• For a full list of procedures to follow if injured, see “School Safety”.
• The UFT Victim Support Program is at
  1-212-598-6853.
• The DOE’s 32-page Discipline Code is scheduled for revision this year.
• To learn more about the DOE student discipline code, see the UFT’s
  “A Parent’s Guide to Student Conduct”.
• Learn how to protect yourself – and how your UFT chapter can improve school safety – in the UFT’s “Security in the Schools” booklet.
• The UFT has published a simplified Parent’s Guide to Student Conduct.
  
• If you are injured on the job, see your UFT chapter leader about your rights and how to preserve them.
• The UFT’s Victim Support Program (1-212-598-6853) contacts every member who becomes a crime victim, offering advice, counseling and assistance with police, the judicial system and the DOE’s medical division.
• The DOE will reimburse you up to $100 for stolen or destroyed property, but being a less attractive target to the thief is the best policy. Lock up your valuables.
• Report all safety incidents at www.uft.org. Look for the orange button.

Safety and Discipline

As a professional, you expect to have a safe working environment. Sadly, that isn’t always the case in New York Cit’s schools. Some of your students may be disruptive or have other behavior problems. Or intruders may come into your building. It happens.

Serious learning cannot take place in an atmosphere of fear or chaos. That’s why the UFT has worked to make schools safer.

The results are evident. The fact that schools have school safety agents, security systems, alternative settings for disruptive students, a zero-tolerance policy on weapons, and a systemwide Student Discipline Code is in significant part due to union pressure and expertise.

Here are a few things you can do to protect yourself, your students and your school:

Rules

• Start in your own classroom by defining consequences for behavior from the first day of school — and then standing by your rules.
• Become aware of the systemwide Student Discipline Code and any variations on it that your school has adopted. Stand behind that code, too. It might be worthwhile discussing it with your students.
• The discipline code calls for “progressive discipline,” a list of infractions that are matched to punishments that can or must be taken in each case.

• Learn about the school safety plan that your principal is obliged by contract to negotiate with your union chapter. This is a plan specific to your building that details every facet of security in your school. If you experience any safety-related problems, talk with your chapter leader to see if the safety plan addresses them. If the administration or the school system fails to enforce the plan, the union can take action.
• The UFT’s Violence Prevention Program works with individuals and schools to improve safety. Your chapter leader may ask representatives to come to your school.
• If you should have themisfortune to be injured by a student or intruder, the UFT’s Victim Support Program will help you on a one-to-one basis.

Student Fights

• ; Observe students for signs of hostility and aggression.
• Use nonviolent techniques to break up fights or confrontations. Speak loudly to order students to stop fighting.
• Send for help, by intercom or phone if possible, or by means of another staff member or a student. Many schools use a special pass with your classroom’s room number which, if carried out of the room, is a code to say there’s an emergency there.
• Remember that a trained school safety agent, supervisor or dean can do more than you can do alone and will serve as a witness if any injuries occur to you, another staff member or a child.
• Breaking up fights is the prime cause of schoolrelated injury among UFT members. DO NOT get between fighting students unless you believe it is absolutely necessary to prevent serious injury.

Intruders

• Every school is required to have “intruder alert procedures.” This message must not alert the intruder that he/she has been discovered. Only the staff should recognize the message.

Securing Personal Property

• Try to minimize theft of your belongings by not wearing or bringing valuables to school.
• Keep your pocketbook, briefcase and coat under lock and key.
• Never walk away from your laptop.
• Keep expensive jewelry concealed.
• Never display large amounts of cash.

Reporting Incidents

If you are involved in an incident or become aware of a violation of the safety plan, immediately report it to your chapter leader and school administration. To make sure your school is as safe as possible, you (or your chapter leader) should also report what happened to the UFT so the union can address the situation, make sure your school has the safety resources it needs and keep accurate records. The easiest way to report is online.

• Follow this link for the “Safety/Discipline report,” and follow the directions.
• If you need immediate advice, call the Emergency Hotline at 1-212-701-9407.

Discipline Code

It’s the principal’s responsibility to maintain security, safety and discipline, and you have a right to insist that misbehaving students are disciplined. The guidelines the school must follow are established by the Department of Education’s systemwide Discipline Code, which:

• Establishes a ladder of consequences with specific mandatory disciplinary responses to match the severity of various student infractions.
• Sets minimum and maximum penalties for each degree of severity.
• Varies penalties by grade level, either K-5 or 6-12, so that the age and general maturity of the student are considered. Some infractions may not apply to students in grades K-3.
• Specifies that whenever possible, interventions should begin with the lowest level of disciplinary response.
• Provides graduated penalties for students who engage in repeated misbehaviors despite the prior imposition of appropriate disciplinary measures

What the principal must do:

• While in most cases the principal has some discretion about what action to take, he or she must impose minimal or mandated disciplinary actions.
• If a principal has not followed the steps required by the code — for example, if he or she has allowed a student who should have been suspended back in your classroom— you should speak to your chapter leader for advice and UFT borough safety representative for advice about how best to resolve the matter. The use of force against a staff member mandates a superintendent’s suspension.

Special Education Students

It is a common misperception that disciplinary consequences cannot be imposed on students with disabilities who commit disciplinary infractions. Students with disabilities are subject to the Discipline Code, but they are entitled to additional procedural protections. The procedures for disciplining students with disabilities are fully explained in Chancellor’s Regulation A-443. Both the UFT Safety and Health Department and the office of the vice president from special education are able to assist members with questions about safety and discipline issues involving students with disabilities.

School Safety Plan

The contract requires that every school have an individually tailored school safety plan. It’s a blueprint for handling all sorts of potentially dangerous situations, from routine activities like screening visitors to crises that require an emergency response.

• Every fall, the safety plan must be reviewed and, if necessary, revised.
• The principal is required to collaborate with your union chapter on reviewing and updating the plan, not just consult it.
• If you believe your school needs to change or add procedures to address potentially threatening situations or changed circumstances, contact your chapter leader.
• If you see that provisions of the safety plan are being violated, alert your chapter leader. She or he will try to resolve such matters informally or report it to the UFT district representative.
• Failing that, he or she may decide to file a safety grievance, a high-priority complaint that must be answered within 24 hours and has a fast-track appeal process.
• If you do not want to personally file such a grievance, your chapter leader can do it in the chapter’s name.

Violence Prevention Training

You can take advantage of several union initiatives to learn how to enhance your own safety in school:

• The union’s School Safety Department offers violence prevention training. This series of workshops will show you how to identify the warning signs of danger to yourself and your students and teaches you ways to defuse volatile situations before they reach the point of no return. Using research from psychology and practical knowledge gained from law enforcement, these workshops have enabled thousands of members to avoid confrontations that could have led to violence.
• In addition, the union offers many workshops on classroom management, on teaching students self-discipline and on instructional techniques that engage students so they do not start misbehaving out of restlessness. Check the New York Teacher for upcoming sessions.

What if I’m Injured?

Unfortunately, UFT members do get injured in the line of duty, or even assaulted in schools. If this should happen to you:

• The UFT’s Victim Support Program will contact you to offer every assistance – legal, medical and psychological.
• If you are assaulted:

Here are the forms you may need to file:

• Department of Education Occurrence Report: Principal must file within 24 hours; you sign to acknowledge seeing it and can add a statement.
• Comprehensive Accident Report: Details nature of your injuries; principal files within 24 hours.
• UFT Incident Form: Notifies UFT School Safety and Health Department; your chapter leader can give you this form or it can be completed online.
• Application for Excuse of Absence (OP 198): You and your physician complete it. For jobrelated injuries, staff members apply for line-of-duty leave (section “C” on form).
• Confidential Medical Form (OP 407): If the nature of the incident or injury is confidential, have your doctor fill this out and mail it to the board’s medical office.
• Assignment Form (OP 200): This legal form, which must be notarized, states that if you sue and collect a settlement larger than the salary paid during your convalescence, you will refund your salary to the board.
• Request for Reimbursement of Medical Expenses-Assault (OP 505A): In most cases, the DOE will reimburse you for all of your out-of-pocket medical expenses if you are assaulted.
• Request for Reimbursement for Loss of or Damage to Personal Property (OP 504): The board will reimburse you for stolen or destroyed property up to $100, but only if the property is of the type that is normally brought into schools. (Warning: Don’t bring valuables!). There are special procedures for eyeglasses damaged in assault cases.

Next page: FYI