Board takes first reading of staff-conduct boundary-reporting form and student-discipline matrices required by state

Associate Superintendent Luis Alvarez presented two policy-related items the board took up on first reading: a form to report suspected staff-student boundary violations and the district’s student-discipline matrices.

Alvarez said Poms and Associates’ policy review identified the need to add a boundary-invasion reporting mechanism as an addendum to an existing staff-conduct-with-students policy (policy G B E B B - E). The form is intended as a standardized red-flag notification so parents, staff or administrators can report behaviors that may constitute boundary invasions in staff–student relationships; the form supplements, but does not replace, existing conduct policy. Alvarez said the document will be appended to board policy and be available as a reporting mechanism.

Alvarez also presented student-discipline matrices, noting that recent legislative direction requires districts to specify minimum and maximum discipline responses for common offenses and to be transparent to parents and stakeholders. Principals completed matrices for elementary, middle and high schools; Alvarez said the district consolidated matrix formats so campuses of the same level are aligned and then submitted the materials to policy certification. The matrices include consequences and, where appropriate, educational or restorative responses.

The board treated the materials as a first reading. Alvarez said the boundary-reporting form will be made part of board-policy documents and that the district will provide access to the form for people who wish to file concerns. No final action was taken at this meeting on either policy but the items will return for a subsequent reading and adoption vote.