4213 - STUDENT SUPERVISION AND WELFARE

Metropolitan School District of Decatur Township

Bylaws & Policies

4213 - STUDENT SUPERVISION AND WELFARE

Educational support personnel members shall maintain a standard of care for the supervision, control, and protection of students commensurate with 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.	Each educational support personnel member shall report immediately to a building administrator any accident, safety hazard, or other potentially harmful condition or situation s/he detects.
	B.	Each educational support personnel member shall immediately report to a building administrator any knowledge of threats of violence by students.
	C.	An educational support personnel member shall not send students on any personal errands.
	D.	An educational support personnel 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.
	E.	An educational support personnel member shall not transport students in a private vehicle without the approval of a building administrator.
	F.	A student shall not be required to perform work or services that may be detrimental to his/her health.
	G.	If a student approaches an educational support personnel 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 educational support personnel 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 an educational support personnel 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 educational support personnel member inappropriately disclose personally identifiable information concerning the student to third persons not specifically authorized by law.
	H.	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.
	I.	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, alleged child abuse, and any other record information.

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