BSD Restorative Code of Conduct

 Restorative Community Expectations 

Overarching goals:

• Solidify expectations of BSD community members (staff, students, families)
• Reimagine behavior responses with a restorative lens
• Maximize the time students are in class

• Utilize Restorative Practices to resolve conflicts between students, staff, and families

• Limit suspensions to extreme circumstances in which safety is compromised

Please see Appendix A for more detailed information on the creation of the Code of Conduct.

Table of Contents

Part I: Responsibilities and Expectations of BSD Staff, Families, and Community Members        3

Part II: Classroom-Handled Behaviors        4

Part III: Behaviors that May Require Out-of-Class Support        6

Part IV: Non-suspendable Behaviors, Alternatives to Suspension, and Educational Opportunities        7

Part VI: Behaviors that May Warrant Suspension        11

Part VII: Staff to Staff Conflict- RP Guidelines        13

Part VIII. Staff-Student or Family Harm Accountability Guidelines        14

Feedback Form        14

BSD Restorative Code of Conduct

Part I: Responsibilities and Expectations of BSD Staff, Families, and Community Members  

Respectful Communication: All BSD community members will act respectfully toward students, staff members, and families at all times (in and out of school, online) with the goals of building relationships, repairing or preventing harm, and addressing root causes of conflicts. Our shared human dignity must be protected and honored even – and especially – in times of heightened stress or emotion. All of us will refrain from shouting at, insulting, threatening, or humiliating one another.

Engage in Good Faith With Restorative Conversations: Conflicts will sometimes result in invitations to facilitated restorative conversations; for restorative systems to work, all members of our BSD school community need to be willing to engage in restorative responses at the classroom and school level. While participation in a restorative process is voluntary, we are all encouraged to be open to repair and to provide a “road back” to our community. These processes are an investment of time for the good of our community. Facilitators of restorative conversations and harm repair processes serve as neutral parties charged with helping all participants to honestly explore their own responsibility in and for conflict and repair.

Expectations of BSD Staff, Families, School Board Members, and Superintendent

All members of our BSD community (including staff, students, building administrators, families, the superintendent, and the school board) are expected to

• Respect all members of the school community.
• Model respectful behavior.
• Build relationships with one another.
• Communicate as openly, honestly, and transparently as possible.
• Uphold and support a safe, equitable learning environment.
• Exercise and practice self-awareness.
• Practice accountability when harm is caused.
• Support the academic success of all our students.

It is the responsibility of the school board to

• Hire and supervise the superintendent.
• Develop, approve, and monitor District policies, including governance policy and School District goals.
• Demonstrate equitable leadership by showing that they are inclusive, informed, accountable, strong, and flexible communicators, are transparent and present, and have a restorative mindset.
• Monitor the fiscal health of the District.

It is the responsibility of the superintendent to

• Implement the policies of the school board, and develop and implement procedures aligned to policies.
• Facilitate the co-construction and implementation of the strategic plan.
• Be accountable to the school board, as well as all staff, students, and families in their school. Demonstrate equitable leadership by showing that they are inclusive, informed, accountable, strong, and flexible communicators, are transparent and present, and have a restorative mindset.

It is the responsibility of building administrators to

• Carry out the District’s Strategic Plan
• Develop and implement a vision for their school with the school community
• Be accountable to all staff, students, and families in their school.
• Ensure a safe and equitable learning environment for all students.
• Develop relationships with students’ families.
• Demonstrate equitable leadership by showing that they are inclusive, informed, accountable, strong, and flexible communicators, are transparent and present, and have a restorative mindset.

It is the responsibility of school staff to

• Provide a safe, equitable, and developmentally appropriate learning environment for all students.
• Teach acceptance and mutual respect for others.
• Support students to grow and learn and to become responsible global citizens.
• Develop relationships with student families.
• Demonstrate equitable leadership by showing that they are inclusive, informed, accountable, strong, and flexible communicators, are transparent and present, and have a restorative mindset.

It is the responsibility of students to

• Exercise and practice self-awareness.
• Understand and follow school expectations, including the Restorative Code of Conduct and their school’s Student Handbook.
• Behave in a manner that focuses on academic success.
• Be responsible and accountable for meeting school expectations.
• Help build a positive community

It is the responsibility of families and members of the school community to

• Emphasize the importance of being prepared to learn.
• Support students in respecting the rights of others and strive to meet the expectations of the school community.
• Recognize and understand that school personnel will hold students accountable in a restorative manner.
• Respect, understand, and support the policies of Burlington School District.

Part II: Classroom-Handled Behaviors

Here are behaviors that should be handled in the classroom and suggestions and tools for addressing them. If the behavior becomes repeated, increases in frequency/duration, or becomes so disruptive that learning cannot take place for other students, teachers/staff should request support from the school’s administration or behavioral support staff and document it with a student referral. Student referrals are then entered into PowerSchool by a trained employee. School administration or behavioral student staff can check in with the student to help them re-enter ready to learn or escort the student to an alternative space.

How to Handle Classroom Behaviors:

• Be proactive: Co-construct classroom agreements, get to know each student's interests, strengths, and weaknesses, connect with families before any calls to discuss behavior, model communication, and recognize and celebrate student success.
• Utilize mindfulness tools that build social-emotional skills.
• Calm directives that clearly state expectations (criteria for success known and understood by student)
• Constructive and specific feedback (this resource from Restorative Teaching Tools will allow you to practice an approach to giving and receiving feedback that is grounded in respectful curiosity about individual feelings and needs when interacting with students)
• Re-teaching or rehearsal of expectation or procedure that student isn’t meeting
• Increased opportunity to respond during instruction - ask questions that the student is interested in answering or feels confident about knowing 
• Increased teacher proximity
• Verbal prompt or quick correction (Example: __________ by doing __________ you are not meeting our classroom agreement of ___________.  Could you please ________?)
• Reminders and redirection (Example: Right now we are doing ______________.  How can I help you to get back on track?)

After the Moment Responses in the Classroom:

• Use of the Restorative Chat questions
• “Reset pass” to walk or visit with trusted adult in building (not unsupervised and for a set amount of time)
• Restorative Conference
• Have a WARM conversation with the student
• Behavior check-out system for classroom to provide students with an opportunity to reflect with you on daily behavior
• Reflection activity (not a worksheet, but an actual reflection task done with teacher during independent learning activities for other students)

Responses After Class Ends:

• Learning Pathway (see Educational Opportunities section below for more details)
• Peer Mediation (at sites with this in place)
• Review of academic struggles and asset-based academic support planning with entire teaching/support team
• Review of Individualized Education Program (IEP) in conjunction with academic accommodations and modifications
• Brainstorming session with administrator, RP Specialist, behavior support staff, special educator, school counselor, etc. to brainstorm a list of other potential responses and ideas to support struggling students
• Collaborate with instructional coach to monitor and observe student-teacher interactions and provide feedback

Responses Involving Families:

• Restorative Family Conference protocol (family hears from teacher/staff using this protocol prior to administrator becoming involved)

Note: When possible, the first call home should always be a positive and warm introduction before any calls made about behavior challenges; this is why it is critical that school staff begin developing relationships with families at the beginning of the year.

Part III: Behaviors that May Require Out-of-Class Support

If a student is sent out of class, exhibits these behaviors but remains in class, or exhibits these behaviors in a non-classroom setting such as the hallway,  then a student referral must be written to document the behavior and the referral must be entered into PowerSchool by a trained employee. After a student is sent out of class, they should have access to missed work while they are away and have a restorative welcome back into the classroom when they return.

Part IV: Non-suspendable Behaviors, Alternatives to Suspension, and Educational Opportunities

Non-suspendable: These are serious behaviors and while they are non-suspendable appropriate consequences will be implemented. These behaviors do not rise to the level of suspension because they do not represent a pressing and imminent threat to the physical safety of students, staff, or others at a school site. We want to keep students in the school community and must approach handling behavior differently to do so. This may mean having in-school alternative placements and/or a modified learning schedule/environment as an option while an alternative to suspension is put into place. These behaviors must be documented with a student referral form and entered into PowerSchool by a trained employee. 

The following behaviors do not qualify as suspendable behaviors; instead, alternatives to suspension should be offered in place of exclusionary discipline. Alternatives to suspension still require students to be held accountable for their behavior. Examples of alternatives to suspension are provided. Parents/guardians will be notified of these behaviors and the planned response.

Undocumented Suspensions: Undocumented suspensions are prohibited and unlawful. Students cannot be removed from class for more than ¼ of a full school day or be sent home before the end of the school day without the administrator following the BSD suspension protocol, this includes a student leaving to take the rest of the day at home.

Behavior support staff, RP Specialists, the Office of Equity, afterschool staff, and building administrators can all help with brainstorming alternative options to challenging behaviors.

The following list represents options for responses to challenging behaviors. These are not in sequential order. It is not mandatory to use the suggested options; they are offered as a resource. These should be tailored to the behavior and individual(s) involved.

Additional Possible Alternatives to Suspension:

Educational Opportunities: When a student or staff member engages in harmful behavior, educational opportunities may be provided to learn from the behavior and prevent it from occurring again in the future. The educational opportunity will be tailored to the context of the harm and the desired learning outcomes. Two examples of these for students, learning pathways and impact panels, are described below. More information on staff educational opportunities can be found in section VIII. Please contact the Office of Equity with questions or to brainstorm more opportunities.

Learning Pathway: A Learning Pathway is an individual learning environment where the person who caused the harm is offered a series of educational opportunities centered around the topic of the harmful behavior. Learning pathways are intentional lessons designed for students or staff to reflect on their actions through learning about history and context and ultimately exploring accountability. As part of the learning process, participants are asked to discuss challenging topics, take in informational content with multimedia, and make decisions about how they would like to demonstrate evidence of their learning. The goal of the process is education and possible mindset shifts.

Students can be required to engage in a learning pathway to reflect on the harm done as an alternative or addition to a traditional RP process. Sometimes a learning pathway is required as part of reentry meetings.  

Impact Panel or Video: Another educational option is an impact panel. This is where a group of individuals with experience around a certain harmful topic serve on an impact panel to share with the person who has done the harm the impact of their behavior. These need to be organized with extreme care for the individuals serving on the panel to ensure harm is not caused to them. (An alternative to an impact panel is an impact video in which individuals with experience of a harmful topic share in a video statement how this impacts them; the individual who engaged in the harmful behavior could watch the video as part of a Learning Pathway.)

Part VI: Behaviors that May Warrant Suspension

Protocol: Suspension is a last resort. Suspensions exclude students from their learning and have historically been disproportionately used as a consequence for BSD students with disabilities, students of the global majority, and students living in poverty. As a result, we have a District policy requiring that we reduce these disparities. Therefore, suspension may only be considered when there is an egregious safety concern or when school staff have exhausted and documented all other forms of intervention/alternatives. BSD follows 16 V.S.A. § 1162 when considering a suspension or expulsion. Parents/guardians have the right to appeal a suspension with the superintendent (See BSD’s STUDENT CONDUCT AND DISCIPLINE POLICY). All suspendable behaviors must be documented with a student referral form and put into PowerSchool in a timely manner. For all suspensions, schools must follow a student’s IEP when applicable and consider manifestation and adjusting IEP. This must be documented and the case manager must be involved.

Restorative Exit and Re-Entry: For the few situations in which a suspension must be utilized, there should be a restorative exit for the individual to understand why they are being separated from the school community, how they’ll be supported while they are out, and a plan for a restorative reentry upon their return. When a student is suspended, they must still have access to educational opportunities and materials as part of a suspension plan. If a student has an IEP or 504 Plan, the case manager must be included in the suspension planning process. A student who has been suspended can re-enter school following a restorative re-entry meeting that must include the student, parents/guardians (or designated trusted adult), and school representatives. This meeting should be scheduled at a time/place that allows for parent/guardian participation.

Police Contact: The Burlington Police Department may be contacted if one of the above offenses occurs.

Burlington Community Justice Center (BCJC) Involvement: When an incident rises to the level of suspension, it may be pertinent to involve our partners at the BCJC to help either with the repair process, re-entry, and/or accountability measures. The BCJC can support through offering co-facilitation of repair, restorative reentry co-facilitation for a case in which BCJC has been involved, and accountability through educational workshops tailored to the incident.

The Office of Equity should be notified when a building administrator is filling out a referral request with the BCJC. The Office of Equity can help building administrators determine if/when a BCJC referral would be appropriate.

Hazing, Harassment, and Bullying (HHB): The state of Vermont and District policy guides our work around any incident that may be hazing, harassment, and/or bullying. Every school has a designated employee tasked with the intake of every report suspected of being HHB and following through with the life of a case. The goal of our HHB work is to keep students safe and able to access their education. In cases of HHB, a restorative option can be utilized following an investigation in conjunction with supportive measures identified through the investigation. A suspension may be necessary in an HHB case if the behavior is so severe that the safety of the student(s) and/or staff are compromised. Please see the BSD HHB website for more information.  

Equity Request Ticket and See Something, Say Something Line: An Equity Request Ticket is one method to report inequities, injustices, and unfair issues that are happening to you and others. All Equity Tickets are reviewed by the Office of Equity Team. A response is guaranteed within three days. Equity Tickets can be submitted anonymously. The See Something, Say Something Anonymous Reporting Line (802-540-3710) allows individuals to anonymously report an issue 24/7/365 when they see a community member who is at risk of harming themselves or others. All reports are reviewed by the Office of Equity Team. A response is guaranteed within 24 hours. Reports can be submitted anonymously.

Part VII: Staff to Staff Conflict- RP Guidelines

If a staff member causes harm to or is involved in conflict with a colleague or another adult member of the BSD community, they will be given the option first to address and repair the harm through a restorative process in lieu of a disciplinary process taking place. This will be the default option for harm situations that involve staff unless the Superintendent determines the situation to not be appropriate for a restorative response (including but not limited to racial harm or harassment, failure to report abuse, improper use or reporting of restraint or seclusion, sexual harassment, and substance use).

Restorative processes are always voluntary and staff should only enter into a restorative repair process if they authentically and genuinely accept accountability for their role in the harm and are prepared to address and repair the harm. A restorative option will only be pursued if the individual(s) harmed are willing and interested in engaging in the process, as well as the party that caused the harm. A trained neutral restorative practitioner will oversee and facilitate the restorative repair process. This practitioner may be a trained BSD staff member or an RP consultant contracted by the District.

Readiness for participation in a restorative harm repair process involves:

• Pre-meeting in person, virtually, or by phone with a trained restorative practices facilitator in which each party shares what has occurred and expresses willingness to take accountability.

• Through this process, the trained neutral practitioner will determine if a participant is upholding these standards of participation.

• Participants will be asked at the pre-meeting whether or not they would like to bring an ally to the harm repair circle, if so, RP practitioners will also require a pre-conference with the ally.  
• Engaging in a harm repair conversation or circle when appropriate.
• Following through on the agreements.

If at a later date, the issue that the restorative process attempted to address arises again, then disciplinary action can be taken as RP was unsuccessful in changing the harmful behavior.

Confidentiality in RP: All restorative processes are strictly confidential. The repair process circle conversation and the agreements or outcomes are only known to the individuals involved in the repair process and the facilitator. No information can be shared outside of the circle unless clear guidelines for sharing are explicitly agreed to by all members of the circle including the facilitator.

If agreements or outcomes involve sharing information with other people about the situation any individuals who are involved following a repair process will be given solely the information they need to provide a service or support. (For example, if a staff member agrees to ongoing implicit bias coaching as the result of a reparative process, those who need to know about or be involved with the training will be provided with the appropriate amount of information needed) This information will be provided by the facilitator and the agreed parties.

RP and Staff Discipline, Improvement Plans, and Grievances: Staff and supervisors experiencing conflict are encouraged to seek a restorative process to help resolve their conflict. All RP confidentiality guidelines still apply in these types of situations. The restorative circle conversation, agreements, and outcomes are all confidential to the circle participants and facilitator. No other individuals will be given information about what was discussed or agreed to as part of the repair process.

If the issue arises again at a later date and a staff member wishes to pursue a grievance or a supervisor wishes to take other actions, neither of these parties can reference what was discussed or agreed to during the restorative process. Therefore, if the issue that the restorative process attempted to resolve arises again at a later date and a grievance and/or other supervisor actions are pursued by any of the parties, they can only document the issue from what took place following the restorative process. A restorative process will not be used repeatedly for the same harmful behavior.

When a restorative process is offered and a staff member chooses not to participate, the staff member will still be held accountable in a traditional manner for the harm or conflict that occurred. For the discipline process, please review the Collective Bargaining Agreement and/or Personnel Manual which pertains to your position. A restorative response will always be the first option offered but if it is declined, staff members can expect they will still be held accountable for their actions through BSD Human Resources personnel guidelines.

Part VIII. Staff Harm Accountability Guidelines

In a situation in which a BSD staff member causes harm to another community member (e.g. a staff causes harm to a student or family), the parties involved will be provided with an opportunity to repair the harm and take accountability for the situation in a restorative manner. Staff members are held to the same standards of expectation as students and families.

These harm repair opportunities will first offer a restorative approach. It is voluntary for everyone involved to participate in any restorative process. The impact of opting-in to the restorative process is that a stronger relationship is built out of the process and conflict is addressed to make things right.

Staff members can expect that should they cause harm to a student or family, they will be invited to participate in a restorative process but should they decline or refuse to participate in this process, disciplinary measures will be taken. These measures are confidential. Burlington School District will use progressive discipline procedures. These procedures are designed to provide a structured process to improve and prevent a recurrence of undesirable employee behavior and performance issues, but can be altered based on the severity of the infraction: step 1- formal verbal reprimand, step 2- formal written reprimand, without Suspension, step 3: final written reprimand (may or may not include suspension with or without pay), and step 4- termination.

Voluntary Teaching Observation: Teaching staff can opt-in to having a voluntary teaching observation following harm they may have caused students or colleagues. When a staff member opts into this educational opportunity, an Office of Equity staff member will utilize the Restorative Culturally Responsive and Anti-Racist Teaching Tool (credit to the EMS YPAR for School Equity students for creating this tool)  to provide comprehensive feedback to the teacher about their instructional practices as one way to repair harm and prevent any further harm from occurring.

Learning Pathways: Staff can also have learning pathways as a way to repair harm they may have caused students or colleagues. Staff learning pathways are opt-in. For more information about staff learning pathways, please see BSD’s Teacher Learning Pathways FAQ.

Feedback Form

Would you like to provide feedback, suggestions, or a question about the Code of Conduct? Please use this form to submit your thoughts. The Code of Conduct will be revised on an annual basis.

Appendix A: History and Context of Code of Conduct Creation

The BSD Restorative Code of Conduct began in 2017, with multiple BSD staff members, students, and union leaders picking up the work during the 2022-2023 school year to create a comprehensive community guide that applies to all students, staff, employees, and parents and family members. Cabinet members gave feedback on the first draft of the Code of Conduct during a summer in-service in 2022. Students from the Summer Racial Justice Academy 2 were given an opportunity to provide comments and suggestions as well. Staff focus groups were held to solicit feedback on the Code of Conduct in the winter of 2023. The Superintendent’s Family and Student Advisory Groups both provided their insight and suggestions on the Code of Conduct. Finally, a revision team was responsible for making final edits and changes to the Code as well as designing a rollout plan for Fall 2023.  

The Code of Conduct is purposefully designed to not solely apply to students but instead to all community members as we believe in BSD that we all must be accountable for our actions and behavior.

We are working to transform our district into being truly restorative in nature. The State of Vermont has recommended that suspensions and expulsions in Vermont Schools should only be used in the most extreme circumstances, as outlined by the Act 35 Task Force Report on Equitable and Inclusive School Environments from the State of Vermont (March 2022). The annual BSD Equity and Inclusion Data report consistently shows disparities in suspensions and disciplinary data that adversely affect students of the global majority, students on IEPs, students who are English language learners, male-identifying students, and students who qualify for free and/or reduced lunch. Students who are suspended are at increased risk of academic failure, of dropping out of school, and of entering the criminal penal system.

The Code of Conduct directly aligns to Priority Area 5 of BSD’s Strategic Plan; Priority Area 5 is focused on developing relationship-based communities through Restorative Practices.