PRINCETON -
Mercer County Schools are transitioning school policy to focus on classroom expectations rather than punishment. School officials said this policy has been months in the making.
However, they said it is not in response to the death of a Princeton Middle School student, whose parents said committed suicide after he was bullied.
Assistant Superintend Rick Ball said the updated policy pairs behavior with an intervention plan. He said inappropriate behaviors will be categorized from a level 1 offense to the more severe level 4 offenses. Ball said bullying call be classified under any level and said these guidelines may helps parents better evaluate their child's behavior.
"Now is the time to go in and take a look. Look at those behaviors and picture your own child in the classroom at the school they attend. Think about those behaviors what is expected what the consequences are for those behaviors because with every student who is bullied we have a bully and that is someone's child to," Ball said.
Ball calls this 52 page update more of a philosophical change that combines already exiting polices together.
"It is to establish what are the excepted behaviors that should be in place at all schools," Ball continued.
For the parent on the go--finding the time to read all 52 pages may be a challenge. Ball does encourage parents to read the entire document but if you can't, here's what Ball said parents shouldn't miss.
"If you flip through it, you look for level 1, 2, 3, and 4. Those are the heart of the policy, because those 4 outline the expected behaviors for all students K-12," Ball explained.
And what parents can do now, is to log onto the Mercer County Schools web site by clicking here.
When parents do, they will see a home page and they can click on policy J-18. J-18 is the policy up for review.
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