School board revises student conduct code

KINGSTON, N.Y. » The Board of Education has updated the Kingston school district’s student code of conduct but did not approve a committee recommendation to add “failure to practice safe road crossings” as a violation.

The code revisions were approved during a board meeting Wednesday at which Trustee James Shaughnessy said it’s difficult to enforce the road-crossing rule.

“We have parents that drop off their kids along Broadway and that’s going to continue next year,” Shaughnessy said. “... The front entrance is still going to be the main entrance.”

A multiyear renovation project underway at the school ultimately will move the main entrance to the rear of the campus.

Most changes to the code were approved unanimously at Wednesday’s board meeting, though only Trustee Danielle Guido favored adding “failure to practice safe road crossings” as a violation.

“I know they’re having some accidents where students have been hit,” she said.

In general, the approved changes to the code update language to reflect a move toward “restorative justice.”

The new language emphasizes that violations are to be considered teachable

moments, though with progressively stronger actions for repeated infractions.

Most of the changes also remove the word “offense” in favor of “behavior” when describing violations, and they replace “consequences”

with “outcomes” when describing actions taken by administrators.

School district Superintendent Paul Padalino said the changes are largely about tenor and tone.

“The biggest thing in this

is just to change some language to reflect our move toward restorative justice,” he said. “This is ... their first shot across the bow to change things to reflect, philosophically, our approach to discipline.”