BOARD POLICY - 5145.1
A prime goal of the Irvine Unified School District is to assist students in developing a high degree of self-direction and personal responsibility. A major task of the professional staff will be to maintain an educational climate and program supportive of this goal.
It is assumed that responsibility and self-direction are learned developmentally, and that with increasing age, students have the capacity to assume larger responsibility for management of their own affairs and their relationships with other people. The caliber of the professional support and the quality and relevance of the instructional program have a key bearing on this development. The principal and the professional staff of each school will have a prime responsibility for developing such a climate and program. The district shall provide specialized resources to assist students in the development of these qualities and in the resolution of individual and group problems.
Students develop self-direction and responsibility at different rates and to different degrees. Therefore, it is recognized that in individual situations such development may not be sufficient to prevent individuals from interfering with the rights of others, or from behaving in ways outside the agreed limits. In these cases it is assumed that the school staff will proceed on the following assumptions:
- Meaningful assistance to the student is of primary importance.
- Early and continued parent involvement is vital.
- Continued attendance in school is important in most instances.
- The total staff has a role to play in the resolution of behavioral problems and should be called upon to participate.
- Problems do exist that are beyond the immediate resource of the school to solve. In those cases, the principal of the school, having fully utilized other options, is authorized to take those steps deemed necessary to protect the rights and safety of the other students and to bring about the involvement of outside resources or agencies to assist in resolving the student's problem.
In most cases where students are unable to accept their responsibilities, there is fundamental causation. It is the responsibility of the staff to seek out the cause and, wherever possible, to initiate action to eliminate it.
Policy Adopted: November 12, 1973