Behaviour And Discipline

STUDENTS' EXPECTATIONS	STUDENTS' OBLIGATIONS
The best possible educational opportunities and activities.	Diligence and sustained effort in school work.
A staff that is nurturing and responsive to their individual needs.	Respect for themselves, other students, the staff and school property.
Respectful and fair and just treatment from other students and staff.	Behaviour that will be a credit to themselves, their family, their school and their community.

DISCIPLINE
Bialik expects all members of our community to treat one another with respect. When disrespectful and problematic student behaviours do occur, however, it is important to process them and provide appropriate consequences. Our approach to discipline sets expectations and consequences, and makes appropriate behaviour an integral part of the educational process. This is done in the context of Bialik’s pillar of Jewish Values & Menschlichkeit.

Bialik’s discipline policy calls for addressing problematic behaviour with the following possible consequences:

The classroom teacher will speak with the student(s) involved. Student misbehaviour may require conversations and/or writing assignments designed to process the issue at hand.
Consequences may include detentions* (before or after school, or during recess) and are imposed by classroom teachers. Parents will be informed.
School administration will become involved in the process, speaking with those involved in the problem, and imposing any of the consequences outlined above. Parents will be informed.
Student(s) may be suspended for one or more days by school administration. Suspension may be served in school (in the office) or at home. Parents will be informed.
Student(s) may be suspended for multiple days by school administration. Students will not be allowed to serve the suspension in school. Parents will be informed.
Student(s) will be expelled by school administration. Parents will be informed.

*In the senior division, half-hour detentions are served on Tuesdays at 4:00 p.m. and Thursdays at 8:15 a.m. One-hour detentions are served on Tuesdays at 4:00 p.m. Three detentions within a period of 6 to 8 weeks will result in a one-day suspension. If a student arrives more than 5 minutes late for the scheduled detention, it will be rescheduled to the following detention day. Missed detentions without prior arrangements will result in a double detention.

Consequences for student misbehaviour will depend on factors including, but not limited to:

The age of the student
The severity of the misbehaviour
The context of the misbehaviour
Earlier instances of the same or similar behaviours
Consequences imposed for previous misbehaviours
The safety of the student as well as other members of the Bialik community

Unacceptable Behaviours
Behaviours that are unacceptable at Bialik, and that are subject to the consequences outlined above, include:

Verbal Aggression. This includes, but is not limited to, teasing, threatening, profanity, and anh other disrespectful speech directed at a child, teacher, administrator, or any other staff member.
Physical Aggression. This includes, but is not limited to, any action (hitting, kicking, pushing, spitting, etc.) that hurts, is intended to hurt, or that threatens to hurt, another person.
Vandalism. Any action that damages or defaces school property, or the property of anyone in the school community.
Theft. The taking of school or another individual’s property.
Bullying. All forms of bullying are unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Bialik defines bullying as follows:
- Bullying is the use of physical strength or aggression, language or status, to intimidate, inure or humiliate another person of perceived lesser strength or status. Bullying may be distinguished from other forms of peer aggression or conflict in the following ways:
  - Bullying usually involves a power imbalance (physical or social) between the bully and the victim
  - Bullying is usually repeated over time
  - Bullying usually creates a sense of being injured or intimidated on the part of the victim
  - Bullies often gain a sense of satisfaction, enjoyment or power from their actions
- Bullying can be categorized as physical, verbal, social, or “cyber”:
  - Physical bullying involves physical injury or threat of injury;
  - Verbal bullying involves teasing or insulting;
  - Social bullying involves the use of peer rejection or exclusion;
  - Cyber bullying involves the use of computers, email, or phone or text messages to hurt, humiliate, or threaten.
  - Bullying can involve elements from more than one category.

Certain behaviours cannot be tolerated at Bialik, and will merit automatic suspension and, at the school’s discretion, expulsion. These behaviours include, but are not limited to:

Possession, use, or sale of cigarettes, alcohol, or illegal drugs; being under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs
Possession of weapons, lighters, matches, or lasers of any kind. (While lasers may appear to be part of regular “office supplies”, they are in fact potentially dangerous, particularly when misused and shone in the eyes.)
Robbery
Sexual assault

Bialik will respond to all of these behaviours – those for which consequences are discretionary as well as those that merit automatic suspension – if they occur at school or at school-related activities.

Suspension and Expulsion
In cases of severe and/or repeated student misbehaviour that is detrimental to the educational process of the student and/or other students, in accordance with the Education Act of Ontario, Bialik will impose suspension and/or expulsion.

When suspension or expulsion is imposed, the school administration will provide written notice to the student’s parents. This notice will include the reason for, and duration of, the suspension.

PEACEMAKERS
Positive social interaction is extended into the playground during recess through the peacemaker program. Students from grade 5 are trained as peacemakers and help students to resolve conflicts in a non-judgmental, unbiased manner according to a specific process. Peacemakers also help to supervise the Recess Buddies program.