JF: Student Code of Conduct - Student Rights and Responsibilities

The Board of School Trustees (the “Board”) supports and wishes to encourage co-operation and positive relationships among students and the entire school community in every Vancouver school.

With this in mind, the Board has developed a number of guidelines that represent its point of view on a number of matters that affect these relationships, particularly between students and teachers.  The Board's guidelines are based on two principles:

• students should gain experience at school in making decisions based on freedom, just as adult citizens must do in our country;
• order is necessary to have freedom, and this means that, in a school, everyone must accept certain obligations and restrictions for the good of all.

Student Responsibilities

• Consideration for Others: Every student is responsible for his/her personal language, manners, habits, and behaviour because these affect the feelings and safety of others.
• Attendance: To gain maximum value from his/her courses, every student must attend and participate in all classes regularly, unless a different arrangement is worked out with the teacher as part of the learning for that course.
• Individual Initiative: To gain practice in being an independent learner, every student should take responsibility for doing assignments that help to make him/her know more about the subject or more skilled in using the process.
• Pride in the School's Appearance: Every student should do his/her share in keeping the school buildings and grounds clean, tidy, and safe, and in preventing damage to school equipment and property.
• Private Property and Personal Dignity: To have the right to private property and personal dignity, every student must recognize that every other student has the same right to private property and the right not to be abused in any way.

Student Rights

Sections 4 - 6 of the School Act outline broad rights and duties of students with respect to entitlement, to consultation, and to language of instruction for educational program(s).

The School’s Student Code of Conduct

Under the School Act, the Board has the legal authority and duty to establish a code of conduct for students and to see that they are observed.  Under the Act, students are required to observe the rules or student code of conduct of the school.  Fairness requires that students be told clearly the standards of behaviour that are expected of them and the consequences of misbehaviour; for that reason, the Board directs each school principal to make school codes of conduct available to students and their parents through handbooks distributed annually.

Student Conduct Off Premises

Conduct of students off school premises occurring during the school day that adversely affects other students or the operation of the school or other schools in the district and is a violation of the school’s code of conduct (or school rules) will result in discipline.

Guidelines For Teachers

The Code of Ethics of the B.C. Teachers' Federation and the B.C. College of Teachers, of which every Vancouver teacher is a member, states:

"The teacher speaks and acts toward  students with respect and dignity and deals judiciously with them, always mindful of their rights and sensibilities."

The Board supports the kind of relationship expressed in the Code of Ethics, specifically as it applies to:

• confidentiality of student records and information,
• students' rights to dissenting views and conscientious objections to patriotic exercises (see policy IGAC  Teaching About Religion),
• students' rights to private affairs and personal property,
• students' freedom to publish and distribute publications, within the limits of laws concerning libel, obscenity, and sedition, and the observance of reasonable sensitivity toward the feelings and values of others.

Interpretation And Authority

If the policy guidelines adopted by the Board are to be successful, it must be understood that school administrators and teachers have the authority to interpret and apply them in a given situation.  Students must obey any such interpretation, subject to an appeal.

DMT Responsibility: AS-F