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The District’s goal is to ensure that district-wide, all personnel have the training and resources they need to create a climate of safety, mutual respect, and equity through the use of evidence-based and promising practices. We collectively commit to treat all students with the following values, expectations and opportunities:

• All OCESD students will have the opportunity and support to thrive due to a culture of respect, equitable treatment, acceptance, and encouragement.

• Student safety is non-negotiable; the district will utilize a multi-tiered system of prevention and evidence-based responses to create a nurturing, safe school climate that is maximally conducive to learning.

• The District is committed to be maximally inclusive, and to stop and prevent shaming, isolation, and discriminatory practices in discipline, consistent with state and federal law, and provide staff with training and resources to eliminate all forms of bias and provide a culturally responsive and supportive climate for students of all protected characteristics.

• The District is committed to routine review of disciplinary data and accountable, transparent action steps to ensure we are treating all of our students fairly and equitably in the administration of discipline, without regard to any protected characteristic or category.

• The District is committed to ensuring consistent and equitable implementation of research-based alternatives to punitive discipline and to using exclusionary discipline as a last resort after exhaustion of alternatives. Such research-based alternatives will focus on a continuum of both prevention and evidence-based responses including: a) positive behavioral strategies, b) Restorative Practices, and c) other SEL (social emotional learning) skill building practices.

• The District is committed to shaping our policies and practices to ensure we are working with the students who exhibit social behavioral issues, and their families. We will hold ourselves accountable to ensure that the students remain maximally engaged in the District’s educational program and are given every opportunity to reach their potential by not limiting their instructional and engagement opportunities.

• The District is committed to taking effective and prompt steps to prevent and eliminate harassment and remedy its effects on any students based on any protected characteristic or category. We will work to achieve this through implementation of evidence-based bully prevention, positive behavioral support strategies, Restorative Practices, anti-bias training, and SEL skill building.