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Derrick Meador, M.Ed., is the superintendent for Jennings Public Schools in Oklahoma. He previously served as a school principal and middle school science teacher.
Updated on June 07, 2024Every school has a student handbook that outlines its school policies. A handbook is a living, breathing tool that should be updated and changed every year. As a school principal, it's essential to keep your student handbook up-to-date. It's also important to realize that every school's needs are different and each school's students students have different issues. A policy that will work in one district may not be as effective in another district. There are ten essential school policies that every student handbook should include.
Attendance does matter. Missing a lot of class can create huge holes that can lead to academic failure. The average school year in the United State is 170 days. A student who misses an average of 10 days a year beginning in pre-Kindergarten through twelfth grade will miss 140 days of school. That adds up to almost an entire school year that they have missed. Looking at it from that perspective, attendance becomes increasingly important and, without a solid attendance policy, it is virtually impossible to deal with. Tardies are equally important because a student who is late time after time is essentially playing catch up every day they're late.
It's never been more important to have an effective bullying policy. Students across the globe are affected by bullying every single day. The number of bullying incidents only continues to increase each year. We hear all too often about students dropping out of school or even taking their lives because of bullying. Schools have to make bullying prevention and education a top priority. This starts with a strong bullying policy. If you haven't got an anti-bullying policy or it hasn't been updated in several years it is time to address it.
Cell phones are a hot topic among school administrators. Over the last 15 years, phones in the classroom have caused more and more problems. With that said, they can also be a valuable educational tool and, in a catastrophic situation, they can save lives. Schools must evaluate their cell phone policies and figure out what will work best for their setting.
Unless your school requires your students to wear uniforms, then a dress code is essential. Students continue to push the envelope when it comes to how they dress. There are so many distractions that a student can cause by how they dress. Like many of these policies, they need to be updated yearly, and the community in which the school is located can influence what is and is not appropriate. Last year a student came to school wearing bright lime green contact lenses. It was a major distraction for the other students and so we had to ask him to remove them. It wasn't something that we had dealt with before, but we adjusted and added it to our handbook for this year.
There is no denying that not every student will get along with every other student. Conflict does happen, but it should never get physical. Too many negative things can occur when students engage in a physical fight. Not to mention that the school could be held liable if a student is injured severely during a fight. Big consequences are the key to stopping fights from occurring on campus. Most students do not want to be suspended from school for a long period, and they especially do not want to deal with the police. Having a policy in your student handbook that deals with fighting with tough consequences will help deter many fights from occurring.
I am a firm believer that students respecting teachers and teachers respecting students can only benefit learning. On the whole, students today aren't as respectful towards adults as they were in the past. They simply aren't taught to be respectful at home. Character education is increasingly becoming the school's responsibility. Having a policy in place that educates and demands mutual respect between students and the faculty/staff can have a profound effect on your school building. It is amazing how much more pleasant it can be and how discipline issues can be minimized through such a simple thing of respecting one another.
Every student handbook needs a student code of conduct. The student code of conduct will be a simple list of all the expectations the school has for its students. This policy should be at the front of your handbook. The student code of conduct does not need to go into a lot of depth but instead needs to be an outline of the things you feel are most important to maximize students' learning potential.
Students need to have a list of all the possible consequences if they make a poor choice. This list will also assist you in trying to figure out how to deal with a particular situation. Being fair is very important as you make discipline decisions, but many factors go into that situation. If your students are educated on the possible consequences and have access to those in their handbook, they cannot tell you that they didn't know or that it isn't fair.
There are times when you will have to search a student or a student's locker, backpack, etc. Every administrator needs to know proper search and seizure procedures because an improper or inappropriate search can result in legal action. Students too should be made aware of their rights. Having a search and seizure policy can limit any misunderstanding about a student's rights when it comes to searching them or their possessions.
In my opinion, there is no job in education more daunting than that of a substitute teacher. A substitute often does not know students very well and students take advantage of them every opportunity they get. Administrators often deal with many issues when substitutes are used. With that said, substitute teachers are necessary. Having a policy in your handbook to discourage poor student behavior will help. Educating your substitute teachers on your policies and expectations will also cut down on discipline incidents.
Cite this Article Your CitationMeador, Derrick. "10 Essential Policies for Your Student Handbook." ThoughtCo, Jun. 7, 2024, thoughtco.com/ten-essential-policies-for-your-student-handbook-3194524. Meador, Derrick. (2024, June 7). 10 Essential Policies for Your Student Handbook. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/ten-essential-policies-for-your-student-handbook-3194524 Meador, Derrick. "10 Essential Policies for Your Student Handbook." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/ten-essential-policies-for-your-student-handbook-3194524 (accessed September 6, 2024).
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