Leslie Sosa

June 23, 2018

EDL 650

Key Assessment Part 3: Policy Proposal

Problem in Many Schools, including Pathways:

A number of students are missing class (partially or fully) even though they are in the building.

What are the issues?

Secondary schools are quite different from elementary schools, where students are with

one teacher for most of the day and move from class to class with the whole group, accompanied

by a teacher. In high schools, particularly, with increased student freedoms and independence

come challenges in attendance and the amount of time students spend out of the classroom,

missing valuable instructional time.

The number of students who are not in class for a considerable amount of time may not

be reflected in attendance data. For example, a student comes to class on time, gets permission to

go to his or her locker, and doesn’t make it back to class for twenty minutes. This student was

technically not tardy and not absent yet may have missed a whole lesson. Cases such as this

happen all the time, resulting in sudents’ interruption of the educational process as well as

preventing proper interventions to be made for such students. The reasons students miss

instructional time during class may be due to an array of circumstances. Nonetheless, students

who are in the building are expected to report to every class on time and stay actively engaged in

challenging, rigorous learning activities in order to maintain a culture where an orderly, safe

environment are valued and promoted for student academic achievement and well-being.
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Associated Laws and Regulations

Schools are deemed to be a safe place where children attend to learn and succeed in order

to have opportunities for a brighter future. In school, “educators have been assigned three legal

duties by the courts under in loco parentis (in place of parents)--to instruct, supervise, and

provide for the safety of students” (Essex, 2016). Parents put their trust in educators that the

school is a safe place for their children and there have been cases in the courts where the rulings

re-enforce these duties. For example, in Hosemann v. Oakland Unified School District (1989),

the judge ruled that “Oakland public schools have an affirmative duty to alleviate crime and

violence on school campuses” (Essex, 2016). In the Doe v. Taylor case (1994) in Texas, the

courts held that administration should know of hazards to students while in school. Students who

are present in school should be there to learn, not to miss class and cause trouble or be victims of

harm.

Hartford Public Schools’ attendance policy is based on the Connecticut General Statutes

§10-220, §10-184, §10-186 and §10-198a, in which is stated that school attendance is a state law

requirement. Conn. Gen. Stat. §10-198a defines truant as “a child age five to eighteen, inclusive,

who is enrolled in a public or private school and has four or more unexcused absences from

school in any one month or ten unexcused absences from school in any school year” (Mooney,

2012). However, as stated before, loss of instructional time by students who are in the building

but not in class does not fit into the definition of truant and is a problem that needs to be

addressed in our school.

The Proposed Policy Change:

The Hartford Board of Education (HBOE) has a document titled “Behavioral Systems

and Supports Guide: Code of Conduct” that outlines many of the policies that should be used for
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different student behaviors that affect the learning environment, including but not limited to

absences and student discipline and consequences leading to removal from class. “This

document lists the various incident types, suggests a restorative response, and, only if

unavoidable, consequences that would remove the student from the classroom environment”

(HBOE, 2016). It lays the groundwork for Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports

(PBIS), and outlines tier one, tier two, and tier three behaviors and interventions for discipline

issues.

According to the Code of Conduct, tier one offenses are “not the malicious or dangerous

types of behavior deserving consequences by harsher measures” (2016). Examples of these

behaviors would include disruptive behavior in class, leaving the class without permission, being

in unauthorized areas, and attendance violations--all part of the problem addressed in this

proposal. Although a first-time violation in the Code of Conduct document is not grounds for

suspension in Hartford Public Schools, the HBOE outlines that repeated behaviors will receive

progressive discipline.

Another facet of the problem is that not all staff are fully aware of the policies outlined in

the Code of Conduct document and follow-through is not always enforced, leading to lack of

coherency and inconsistency in implementation. Therefore, the following procedures are

proposed:

Professional Development

PD to familiarize all staff of district’s Behavioral Systems and Supports, specifically on

PBIS tiered interventions for students who miss class time frequently or are removed from class

frequently due to disruption of the learning environment. Lewis’ “17 Classroom Management

Strategies that Should be Emphasized in Every Classroom” is a document that not only lists the
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strategies but provides examples of each strategy that would be a tier one intervention under the

PBIS (2018). Some examples of these strategies would include the use of positive interactions

with students and efficient classroom routines and transitions along with student engagement

during lessons in order to create a positive classroom environment so that students will feel safe

in the classroom and want to stay in class, decreasing problem behaviors and time spent out of

the classrooms. If every classroom in the school succeeds in making students feel safe to learn

and succeed, the school climate as a whole will be more positive.

Pass Restriction

As part of tier one interventions in terms of PBIS, as related to the amount of time

students spend out of class the following policy is proposed: Teachers are to limit passes given

and monitor the time spent outside of class, using a pass log to document the amount of time

students spend out of the classroom. If hall pass privileges are abused, teachers should follow

through with classroom-level consequences. In order to constitute this policy, in the beginning of

the year, staff can discuss a reasonable expectation for the number of passes each student can

receive per semester as well as possible penalties for students who need a pass after they have

run out of passes for that class. This would set a uniform procedure throughout the building and

encourage student responsibility. For example, a student receives X number of passes in each

class for the semester, and once the student runs out of passes, if he or she needs to leave the

room to use the restroom or to go to their locker, that student will have a penalty as determined

by the teachers in the beginning of the year. When a student demonstrates a pattern of missing

class time, including but not limited to abusing pass privileges, tardiness to class, removal class

due to discipline violations, skipping class, chronic absenteeism, and/or truancy, that student
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should be referred to administration for tier two and three interventions under PBIS, as outlined

in the HBOE Code of Conduct document.

Tier two and three interventions are considered serious under the district’s Code of

Conduct, and they also are more likely to result in student removal from class and school.

Therefore, administrator discretion is allowed, and each situation is to be looked at on a case-by-

case basis, with careful consideration to uphold equity and the integrity of the discipline policy.

Appendix 1 is an image from the HBOE Code of Conduct and it shows examples of tier one and

tier two offenses, responses, and additional consequences for repeated behaviors.

Increased Communication and Follow-Through

In order for the proposed policy to be effective, there should be systems in the school

where collaboration and communication are the norm. Teachers will maintain student

intervention data per the PBIS systems. Then, teachers will share and discuss student behaviors

in bi-weekly grade team meetings, identifying students of concern to refer to administration for

further interventions. This will be an ongoing process throughout the school year so that students

no longer fly under the radar. Administrators will follow through with the appropriate

consequences on a case by case basis, as outlined in the Code of Conduct document, as well as

communicate with parents and teachers. Discipline data will be shared with all stakeholders as

necessary per administrator discretion in order to maintain transparency.

Policy Execution and Roll-out

In order to implement PBIS, the school needs to have a coach train the staff. UCONN

offers PBIS training every year for the cost of $1200 per person. Administration, the behavioral

technician, and a teacher should receive this training in order to be able to train the remaining
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staff members. Staff will then communicate the new policies to students and parents and follow

the procedures with fidelity.

Impact on School Vision and Mission

The heart of our vision and mission is to empower all students to become socially and

personally responsible participants in society through project-based learning and to work as a

community that facilitates a positive learning environment. Poor attendance and lack of personal

responsibility displayed by missed time in class hinder habits that will enable students to be

successful in school and beyond. Through the proposed policy, students, teachers, parents, and

administration will be held responsible and accountable for maintaining a structure of order and

safety in the school so that the learning and achievement of students will remain the norm and

expectation schoolwide.

Measuring Policy Success

To measure policy success, students, parents, and staff would fill out a survey about

school attendance and the current procedures for issuance of passes, student behaviors that result

in removal from class, and attendance data. The goal would be to understand the perceptions of

all stakeholders on current policies and assess to what level the need for change is deemed by

all. Throughout the year, student pass log and tier one, tier two, and tier three interventions

would be used in teacher meetings bi-weekly to address problems as they rise up. Because this

would be the first year of the new proposed policy, at the end of the first year, this data would be

put together to be used as a baseline to set progress goals for the following year. Then, a second

survey would be administered, similar to the first survey in order to measure the growth in

mindset and perceptions of stakeholders within the first year of implementation.

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References

Behavioral Systems and Supports Guide of Conduct. (2016). [ebook] Hartford Board of

Education. Available at: https://www.pathwaystotechnology.com/uploaded/Adelle/

Freshmen_Pictures_Main_Page/PATD_Parent_and_Student_Handbook_2017-2018.pdf

[Accessed 23 Jun. 2018].

Essex, Nathan L. (2016). School law and the public schools : a practical guide for educational

leaders. Upper Saddle River, N. J. :Pearson Education,

Lewis, Timothy J. “Lewis Additional Resources.” PBIS, 1 Jan. 2018,

www.pbis.org/resource/192/classroom-checklists-effective-classroom-plan

environmental-inventory-checklist.

Mooney, T. B. (2012). A practical guide to Connecticut school law. Wethersfield, Conn:

Connecticut Association of Boards of Education.

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Appendix 1