Parent & Student Handbook - Independence Charter School

Student Code of Conduct
ICS STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT
Core Beliefs and Framework
We know that a child’s educational experiences help to lay a foundation for future successes.
We also understand that an effective instructional program requires an orderly environment in
which students and faculty know and abide by reasonable standards of socially acceptable
behavior while respecting the rights, person and property of others. This framework also helps
parents and guardians support their own children’s success. Therefore, Independence Charter
School will focus on building communities within each classroom, each grade level and school
wide through the use of both Responsive Classroom and Developmental Designs. Responsive
Classroom, the approach used in grades K-4, is an education approach that emphasizes
social, emotional, and academic growth in a strong and safe school community. It consists
of practical strategies for helping children build academic and social-emotional
competencies day in and day out. Similarly, Developmental Designs is the approach used in
grades 5-8 that supports high academic achievement for middle-level students through the
integration of social and academic learning and an emphasis on good relationships, social skills,
and engagement with learning. Independence Charter School believes that students learn best in
a positive social environment.
ICS has created an environment that will foster Cooperation, Assertion, Responsibility,
Empathy and Self-Control (CARES).
• Students begin each day with a Morning Meeting (grades K-4) or CPR (Circle of Power
and Respect – grades 5-8). Morning Meeting and CPR help to foster CARES through a
greeting, activity, sharing and daily message. This process builds and maintains
community within each classroom.
• Teachers focus on fostering classroom organization and creating clear expectations about
daily routines. Teachers model and practice all expectations with students. The entire ICS
staff focuses on consistent follow-through with the understanding that responding to the
seemingly smaller issues helps students understand the specifics of daily procedures and
classroom expectations, therefore preventing larger issues from occurring.
• Child development is taken into account when choosing effective and appropriate
consequences for students. This means that because developmental levels vary greatly in
the earlier grades, discretion is used when working with our early childhood students (K-
2). Sometimes, students in this age group will receive modified or more gradual
consequences as we work with them to build the skills needed for self-control and
responsibility.
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