Page 8 - CARING and SAFE SCHOOLS in ONTARIO

and include learning opportunities for reinforcing positive behaviour while helping students to make good choices” (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2009g, p. 3).
This approach to discipline also requires principals and school boards to take into account a variety of mitigating and other factors when considering the suspension or expulsion of a student. The mitigating factors outlined in the amendments are as follows:
✦ The student does not have the ability to control his or her behaviour.
✦ The student does not have the ability to understand the foreseeable consequences of his or her behaviour.
✦ The student’s continuing presence in the school does not create an unacceptable risk to the safety of any person.1
Other factors to be taken into account were also specified in the amendments, including:
✦ the student’s history;
✦ whether a progressive discipline approach has been used with the student;
✦ whether the activity for which the student may be or is being suspended or expelled was related to any harassment of the student because of his or her race, ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, or sexual orientation or any other harassment;
✦ how the suspension or expulsion would affect the student’s ongoing education;
✦ the age of the student;
✦ in the case of a student for whom an Individual Education Plan (IEP) has been developed:
i. whether the behaviour was a manifestation of a disability identified in the student’s individual education plan;
ii. whether appropriate individual accommodation has been provided;
iii. whether the suspension or expulsion is likely to result in an aggravation or worsening of the student’s behaviour or conduct.
Caring and Safe Schools
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When addressing behavioural issues in schools, the focus should be on the interaction between students and their environment – on influences in the environment that may cause appropriate or inappropriate behaviour. More importantly, the focus should be on the creation of a caring and safe school culture that supports the teaching and ongoing reinforcement of skills that will enable students to choose and consistently demonstrate appropriate behaviour. The set-up for teaching and reinforcing these skills should be positive, nurturing, and inclusionary as opposed to negative, punitive, and exclusionary.
1. These factors must be considered while accommodations and supports are put in place.