|
Bias-Free School Plan
To provide students, teachers, school staff, and concerned parents and members of the community a process to help ensure their campus remains bias-free. Bigotry is insidious in that it can start out from simply the desire of a group of
friends to ''hang out'' together or from some friendly competition among students. It can also be invisible to those who practice it whether it be staff or students. the teachers who call on students that
give the answers they are looking for, or who allow students to remain in isolated clusters by be inadvertently perpetuating bias in their classes. Most often administrators, teachers and students do not perceive
bias on the campus because they have not learned to look for it. Frequently it is only the students or faculty who are the targets of bigotry who are aware of it, because they have learned to recognize it to
avoid harm to themselves.
The Bias-free School Plan includes the formation of a school human relations group to identify signs of bias or areas where bias might become a problem in the
school. The Principal should work with administrators and faculty, classified staff, interested parents and local community residents, and students representatives to create a School Human Relations Committee.
- The Committee will meet within 2 weeks of the opening of the Spring semesters and once during the Summer Recess
- The Agenda of the meeting will include a review of:
- Activities taken to ensure a bias-free campus;
- Demographic trends in the composition of certificated and classified staff and students by: sex, race, ethnicity and other characteristics determined relevant by the Committee at its prior meeting;
- Disparities in the participation of students in school activities including, but not limited to:
- sport teams and cheer leaders;
- dances and other social events;
- campus clubs and societies (including honor societies);
- disparities in the use of school facilities;
- Patterns or trends in the number of reported incidents aimed at intimidating or demeaning individuals or groups having different identities on campus and in the community;
- The segregation of people sharing a common identity in particular areas of the campus or dining areas to the extent that people of different identities feel intimidated if they access those areas;
- Reports on the use of graffiti, posters or other activities designed to intimidate or demean students, teachers or people in the school community because of who their identity.
- The meeting will culminate in the formulation of recommended activities designed to promote the maintenance of a bias-free campus.
To provide procedures for ensuring that new students transition into the school without being subjected to bias; New students, particularly those whose language, race, ethnicity, or
appearance is different from that of the majority of the students, are frequently targets for bias-related activity because they are isolated and vulnerable. The Bias-Free School Plan ensures that new students are
assisted in developing new friends among the student body and are provided with individual help to cope with school procedures by creating a Network of Advocates composed of staff and students who reflect the diversity
of the school's cultures and languages.
- School administrators, counselors, team coaches, sponsors of school clubs and activities, are responsible for providing orientation to members of the Network of Advocates during the summer or at the conclusion
of the spring semester. Community organizations who are available to provide resources for students and their families should be invited to participate. Orientation should provide members
of the Network of Advocates knowledge about:
- school registration procedures;
- forms and other information required by the school;
- extracurricular activities available for students;
- resources in the community to assist students and their families with special problems
- Each new student should be assigned a teacher and a student advocate for their first semester. Whenever possible new students should be provided with advocates who are able to communicate with them in
their primary language.
- Advocates should be responsible for ensuring that the student:
- develops friendships with students;
- successfully navigates the procedures necessary for enrolling in school; and
- can pursue schoolwork unhampered by bias or unresolved personal or family problems
To ensure that incidents of bigotry involving staff or students on or off campus are identified and responded to appropriately. In a bias-free school bigotry is an undesirable behavior and
the response to it is properly integrated into conflict resolution programs and student and staff disciplinary procedures that are already used to respond to other undesired behaviors.
The
primary difficulty in responding to bias-related incidents is knowing when they occur because of the hesitancy of students and staff to report them. Staff and students frequently fear that they will be ostracized
for complaining; that they may be a victim of retaliation; or that they will be teased or made to feel uncomfortable by drawing attention to themselves. The announcement of the Bias-Free School Plan and its
publication in the community served by the school with a proclamation of the commitment by school administrators to make it work should help overcome the problem of under-reporting by creating a supportive atmosphere
for ''blowing the whistle'' on bigotry. Reporting will also be encouraged by providing several available avenues for victims or witnesses of bias-related incidents to make reports and by maintaining some semblance
of confidentiality.
The Bias-Free School Plan response procedures incorporate the use of a school conflict resolution program that utilizes students as participants. The Community
Boards Programs of San Francisco first designed school conflict resolution programs over a decade ago. These programs are internationally acclaimed and have been adopted by numerous schools throughout the
world. This Plan assumes a student conflict resolution program has been adopted and will be used to respond to bias-related incidents perpetrated against students when an alternative to administrative disciplinary
procedures is appropriate.
Procedures for reporting bias-related incidents should be provided to all staff and students and included within the materials sent to parents and guardians at the
beginning of the school year.
- Members of the Network of Advocates, Human Relations Committee, Counselors, Teachers, Administrators, Classified Staff as well as members of the conflict resolution team should be responsible for accepting
reports of bias-related incidents.
- Reports of bias-related incident should be transmitted to a designated administrator unless a request for confidentiality has been made by a student victim, in which case the report may be transmitted to a
member of the conflict resolution team.
- When the administrator designated for applying disciplinary action receives a complaint of a bias-related incident the normal procedures for maintaining confidentiality will be followed. When the
perpetrator is known the report can be referred to the Conflict Resolution Team or appropriate disciplinary action can be taken. However, in any case where the identity of a student perpetrator of a
bias-related incident becomes known to the administrator the parent or guardian of the student will be notified by the principal. At least one purpose of the call should be to promote the awareness of the
parent or guardian of the Bias-Free School Program and to make them aware that bigotry is not tolerated on the campus.
- When appropriate the administrator will provide the victims and friends of a bias-related incident and / or their family with a list of resources in the community to provide them with emotional support and meet
their immediate needs.
- The administrator should provide data to the Human Relations Committee that identifies the nature and type of bias-related incidents that occur through the school year. The information should not include
any information pertaining to the names of the people involved in the incident.
- When the Conflict Resolution Team receives a report of a bias-related incident involving students and a decision is made to employ efforts to conciliate or mediate the conflict the Team will attempt to resolve
the dispute using its established procedures. Records indicating the nature and type of bias-related incidents that occur through the school year should be transmitted to the Human Relations
Committee. The information should not include any information pertaining to the names of the students involved in the incident.
The adoption of a Bias-Free School Plan is an important step towards ensuring a reduction of bigotry but it is unrealistic to expect a guarantee that serious incidents of hate violence will
never occur. School administrators should develop plans based on the contingency that an incident might occur that would require a special response beyond that provided for in the Bias-Free School Plan. Some
of the elements of the plan should include provisions for
- Utilizing the Human Relations Committee and Conflict Resolution Team to defuse tensions
- Making use of parents and community resources to help ease tensions
- Controlling the spread of rumors by:
- providing continuous updates on events and school responses to faculty and classified staff for communication to students
- providing classified staff who routinely answer the phone with prepared statements on the status of the situation.
- assigning responsibility for responding to requests for public statements to staff who are knowledgeable about working with the media
- Working in cooperation and in close communication with law enforcement so that lines of responsibility are clear and efforts are made to prevent an escalation of tension.
- Maintaining close communication with the district and delineating areas of responsibility.
The adoption of a Bias-Free School Plan is designed to prevent bias-related incidents and avoid the necessity for ever having to employ a contingency plan. The responsive school
administrator who recognizes that the changing demography of the community requires the use of new tools will benefit by acquiring the tools and preparing for any contingencies. |
