DKBA – District Employee and Student Relations

District Employee and Student Relations

Professional and Ethical Relationships—

District employees shall maintain professional and appropriate demeanor and relationships with students, both during and outside of school hours, as well as both on and off campus, that foster an effective, non-disruptive and safe learning environment. District employees shall establish and maintain appropriate personal boundaries in teaching, supervising and interacting with students and avoid behavior that could reasonably lead to even an appearance of impropriety. Therefore, the following prohibitions shall continue to apply for an additional two years after the graduation, or separation from the District, of any student who was enrolled in a District school, including a prohibition during this period on entertaining or socializing with former students in such a manner as to create the perception that a dating or intimate relationship exists.1

Flaskamp v. Dearborn Public Schools, 385 F.3D 935, 944 (6th Cir. 2004)

Prohibited Employee Behavior—

Prohibited District employee behavior toward students includes, but is not limited to:

1.    flirting;

2.    accepting personal gifts from or giving gifts to students that would suggest or further an inappropriate relationship;

3.    engaging in frequent personal communication with a student (via phone, e-mail, texts, letters, notes, etc.) unrelated to course work or official school matters;

4.    providing inappropriate physical displays of affection;

5.    making suggestive comments;

6.    dating;

7.    making requests for sexual activity;

8.    engaging in inappropriate touching or any sexual contact and/or sexual relations; and

9.    any conduct prohibited by Policy DAI.

Such behavior is inappropriate and a violation of District policy regardless of whether the student may have “consented.”

District employees are prohibited from dating or engaging in any undue familiarity with students, regardless of the student’s age. Any action or comment by a District employee that would reasonably invite romantic or sexual involvement with a student is in violation of District policy.

Employees are not authorized to allow students in their homes for school-related social activities without prior written permission from the school principal.

Reporting—

Any District employee who has knowledge of or witnesses any possible occurrence of prohibited employee behavior toward students shall report the incident to the school principal or a District administrator. Anonymous complaints of prohibited employee behavior toward students shall also be investigated by the District. Reports of allegations of prohibited employee behavior toward students shall be promptly investigated and follow the procedures utilized for complaints of harassment within the District, including confidentiality.

If a student initiates inappropriate behavior toward a District employee, that employee shall promptly document the incident and report it to a building principal or supervisor.

            1The two-year extension shall apply to all certificated staff, as well as classified staff over the age of twenty-one.