Policy FHAE - Safe Schools: Disruptive Student Behavior
Policy FHAE - Safe Schools Disruptive Student Behavior (PDF)
Issue Date: January 20, 2021
Updated: November 20, 2024
Disruptive Student Behavior
It is a violation of District policy for a student to engage in disruptive student behavior. Disruptive student behavior includes:
- Frequent or flagrant willful disobedience, defiance of proper authority, or disruptive behavior, including the use of foul, profane, vulgar, or abusive language;
- Willful destruction or defacing of school property;
- Behavior or threatened behavior which poses an immediate and significant threat to the welfare, safety, or morals of other students or school personnel or to the operation of the school;
- Illicit use, possession, or distribution of a controlled substance, drug paraphernalia, a tobacco product, an electronic cigarette product, or an alcoholic;
- The commission of an act involving the use of force or the threatened use of force which if committed by an adult would be a felony or class A misdemeanor.
- Behavior listed below which threatens harm or does harm to the school or school property, or to a person associated with the school, or property associated with that person, regardless of where it occurs; as well as violation listed below that affect another student or staff member, or any serious violation occurring in a school building, in or on school property, or in conjunction with any school activity, including:
- the possession, control, or actual or threatened use of a real weapon, explosive, or noxious or flammable material;
- the actual or threatened use of a look-alike weapon with intent to intimidate another person or to disrupt normal school activities; or
- the sale, control, or distribution of a drug or controlled substance as defined in Utah Code 58-37-2, an imitation controlled substance defined in Utah Code § 58-37b-2, or drug paraphernalia as defined in Utah Code § 58-37a-3.
- Hazing, demeaning, or assaultive behavior, whether consensual or not, including behavior involving physical violence, restraint, improper touching, or inappropriate exposure of body parts not normally exposed in public settings, forced ingestion of any substance, or any act which would constitute a crime against a person or public order under Utah law.
Notice of Disruptive Student Behavior
A school principal or the principal’s designee shall issue a Notice of Disruptive Student Behavior to a student, nine years of age or older, who:
- Engages in disruptive student behavior, which does not result in suspension or expulsion, three times during the school year; or
- Engages in disruptive student behavior, which results in suspension or expulsion, once during the school year.
The Notice of Disruptive Student Behavior shall:
- Include a list of available resources, including a school counselor or other school representative designated to work with the student, to assist the parent in resolving the student’s disruptive behavior problem before the student becomes subject to the jurisdiction of the juvenile court as discussed below;
- Require the student and a parent of the student to meet with school authorities to discuss the student’s disruptive behavior and cooperate in correcting the disruptive student behavior;
- Outline the procedure the parent can follow to contest the notice of disruptive student behavior; and
- Shall be mailed by certified mail to, or served on, the parent of the student.
Utah Admin. Rules R277-609-10 (June 13, 2023)
A copy of the Notice of Disruptive Student Behavior and any related documentation shall be retained by the school as documentation regarding the notice.
Habitual Disruptive Student Behavior Notice
A habitual disruptive student behavior notice may only be issued by the school principal, a designee of the school principal, or a truancy specialist, to a student, nine years or age or older, who:
- Engages in disruptive student behavior, that does not result in suspension or expulsion, at least six times during the school year;
- Engages in disruptive student behavior, that (A) does not result in suspension or expulsion, at least three times during the school year; and (B) that results in suspension or expulsion, at least once during the school year; or
- Engages in disruptive student behavior that results in suspension or expulsion at least twice during the school year.
Within five days after the day on which a habitual disruptive student behavior notice is issued, a representative of the school district shall provide documentation, to a parent of the student who receives the notice, of the efforts to attempt to resolve the minor's disruptive student behavior problems made by the designated school counselor or representative identified in the notice of disruptive student behavior.