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FRAMINGHAM – Framingham Public Schools plans to roll out a Code of Character & Conduct for the 2021-22 school year.
The goals of the Framingham Public Schools Code of Character, Conduct and Support, according to Superintendent Bob Tremblay are:
1. To clearly define rules and expectations to support good character and conduct for students, families, and staff;
2. To increase staff capacity and accountability to engage in effective practices that promote positive behaviors, prevent unskillful behavior, and intervene when students are struggling;
3. To implement accountable and restorative interventions that support every student’s social, emotional, and academic development;
4. To reduce overuse and disproportionate use of classroom discipline referrals, in-school suspension and out-of-school suspension; incidents of bullying, harassment, and discriminatory acts; and the drop-out rate;
5. To increase participation in all curricular programs and extracurricular activities for all subgroups and attendance in various subgroups; and
6. To increase the opportunities for school family partnerships.
“A Code is a critical resource that has the potential to bring all our stakeholders together to collaboratively align their efforts in support of each and every student in the district and our schools,” said Tremblay in an email to staff.
A thoughtfully crafted Code provides a “behavioral blueprint” that communicates, ‘this is how we do things around here’, said Tremblay.
The public school district began working on this project during the pandemic, starting in spring 2020.
In January 2021, a task force began crafting the language. Members of the task force included Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Inna London, Assistant Superintendent for Equity, Diversity and Community Development Joseph Corazzini, Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education Anne Ludes, and Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education Amy Bright.
Other members of the task force included Judith Styer, Director of Health & Wellness; Genoveffa Grieci, Director of Bilingual Education; Laura Spear, Director of Special Education, and Stacey Cugini, Assistant Director of Health & Wellness
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The Code would provide a “framework for a district and schools to continually revisit the decisions they make when students struggle academically, socially, behaviorally, and emotionally.”
SOURCE asked Tremblay a couple of questions about the Code.
SOURCE: What do you hope to accomplish with this code of conduct?
Supt. Tremblay: Students are at the heart of our work in Framingham Public Schools. The Code of Character, Conduct, and Support fosters the development of both student character and student conduct. The development of good character is essential to healthy development and responsible behavior, academic success in school today, and future success in college, career, and life. The Code promotes an accountable, restorative, and equitable approach to discipline and student support. It ensures that schools provide equal access to a wide range of strategies and interventions that promote positive behavior, help students develop self-awareness, self-management as well as social and academic efficacy, and enable students to improve and correct unskillful behaviors. Understanding them, in all of their complexities, is essential to supporting their social, emotional, and academic growth.
SOURCE: Why is this needed now?
Supt. Tremblay: Framingham Public School’s Code of Character, Conduct, and Support affirms the right of every student to an education in a safe, civil, and caring environment. It is based upon the laws, rules, and policies that create access to education for all while protecting the due process rights of the individual. The Code recognizes that schools are public places that must balance individual rights with civic obligations and the needs of others. The Framingham Code of Character, Conduct, and Support serves as a guide to good citizenship and provides the tools for helping the entire community to understand and appreciate the behaviors that are expected within the school culture.
We see our schools as centers for culturally responsive and developmentally informed learning where all students are educated to their fullest potential and as centers for our diverse community where we come together in support of education for everyone. The Code provides tools for ensuring all stakeholders understand and appreciate the expectations of behavior within the school community. It calls on school staff, students, and families to treat each other with the respect that we all deserve as partners in the all-important work of educating our children and young people.
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Tremblay said the Core has 6 parts, which he explained below:
1. Accountable and Restorative Approach: This approach to discipline and student support is based on the belief that all students are resilient, capable of turning around adverse situations, and can restore themselves and their relationships with the understanding and guidance of caring adults. An accountable approach supports students to take responsibility for their words and actions, reflect on the impact of their behavior, and accept consequences and interventions with good will when standards of behavior have not been met. A restorative approach enables students to develop and strengthen their capacities to self-correct, problem solve, learn desired behaviors, make amends, restore their good standing, and re-engage in learning activities. Following an accountable and restorative approach requires a collective sense of responsibility and a shared commitment among staff, students, and families.
2. Multi-Tiered Systems of Support: Multi-tiered System of Supports (MTSS) is a school-wide and district-wide framework of universal expectations, shared language, and common policies and practices that support all students to achieve their personal best and improve their behavior with the guidance, instruction, support and coaching of caring adults. According to this framework, supports can be divided into three tiers:
- Tier 1: Promotion of social and emotional competencies and positive behaviors for all students and prevention of unskillful, inappropriate, unacceptable behaviors;
- Tier 2: Targeted interventions for students who meet specific criteria and conditions associated with specific interventions;
- Tier 3: More intensive and individualized interventions for students with high needs or multiple challenges who are at greatest risk for healthy development and school success.
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3. Equity and Fairness: All students have strength and uniqueness and need different kinds and amounts of time, attention, instruction and support to become the best versions of themselves. Being fair is about offering differentiated responses without favor toward or prejudice against any one group of students, when students make mistakes and engage in unskillful, inappropriate or unacceptable behavior. Equitable education eliminates barriers that prevent full participation and distributes resources and opportunities in ways that close performance gaps and support everyone to achieve comparable outcomes across all groups. Efforts to achieve equity interrupt systems, structures, policies, and practices which privilege some groups while disadvantaging other groups.
4. SEL: Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) refers to students’ development of four key learning and life competencies: self-awareness; self-management; social efficacy; and academic efficacy. Learning and life competencies build students’ capacity to regulate emotions, set and achieve goals, empathize with others, develop positive relationships, make responsible decisions, and grow increasingly competent – personally, interpersonally, and academically.
5. Good Character, Conduct, and Citizenship: Character reflects the attitudes, attributes, and moral convictions which shape conduct – how students’ behave in different settings and situations. Qualities like respect, trust-worthiness, fairness, and caring support good citizenship by empowering all stakeholders to live within a cohesive community of shared rules, rights, and responsibilities. Development of good character and conduct are essential to academic success in school and future success in college, career, and life. It is the responsibility of staff to model good character, conduct, and citizenship and support their development in all students.
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6. Culturally Responsive Practices: In order to meet the needs of diverse communities of students and adults, schools implement policies and practices that engage all students across a range of cultural backgrounds. These practices might include unpacking our own cultural identities and biases, engaging in systemic changes in curriculum, hiring, and disciplinary approaches, and ongoing professional learning and supporting staff in developing culturally responsive teaching practices. The aim of these practices is to counter disproportionality, affirm all students’ multiple identities, make connections between learning and the lived experience of students and families, and build an inclusive school community.
Core Beliefs
- Relational Trust: We believe that trust among administrators, staff, students, families and caregivers impacts people’s general sense of purpose, well-being, and hopefulness in the daily life of school. Trust emerges from consistent interactions in which people’s interdependent relationships are made visible, when expectations are clear and agreed upon by everyone, and when people engage in a communal practice of critical analysis, self reflection, and shared vulnerability.
- Supportive Accountability: We believe that creating environments free from excessive criticism, blame, and shame, inspires all community members to fulfill universally agreed upon rules and expectations. We believe in a learning community where staff, students, and families make every effort to support one another, ensuring that all students meet their potential, and where all stakeholders make good faith attempts to take responsibility for “making things right” when they have made a mistake.
- Student Agency: We believe that each and every student has the capacity to take ownership of their learning and behavior, and take actions to achieve their academic, social and emotional, and life goals. A sense of agency, “taking an active and intentional role in making choices and shaping and managing the course of one’s life” ensures that each and every student will achieve/experience positive academic and social emotional outcomes, lead a fulfilling and connected life, and participate responsibly in a democratic society. It is the responsibility of all stakeholders to foster student agency.
- Mutual Respect: We believe reciprocal respect and caring are at the center of every interaction between and among adults and students. When adults model respectful behaviors it sets the stage for students to communicate respectfully. An adult’s response to a situation will always shape the student’s response. Respect acknowledges the rich diversity of our district and affirms each person’s identity, value, and dignity by appreciating what each person brings to the school community.
- Learning, Achievement, and Growth: We believe that how students learn is as important to student success as what students learn. Students are capable of accomplishing rigorous and meaningful learning tasks, striving for excellence, and making their best effort when they experience engaging instruction. All students have the capacity to grow when given the right opportunity, support, guidance, and coaching. We see mistakes, missteps and setbacks as possibilities. Students will make an effort to learn and grow when we offer specific strategies and caring support that enables them to meet their target goals.
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