By Logan Wells, News Director | Logan@kymnradio.net
The Northfield School Board recently approved an expanded version of the Northfield Public Schools Citizenship Handbook, which defines the rights held by the students, and defines the consequences for violating discipline guidelines to a much greater nature than past versions of the handbook have done.
Northfield Superintendent of Schools Dr. Matt Hillmann said earlier versions of the handbook have given school principals wide latitude and discretion for disciplining students. However this has led to frustration on the part of many parents. If a student is involved in a disciplinary situation involving more than one student, it is common for that student’s parents to ask how other students involved were disciplined. Hillmann said the school district is constrained by several different laws and statutes in answering that question, because the privacy of all students must be protected. Prior editions of the handbook did not go into detail about the specific transgressions and the consequences of specific actions, mostly in the interest of brevity. Hillmann said the district has reversed that decision and instead has defined the courses of action available to the school principals, which means the handbook has increased from 20 pages to 60 pages.
The district philosophy regarding discipline, he said, is for it to act as another learning tool. When a student breaks the rules and reaches the point where consequences are in order, it is the goal of the school district to hand those consequences down in a manner that will teach the student about the behavior they have exhibited and why it is not acceptable.
“We have to remember that these are children. We are trying to help them learn how to conduct themselves. We hand out discipline in a way that the consequences make sense and are logical. We make sure that there’s accountability for what was done.” – Superintendent of Schools Dr. Matt Hillmann
By and large, Northfield students are about as well behaved as any student body could be. Hillmann said he hears this from substitute teachers who work in many different school districts on a regular basis.
“Our students are as well behaved, I think, as we could expect students to behave in the context of what’s going on in our culture right now. And one of the ways I know that is because I listen to our substitute teachers who don’t just substitute in Northfield, but all over. They come back and say, overall, the students here are very well behaved.”
The Student Citizenship Handbook has been posted to the district website at northfieldschools.org.
