Yoakum Junior High Handbook

Section VII: Disciplinary Information

Campus Discipline Person
Saturday School for Behavior
Dress Code
Disruption of Classes
Disruption of Lawful Assembly
Publications
Prior Review
Secret Societies
Miscellaneous
Students taken into custody
Notification of Law Violations

1. Campus Discipline Person

The campus discipline person(s) on each campus shall be the Asst. Principal and Principal. Duties shall include the authority to:

1. Assess and implement the campus discipline management program.
2. Remove a student from campus for compelling non-disciplinary reasons or pending a hearing.
3. Remove students to alternative education programs.

The Principal or Central Office Administrators are authorized to serve as the district’s hearing officer and have the authority to conduct hearings and to expel students. The Superintendent must be advised immediately of any scheduled hearing. The Superintendent shall advise the President of the School Board in each case where expulsion or Home-Based Instruction could be assessed.

2. Saturday Detention for Behavior

1. Held in one location at the Jr. High School
2. From 8:00 am to 4:00 pm
3. Students can bring a sack lunch and money for a drink from the soda machines.
4. Any student who cannot follow Saturday Detention Rules will be escorted home by the police and charges of not following normal school routine, disorderly conduct and/or truancy charges will be considered. These charges would be considered to drop if the parent attends Saturday School with the child for the next Saturday.

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3. Dress Code

1. Each student is expected to have an appearance that does not take away from the education/learning process. Dress and grooming that is not considered reasonable in standards of health, safety, modesty, and decency will not be allowed. School administrators reserve the right to make judgment concerning the appropriateness of dress and grooming when necessary.
2. Students who repeatedly disregard rules on grooming or dress are guilty of insubordination and will be subject to disciplinary action. (SEE FO, FOA, FOD).
3. Clothing containing tobacco, drug, or alcohol advertisements, or obscene, profane or suggestive wording or anything deemed inappropriate or associated with gangs is not allowed.
4. Shoes must be worn. Shoes must be free of steel taps. Flip-flops are unsafe and will not be worn. No see-through garments are permissible. Muscle shirts, blouses, and all other shirts without sleeves are unacceptable. The body area between the blouse or shirt and skirt or pants must not be exposed. All shirts are to be worn inside pants or skirt and buttoned appropriately. Sunglasses will not be worn inside school buildings unless prescribed by a physician or optometrist. Flannels or other jackets can only be worn on cold weather days.
5. Hats and caps will not be worn at school. Long jewelry chains or long key chains will not be permitted.
6. Leotards, skin tight pants, or sagging pants are not allowed. No over-sized clothing from any brand name. Dresses or blouses shall be no lower in the back than the bottom of the armpit. Proper undergarments must be worn.
7. Walking shorts and skirts will be allowed. However, only if they reach below the person’s fingertips when standing straight with arms at side and fingers flat against the side of the body. Student cannot wear cut off blue jeans, skin tight shorts, biking or wind shorts, or shorts with patches. Pants and shorts with holes may not be worn. Pants, shorts, and skirts must be hemmed and not frayed. No undergarments longer than the outer garment will be allowed. Remember, this is a privilege that students are being given, and as such, may be disallowed if abused.
8. Sideburns should be neatly trimmed and should not extend below the ear. Boys must be clean shaven. Freakish or grotesque hairstyles are not acceptable. Hair should not cover the eyebrows, and should not extend beyond a conventional shirt collar. The hair on the side may cover the ear to the bottom of the ear lobe, but must be trimmed and neat. A shirt must be buttoned to within one button of the throat. Tee shirts can be worn provided they have sleeves and are outside garments, not undershirt type.
9. Earrings worn by girls will only be permitted on the bottom lobe of the ear. No earrings, which includes temporary posts, will be worn by boys. Grills are not permitted. Contacts should be worn for vision only, not to attract attention.
10. If the assistant principal/principal determines that a student’s grooming violates the dress code, the student shall be given an opportunity to correct the problem at school. A student whose clothing violates the dress code shall be assigned to in-school suspension either for the remainder of the day or until a parent or designee brings an acceptable change of clothing to the school. Repeated offenses may result in more serious disciplinary action. Appropriate discipline procedures shall be followed in all cases.
11. The principal, in cooperation with the sponsor, coach, or other person in charge of extracurricular activity, may regulate the dress and grooming of students who participate in the activity. Extracurricular activities may require stricter standards for personal hygiene and dress. Students who violate these standards may be removed or excluded from the activity for a period determined by the principal or sponsor and may be subject to other disciplinary action.

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4. Disruption of Classes:

For purposes of this rule, “school property” includes the public school campuses or school grounds upon which any public school is located and any grounds or buildings used by district schools for assemblies or other school-related activities, and “public property” includes any street, highway, alley, public park, or sidewalk.

No student shall be permitted on school property or on public property within 500 feet of school property, to willfully disrupt, alone or in concert with others, the conduct of classes or other school activities of a school including:

1. Emissions by any means of noise of an intensity that prevents or hinders classroom instruction.
2. Enticement or attempted enticement of students away from classes or other school activities that students are required to attend.
3. Prevention or attempted prevention of students from attending classes or other school activities that students are required to attend.
4. Entrance into a classroom without consent of either the principal or teacher and either through acts of misconduct and/or use of loud or profane language causing disruption of class activities.
   Students may be filed on in a court of law if these offenses occur.

5. Disruption of Lawful Assembly:

No student or group of students acting in concert may wilfully engage in disruptive activity or disrupt a lawful assembly on the campus or property of any school in the district. Disruptive activity means:

1. Obstructing or restraining the passage of persons in an exit, entrance, or hallway of any building without the authorization of the administration of the school.
2. Seizing control of any building or portion of a building for the purpose of interfering with any administrative, educational, research, or other authorized activity.
3. Preventing or attempting to prevent by force or violence or the threat of violence any lawful assembly authorized by the school administration.
4. Disrupting by force or violence or the threat of force or violence a lawful assembly in progress.
5. Obstructing or restraining the passage of any person at an exit or entrance to said campus of property or preventing or attempting to prevent by force or violence or by threats thereof the entrance or exit of any person to or from said property or campus without the authorization of the administration of the school.

A lawful assembly is disrupted when any person in attendance is rendered incapable of participating in the assembly due to the use of force or violence or due to a reasonable fear that force or violence is likely to occur.

Conduct by students, either in or out of class, that for any reason---whether because of time, place, or manner of behavior---materially disrupts class work or involves substantial disorder or invasion of the rights of other students or employees at school-related activities is prohibited.

Student demonstrations and similar activities shall be prohibited when there is evidence that may reasonably lead school authorities to forecast substantial disruption of, or material interference with, normal school operations or approved school activities.

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6. Publications

Distribution of written materials may be restricted, subject to the following guidelines:

1. Distribution may be limited in order to prevent material and substantial interference with normal school operations in circumstances where there is evidence that reasonably supports a forecast that disruption will likely result directly from the distribution.
2. Reasonable administrative regulations as to the time, place, and manner of distribution may be prescribed to promote orderly administration of school activities by preventing disruption, but shall not be designed to stifle expression.
3. Content of the materials to be distributed shall conform to the following standards:
   1. Materials that are sexually inappropriate for the age and maturity of the audience or that endorse actions endangering the health and safety of students shall not be distributed.
   2. Material may not be forbidden if the portions or specific language objected to may also be found in material that is made available to students through school facilities, I.E., the school library or readings assigned by teachers.
   3. Libelous material may be prohibited from distribution. Publications that criticize board members or school officials or advocate violation of school rules may be prohibited when there is evidence that reasonably supports a forecast that material and substantial disruption of normal school operations will result from the publication. Advocacy directed toward inciting or producing imminent lawless or disruptive actions and that is likely to incite or produce such action shall be restricted.
   4. Hate literature that scurrilously attacks ethnic, religious, or racial groups, and similar irresponsible publications aimed at creating hostility and violence may be banned. Only material that could reasonable support a forecast of material and substantial disruption of normal school operations is affected by this restriction.

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7. Prior Review

All student publications and other written material intended for distribution to students shall be submitted for prior review according to the following procedures:

1. Material shall be submitted to the building principal or a designee for review.
2. The principal or a designee shall approve or disapprove submitted material within twenty-four hours of the time the material is received. Failure to act within the twenty-four hour period shall be interpreted as disapproval.
3. The student may appeal disapproval to the superintendent, who shall decide the appeal within three days of its receipt. Failure of the superintendent to act within the three-day period shall be interpreted as disapproval.
4. The student may appeal disapproval by the superintendent to the board. The student shall notify the superintendent of the appeal and request the matter by placed on the agenda for the next board meeting. At that board meeting, the student shall be given a reasonable period of time to present his viewpoint.

8. Secret Societies:

Students shall not become members or promise to become members of any organization composed wholly or in part of students of public schools below the rank of college or junior college which seeks to perpetuate itself by taking in additional members from the students enrolled in such school on the basis of the decision of its membership, rather than upon the free choice of any student in the school, who is qualified under the rules of the school, to fill the special aims of the organization.

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9. Miscellaneous:

Students at school or school-related activities are prohibited from:

1. Cheating or copying work of another student.
2. Throwing objects, outside supervised school activities, that can cause bodily injury or damage property.
3. Leaving school grounds or events without permission.
4. Directing profanity, vulgar language, or obscene gestures toward other students.
5. Insubordination, including failure to comply with lawful directives from school personnel or school policies, rules, and regulation.
6. Exhibiting disrespect or directing profanity, vulgar language, or obscene gestures toward teachers or other school employees.
7. Committing arson. (fire)
8. Committing robbery or theft.
9. Damaging or vandalizing property owned by other students or district employees.
10. Engaging in misconduct, as defined by district policies and regulations, on school buses.
11. Fighting.
12. Committing extortion, coercion, or blackmail, I.E., obtaining money or other object of value from an unwilling person, or forcing an individual to act through the use of force or threat of force.
13. Engaging in verbal abuse, I.E., name-calling, ethnic or racial slurs, or derogatory statements addressed publicly to others, that may precipitate substantial disruption of the school program or incite violence.
14. Engaging in inappropriate sexual contact disruptive to other students or the school environment.
15. Engaging in any other conduct that disrupts the school environment or educational process.
16. Bringing laser pointers or magnets to school.
17. Bringing or riding skateboards on school premises.

CHARGES WILL BE FILED ONSTUDENTS WHO DO NOT FOLLOW ALL OF THE RULES AT SCHOOL OR SCHOOL RELATED ACTIVITIES.

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10. Students taken into custody

State law requires the District to permit a student to be taken into legal custody:

• To comply with an order of the juvenile court.
• To comply with the laws of arrest.
• By a law enforcement officer if there is probable cause to believe the student has engaged in delinquent conduct or conduct in need of supervision.
• By a probation officer if there is probable cause to believe the student has violated a condition of probation imposed by the juvenile court.
• To comply with a properly issued directive to take a student into custody.
• By an authorized representative of Child Protective Services, Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, a law enforcement officer, or a juvenile probation officer, without a court order, under the conditions set out in the Family Code relating to the student’s physical health or safety.

Before a student is released to a law enforcement officer or other legally authorized person, the principal will verify the officer’s identity and, to the best of his or her ability, will verify the official’s authority to take custody of the student.

The principal will immediately notify the Superintendent and will ordinarily attempt to notify the parent unless the officer or other authorized person raises what the principal considers to be a valid objection to notifying the parents. Because the principal does not have the authority to prevent or delay a custody action, notification will most likely be after the fact.

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Notification of Law Violations

The District is also required by state law to notify:

• All instructional and support personnel who have responsibility for supervising a student who has been arrested or referred to the juvenile court for any felony offense or for certain misdemeanors.
• All instructional and support personnel who have regular contact with a student who has been convicted or adjudicated of delinquent conduct for any felony offense or certain misdemeanors.

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