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Welcome to Mondays with Maria, brought to you by the Foundation for Orange County Public Schools. Here's OCPS Superintendent, Dr. Maria Vazquez.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Hello everyone. We're back. Jamie Holmes is with us today and we are a couple of days into the new school year. I hope everything has gone well for you.
Jamie Holmes: It's going great. Thank you so much for having me back. You had a very busy summer.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Yes, it went by a flash.
Jamie Holmes: Getting days off?
Dr. Maria Vazquez: A little, I had a little vacation.
Jamie Holmes: Alright, so there were some big changes and one of those big changes is to the Code of Student Conduct. So how did that all come about?
Dr. Maria Vazquez: One of the biggest changes that you will see for this upcoming year is the Code of Student Conduct. Last year, you remember I had town hall meetings and we engaged our public. What was going well, what wasn't and what the clear concern across all of the individuals that we spoke to had to do with discipline. And so we established a discipline task force that dug into that a little bit. And one of the items that came up was cell phone usage and how much the use of cell phone was contributing to bullying, to fights to students not paying attention. And so that brought about this change in the policy.
Jamie Holmes: So what will that change be?
Dr. Maria Vazquez: So this will be new for many of our students. Some of our schools have been implementing this, but the vast majority have not. So beginning with this school year, cell phones need to be silenced and they need to be put away. And that means that they can be in their purse, in their backpack in a satchel, so that they are not a disruption in the classroom. We will be giving students an opportunity to ease into this new practice. So up until September 5th, we'll be reminding students if they have their cell phones out there will be no consequences that are issued up until that time. We also want to make sure our parents and our students know that if you need to reach out to your child or if a child needs to reach out to their parent, they will have the opportunity to do so during the school day. So the fact that they don't have their cell phones available and are and are on does not mean that they won't be able to communicate with them if there is a need.
Jamie Holmes: It's a herculean task because you have to be there to obviously educate these children and they have been a big distraction. Yes. So, but at the same time, you've got to be able to provide them in case there's an issue.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Correct. And additionally, any child that may need to use their cell phone as part of their individual education plan or their 504 or maybe a health their health plan, some students may need to monitor their glucose and they use their cell phone. That will be allowed. Additionally, if a teacher deems that the cell phone is needed for a lesson, they will be allowed to use them as well.
Jamie Holmes: So this is all explained in the Code of Student Conduct, which is available at OCPS.net. And of course that also needs to be signed off by a parent or a guardian, correct?
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Yes. We encourage all of our families to review the Code of Conduct and the consequences so that they are aware what happens if a child violates one of the items in our code.
Jamie Holmes: Okay. So of course we're going to continue to update families on topics important to you right here on Mondays with Maria.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Don't forget about the thought exchange that's open right now. You can share your ideas on topics or questions. The QR code is right there on your screen. I'll see you next Monday.
Mondays with Maria has been brought to you by the Foundation for Orange County Public Schools. Investing in our children today to strengthen our community tomorrow. For more OCPS news and information, visit theslice.ocps.net.