Mechanicsburg Exempted Village School District
Bylaws & Policies
 

3213 - STUDENT SUPERVISION AND WELFARE

Professional staff members shall maintain a standard of care for the supervision, control, and protection of students commensurate with their assigned duties and responsibilities and are expected to establish and maintain professional staff/student boundaries that are consistent with their legal, professional and ethical duty of care for students.

The Superintendent shall maintain and enforce the following standards:

 A.A professional staff member shall report immediately to a building administrator any accident, safety hazard, or other potentially harmful condition or situation s/he detects.

 B.A professional staff member shall provide proper instruction in safety matters as presented in assigned course guides.

 C.Each professional staff member shall immediately report to a building administrator knowledge of threats of violence by students.

 D.A professional staff member shall not send students on any personal errands.

 E.A professional staff member shall not associate or fraternize with students at any time in a manner that may give the appearance of impropriety, including, but not limited to, the creation or participation in any situation or activity that could be considered abusive or sexually suggestive or involve harmful substances such as illegal drugs, alcohol or tobacco. Any sexual or other inappropriate conduct with a student by any staff member will subject the offender to potential criminal prosecution and disciplinary action by the Board up to and including termination of employment.

 F.If a student approaches a staff member to seek advice or to ask questions regarding a personal problem related to sexual behavior, substance abuse, mental or physical health, and/or family relationships, etc., the staff member may attempt to assist the student by facilitating contact with certified or licensed individuals in the District or community who specialize in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of the student's stated problem. However, under no circumstances should a staff member attempt, unless properly licensed and authorized to do so, to counsel, assess, diagnose, or treat the student's problem or behavior, nor should such staff member inappropriately disclose personally identifiable information concerning the student to third persons not specifically authorized by law.

 G.A professional staff member shall not transport students in a private vehicle without the approval of the principal.

 H.A student shall not be required to perform work or services that may be detrimental to his/her health.

 I.Staff members shall only engage in electronic communication with students via email, texting, social media and/or online networking media, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, Skype, blogs, etc., when such communication is directly related to curricular matters or co-curricular/extracurricular events or activities with prior approval of the principal.

 J.Staff members are prohibited from electronically transmitting any personally identifiable image of a student(s), including video, photographs, streaming video, etc. via email, text message, or through the use of social media and/or online networking media, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, Skype, blogs, etc., unless such transmission has been made as part of a pre-approved curricular matter or co-curricular/extracurricular event or activity such as a school-sponsored publication or production in accordance with Policy 5722.

Since most information concerning a child in school other than directory information described in Policy 8330, is confidential under Federal and State laws, any staff member who shares confidential information with another person not authorized to receive the information may be subject to discipline and/or civil liability. This includes, but is not limited to, information concerning assessments, grades, behavior, family background, and alleged child abuse.

Pursuant to the laws of the State and Board Policy 8462, each professional staff member shall report to the proper legal authorities immediately, any sign of suspected child abuse or neglect.

R.C. 2907.03

Revised 4/11/11