel, parents/guardians and visitors, as responsible behavior is essential to achieving the goal of providing a safe and orderly environment.  For this to happen, everyone in the school community must demonstrate and offer respect to others.

With the recognition that all children make mistakes and that this is part of growing up, schools must help all students learn to grow from their mistakes. School discipline policies should support students and teachers and ensure that everyone is treated with dignity and respect.

Student engagement is also integral to creating a positive school climate and culture that effectively fosters students’ academic achievement and social/emotional growth. Providing student with multiple opportunities to participate in a wide range of pro-social activities and at the same time to develop a bond with caring, supportive adults reduces negative behavior. Examples can include: providing students with meaningful opportunities to share ideas and concerns and participate in school-wide initiatives; student leadership development; periodic recognition of student’s achievements in a range of academic and co-curricular areas; using corrective feedback; and developing school-wide positive behavior systems.

The District has established a long-standing set of expectations for conduct on school property and at school functions whether on or off of school property. These expectations are based on the principles of civility, mutual respect, citizenship, character, tolerance, honesty, and integrity. The Board recognizes the need to clearly define these expectations for acceptable conduct on school property and at school functions whether on or off school property, to identify the possible developmentally appropriate, graduated consequences of unacceptable conduct, and to ensure that discipline, when necessary, is administered promptly and fairly, keeping in mind the goal is not to penalize, but to teach students there are consequences to actions and choices. To this end, the Board adopts this Code of Conduct ("Code"), which is based upon education laws, regulations, and Board policies.

Unless otherwise indicated, this Code of Conduct applies to all students, school personnel, parents/guardians and other visitors when on school property or attending a school function.