Moss Street & Children's Center
 

Home

Future Families

Enrolled Families

Student Employment

Other Resources

spacer
leftspacerright

DISCIPLINE AND GUIDANCE POLICY

The core of Moss Street philosophy regarding discipline and guidance is that each child and each adult will be treated in a respectful manner. Mutual respect between adults and children provides the foundation for the development of positive social interaction skills.

Standards of acceptable children’s behavior in Moss Street programs are established to:

  • assure the safety of all
  • foster a climate of sensitivity, mutual respect and willingness to contribute to the well-being of others
  • model cooperation, use of resources, including use of teacher time and other resources equitably
  • maintain facilities
  • assist children in learning strategies to resolve conflict and express emotions

Prevention of inappropriate behavior is emphasized by:

  • giving children freedom to explore and grow
  • having realistic expectations of behavior
  • communicating to children both the expectations for behavior and the reasons for these standards
  • establishing, when possible, consequences of inappropriate behavior.

PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN BEHAVIOR GUIDANCE

To support Moss Street’s work in encouraging positive behavior, parents have an obligation to report all relevant conduct issues that occur at school or other child care facilities to Moss Street staff.

  • This information will be used to determine whether a child needs guidance and alert staff to possible trends in behavior.
  • This information will not be used for discipline or discharge unless there is a nexus between the behavior and the child’s ability to be a member of the Moss Street community.
  • Moss Street staff may initiate planning conversations to develop strategies to provide children guidance in response to off-site misconduct; the parents will be fully involved just as they are in on-site behavior discussions.

When adult interventions are needed in response to children’s negative behavior, the following steps will be taken:

  • Take necessary steps to assure safety of all children.
  • Attempt to redirect child's disruptive behavior to a positive, alternate activity.
  • Carefully remove child from an area when their behavior is unacceptable or disruptive.
  • Involve children in discussion of acceptable and unacceptable behavior, following a cooling off period.
  • Consequences will, as much as possible, be logical outcomes of behavior (e.g., cleaning up spilled item or learning age-appropriate conflict resolution skills after negative interaction).
  • When negative behaviors are repetitious and/or continue over time, clear and consistent non-punitive consequences will be established and utilized consistently. In such instances the parent(s) will be fully involved in discussions and planning of actions. It is contrary to Moss Street policy for children, under ANY circumstances, to be threatened with, or subject to, physical discipline, or to be subjected to demeaning personal criticism.
  • Some conduct, such as that which endangers or causes harm to other children or the staff of Moss Street, may warrant immediate discharge from Moss Street after the conduct has been investigated and documented.

The decision to terminate/discharge is decided on a case by case basis. We reserve the right to terminate services at any time.

CONFIDENITIALITY OF DISCHARGE

If a child is discharged from Moss Street because of behavior that has put another child at risk of caused another child harm, the parent(s) of the child at risk or harmed may be notified that the discharged child is no longer at Moss Street, but will not be given details about the discharge. Moss Street will not release information about current or former families, except as required by law or court order.

 

.

© MSCC University of Oregon