DALTON, Mass. — Central Berkshire Regional School District is shifting the way it addresses student offenses.

 

It will focus on restorative practices and away from exclusionary action, Assistant Superintendent Michael Henault told the School Committee at its last meeting.

 

The implementation of a more consistent code of conduct was recommended to the district following an equity audit so that there are more accountable interventions and expectations.

 

"We want everybody to feel like they're being treated fairly in all circumstances and this specifically is around discipline," Superintendent Leslie Blake-Davis said. 

 

The document focuses on not only being fair but also on accountable consequences and accountable interventions being consistent across the middle and high schools, 

 

This new code of conduct has not been implemented in the elementary schools yet, but the district is working toward that. 

 

"This will be used by our administrators to run student meetings at the beginning of the year so they're on the same page and so they understand the expectations in each building and the consequences that come from having behavioral infractions or not meeting those expectations," Henault said. 

 

He will also be meeting bimonthly with the individuals and administrators that handle disciplinary issues to continue to improve the document. 

 

A big component is ensuring that the schools have systems in place to support students who are not meeting behavioral expectations, Henault said. 

 

The district has built autonomy into the document so that administrators can discipline based on the circumstances of the incident but limit consequences they can choose from to make the responses more consistent, he said.

 

Historically, the vice principal at one school may have a different interpretation on how an incident should be disciplined than another school’s vice principal.

 

"There were really no guardrails around how the rule could be interpreted and so that might result in an out-of-school suspension for one student and detention for another," Henault said. 

 

The new code installs guardrails around these offenses, especially for minor infractions, so that the district is less reliant on suspensions. 

 

The first intervention level does not have any exclusionary practices and there are very few in the second level. 

 

Rather these infractions will be addressed with restorative practices or direct student support, like classes, interventions, and counseling before moving to suspension.

 

"We know suspension doesn't work, but suspension is also there for the safety of our students. So we keep suspension there, but hopefully rely on it less for minor infractions over time," Henault said. 

 

School Committee member Art Albert complimented the work done to create this new code of conduct that focuses on restorative intervention. 

 

"I know, as you know, suspension doesn't work. It's not an answer to anything and the more you do restorative, the more you're keeping kids in class. I'm curious, I'm excited about it, and I'm anxious to see how this goes after a year," Albert said. 

 

During the last School Committee meeting a parent and community leader called out the district for how it handles the safety and wellness of students and urged them to have the data externally audited.  

 

The committee addressed these concerns during a nearly 90 minute-long discussion during which they talked about the code of conduct. 

 

In addition to that, Blake-Davis and Henault spoke in depth on how student offenses are reported internally and to the state in addition to how offenses are addressed.  

 

The state requires that both allegations and findings of bullying are reported, Blake-Davis said. It's difficult because the district does report these findings but the state's definition of bullying is very specific. 

 

An incident that may be considered bullying to some may be reported under another category, like physical fighting or non-violent offenses. 

 

According to the presentation the state required the district to report on these nine categories: harassment (nonsexual), obscene behavior, other criminal offenses, other non-criminal offenses, theft, threat or intimidation resulting in fear or harm, tobacco, vandalism, and weapons possession. 

 

Bullying and other nonsexual harassment falls under the category "harassment: nonsexual," incidents including disorderly conduct, fighting, insubordination, minor physical altercation, and violation of school rules fall under the other non-criminal offenses category. 

 

The total number of all the student offenses was 212 incidents, which is a slight uptick from last year's 181. 

 

Of these offenses, a majority of them fell under the non-criminal offenses category, which had more than 75 incidents. The second and third highest categories reported were obscene behavior and tobacco. 

 

The district had 20 bullying allegations, Blake-Davis said. Of the 20, there were five findings of bullying. 

 

Although there has been an uptick in student offenses, statistically the district is below below the nationally increase in post-covid student offenses, Henault said. 

 

The district does keep track of and report allegations of bullying to the state but the state does not make that data available publicly, Blake-Davis said.

 

Heneault said the district is interpreting the bullying law and applying the standard the same way as other districts of similar sizes. 

 

When a report of bullying is made the school investigates the incident by interviewing staff and students and collecting witness statements. 

 

Using the information gathered they make determination and contact the parents or caregivers of the outcome. The complete investigation is also uploaded to PowerSchool, the district's software.

 

"We always, irregardless of our finding, if we think that there's any reasonable doubt around safety for any of the individuals involved we put a safe plan in place," Blake-Davis said.

 

"So the safe plan actually occurs prior to the investigation. If we are concerned for our students, if we're concerned for where they are in their settings, we make sure they have a safe plan in place."