School district approves policy to promote civility

Christine Carrillo

Parents beware. Spectators watch out.

Uncivil behavior at any Newport-Mesa Unified School District

events will no longer be tolerated. It is now a punishable offense.

The district’s Board of Trustees approved a policy at Tuesday’s

meeting to promote respect, civility and orderly conduct among people

within the district and lays out consequences and procedures for

those who display unlawful or uncivil behavior.

“We wanted a policy that would represent appropriate models and

one that would lessen triggers for potential violence,” said Barry

Barowitz, the director of secondary education and instruction and

leader of the policy’s task force. “The idea was to resolve concerns

at the source of the incident, at that time and place.

“This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but [we wanted] to generally try

to resolve the issue in a few days,” Barowitz said. “We wanted to,

throughout the policy, make sure we have teeth.”

The policy, created by a task force of principals, parents and

district administrators, defines appropriate and civil behavior on

the part of parents, employees and spectators while at school or

district events.

Under the civility policy, uncivil conduct is described as vulgar,

obscene, threatening or profane communication directed toward another

person; gestures in a manner that would put a reasonable person in

fear of his or her personal safety or conduct that is likely to

interfere with the peaceful conduct of the activities of the campus

or facility, etc.

For nearly a year, the district has worked toward creating a

policy that would address concerns that many parents and school

officials felt many years before.

“It is a sad situation when a parent cannot attend a sporting

event where their child is participating without feeling fearful,”

said Jill Money, a parent and member of the task force. “It was clear

from working with the district that the policy was extremely vague

and without consequence.”

Trustee Serene Stokes agreed.

“I think it’s one of those things we’ve skirted around for years

and now we finally have something we can use to do something about

it,” she said. “We’re working with our children and we’ve got to work

with our parents in the same manner.

“Parents are going to have to realize that this policy has teeth

and that they will have due process, but we are going to enforce

every aspect of this policy,” she said.

“I’ve longed for a policy like this that stated from the beginning

what was and was not acceptable behavior,” said Tom Antal, principal

at Estancia High School and one of the members of the policy’s task

force. “I look forward to a time when this is truly saturated in the

community so people understand what is expected of them at a

Newport-Mesa event.”

Those members of the school community who find themselves

subjected to uncivil behavior will first be expected to address the

issue through direct or assisted communication with the person

involved before seeking the assistance of a school administrator,

after which another attempt will be made, according to the policy.

If the behavior is severe or persistent and violates other school

rules, such as the district’s policies regarding sexual or other

harassment, the consequences could be removal from the facility or

event to criminal charges.

Student behavior is addressed under a different board policy.

“We are a model for our children, and we will be a model for other

districts throughout this state,” Trustee Judy Franco said.