School board adopts Code of Student Conduct with discipline matrix

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At the August 6 School Board of Alachua County meeting, the board changed some upcoming meeting dates, approved a charter school contract with the Rosa B. Williams Preparatory School, approved amended Student Codes of Conduct with a discipline matrix, and discussed a Florida Department of Education proposal that would amend the rule governing the ballot process for charter school conversions.

Changes to meeting dates

The August 20 meeting has been rescheduled to August 21 and the November 5 meeting has been rescheduled to November 6 because they fall on election dates. There is also a workshop scheduled for November 6, so that will be held in the afternoon and then the board will take a break before the evening meeting.

Rosa B. Williams Preparatory School

The board approved a standard charter school contract with Palm Breeze Youth Services for the Rosa B. Williams Preparatory School starting in the fall of 2025. The school was previously known as the Reichert House Youth Academy charter school. 

Member Tina Certain made a motion to approve the staff recommendation, and Member Sarah Rockwell seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

Elementary and Secondary Codes of Student Conduct

On July 16, the board asked staff to bring back a discipline matrix to accompany the Codes of Student Conduct, and three options were presented to the board. Option 1 gave side-by-side lists of student behaviors and possible teacher consequences, grouped by behavior tiers. Option 2 was a table listing each individual behavior, along with first, second, third, fourth, and subsequent consequences for that infraction. Option 3 was a table listing each individual behavior with an “x” in the column for each allowed consequence for that behavior.

Certain made a motion to adopt the Elementary Student Code of Conduct with Option 1, and Rockwell seconded the motion. 

Chair Diyonne McGraw said she also liked Option 1 because “I like the flexibility of the consequences because we still want our children to be successful. I think Option 1 promotes more positive behavior.”

The motion passed 3-1, with Member Kay Abbitt in dissent and Member Leanetta McNealy absent.

Certain made a motion to adopt the Secondary Student Code of Conduct with Option 1, and Rockwell seconded the motion. 

Certain said she preferred Option 1 “in the sense of it being more positive and not being able to be weaponized against the students, because we do want to – you know, because the district has been implementing the restorative practices, as well as trying to be more positive – and with the PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) system. And so I think Option 1 provides a pathway forward for that.”

Rockwell agreed that Option 1 “provides the flexibility staff was concerned about but also provides the transparency, especially for secondary students, so that they know what the potential consequences of behaviors are.” She emphasizeded that the board was discussing the Student Code of Conduct, not the tiered supports for behavior that are used to prevent problem behaviors. She added, “We have so much more to our behavioral management system in place, and I know that our staff is working to make sure that that is implemented with consistency and fidelity.”

Abbitt asked whether the district had behavior data for the full 2023-24 school year because the last report showed that incidents had increased every quarter. Chief of Equity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement Anntwanique Edwards responded that the information was not yet ready, but they were working on it. 

Abbitt said she preferred Option 2 because that matrix makes it “very clear what happens after the first, the second, the third consequence, and with as many behavior issues as we have, we need to know this… There needs to be some clarity because these things may or may not be implemented consistently… Passing this without having [end-of-year data] – it doesn’t make sense.”

The motion to adopt Option 1 passed 3-1, with Abbitt in dissent and McNealy absent.

Board member comments

During member comment, Certain asked for an additional budget meeting before the final budget vote “because I think we’re going to have to have some strategies to deal with the deficit that we discussed in the last meeting.”

Her second request was to ask whether the board could send a comment opposing a proposed Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) rule that will be considered on August 21. 

According to the Notice of Proposed Rule, the amendment to Rule 6A-6.0787 (Ballot Process for Teacher and Parent Voting for Charter School Conversion Status) “provide[s] for additional clarity between the rule that governs the charter school conversion ballot process and the statute that allows for charter school conversions.”

Florida Statute 1002.33(3)(b) states, in part: “An application submitted proposing to convert an existing public school to a charter school shall demonstrate the support of at least 50 percent of the teachers employed at the school and 50 percent of the parents voting whose children are enrolled at the school, provided that a majority of the parents eligible to vote participate in the ballot process, according to rules adopted by the State Board of Education.”

The proposed rule changes the previous threshold of “a majority of teachers employed at the school” to “at least fifty (50) percent of teachers employed at the school,” bringing the rule into alignment with the language in the statute.

Exactly 50% of the teachers at Newberry Elementary School voted to convert the school to a charter school, along with a majority of the parents. The groups who opposed the charter conversion have continued to insist that the conversion vote did not succeed, and school board members have made similar comments. The City of Newberry has moved forward with plans to open the charter school in the fall of 2025. 

In response to a question from Alachua Chronicle, FLDOE Press Secretary Nathalia Medina said, “The proposed clarification to rule 6A-6.0787 is a technical change to align the rule language more clearly with state law.”

Board Attorney David Delaney told Certain that if the comment opposing the rule was from the board, it would need to be adopted at a public meeting, but members could also send individual comments. According to the Notice of Proposed Rule, comments must be received by August 19, and the next scheduled school board meeting is on August 21.