In order to ensure the safety of students and to avoid misunderstandings, the School’s Board of Trustees has adopted the following Code of Conduct for Adult-Student Interactions at San Domenico School. This Code of Conduct outlines (1) standards for interactions between employees and students, and (2) standards for interactions between contractors or volunteers and students.  The School encourages parents or other members of the school community who have concerns about employee, contractor, or volunteer compliance with this policy or any other questions to contact the Head of School or the Chair of the Board of Trustees.

Employee Interactions with Students

As part of San Domenico’s commitment to ensuring the safety and well-being of our students, we require our employees to comply with the following policy on Employee-Student Relations. 

The School encourages close, warm relationships between students and School faculty and staff. At the same time, it is important that each employee’s conduct is at all times professional. Employees must maintain appropriate boundaries between themselves and students to ensure that they avoid even the perception of inappropriate conduct. The objective of this policy is not to restrain positive relationships between employees and students, but to prevent relationships that could lead to, or may be perceived as, sexual misconduct. Employees must ensure that they do not cross the boundaries of a professional relationship.

Below are examples of conduct that cross the boundaries of appropriate relationships with students and guidelines for maintaining boundaries. Although the examples below refer to employee interactions with students, employees must also maintain professional boundaries in interactions with any minors with whom an employee interacts as part of their employment with the School (e.g., applicants, siblings of students, former students, students visiting from other schools, etc.). Employees should also be familiar with the guidelines for contractors and volunteers that are included later in this policy.

The examples below will not address every situation an employee may encounter, so employees should confer with their supervisor or the Head of School if they have questions. If an employee encounters a situation where they find it necessary to engage in conduct described in the following examples, they must inform their immediate supervisor, their supervisor, or the Head of School in advance. If it is not possible to provide the information in advance, the employee must inform their immediate supervisor, or the Head of School as soon as possible after the exceptional event occurs.

Employees who engage in conduct described below or who otherwise cross appropriate professional boundaries with students, other minors they encounter in connection with their employment, or former students may be subject to corrective action up to and including termination of employment. 

Unacceptable Behavior

Below is a list of examples of conduct that may involve inappropriate crossing of the boundaries of the professional relationship:

• Employees must not have unnecessary physical contact with students.
  • In applying this standard, the School will consider the age and developmental stage of the student, as well as the context. Examples of generally accepted physical personal contact in safe-touch areas (i.e., shoulder, upper back, arm) include if the behavior is obviously appropriate, such as when giving a handshake, pat on the back, a high five, or brief embrace for celebration or support. Touching would also be appropriate where necessary for the health or safety of a student or as part of an employee’s professional duties (e.g., health center employees). 
  • Where physical touch is necessary for an employee to perform their job duties, including emergency situations where the safety of a child is involved, the employee must adhere to the following:
    • Except where it is necessary to perform their job duties (e.g. school nurse when privacy is professionally indicated), to the greatest extent possible, employees should not be alone with a student or in a space that cannot be observed by other adults.
    • Employees should always ask permission before touching any student. 
• Employees must comply with the Policy Against Harassment and Discrimination in the School’s Student and Family Handbooks. Among other things, the policy prohibits:
  • Making, or participating in, sexually inappropriate comments; sexual jokes, stories, or jokes/comments with sexual innuendo with or in the presence of students; or
  • Displaying sexually-oriented materials in the presence of students, except where part of approved curriculum.
• Employees should not intentionally be alone with a student outside of the School’s program expectations and/or outside of assigned responsibilities in a vehicle or a space that cannot be observed by others where other staff or supervisors do not know the interaction is occurring.  If an employee must be alone with a student to perform their job duties, the employee should:
  • Inform a supervisor that they will be or have been alone with a student;
  • Meet in a public place or a place that is readily observable, if possible. If meeting in a classroom or office, have the blinds up or door open;
  • Avoid physical contact of any sort with the student;
  • Document in writing and submit to the Head of School or School Director any unusual incident, including but not limited to disclosures by the student of abuse or maltreatment, behavior problems and how they are handled, injuries, or any interactions with the student that are significant or unusual.
• Employees may not have contact with a student or group of students off campus or outside of school-sponsored activities, unless part of an employee’s regular job duties.
  • Employees may host end-of-year or other class parties for students with advanced permission of supervisors and parents or guardians;
  • Employees may not tutor or coach students outside their regular job duties unless the arrangement is reported to the school and conducted in a manner consistent with published school policies
• Employees may not use or be under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs in the presence of students, may not consume alcohol while supervising or chaperoning students, and may not encourage students to use alcohol or illegal drugs.
  • Employees may consume alcohol at school-sanctioned events only in moderation, only with advance permission from a supervisor, and only when they are not supervising or chaperoning students. Excessive alcohol consumption is prohibited.
• Employees may not engage in preferential treatment or excessive personal attention toward a particular student (or group of students) including:
  • Giving gifts to a student that are of a personal or intimate nature;
  • Seeking emotional involvement with a student for the employee’s benefit;
  • Becoming involved with a student so that a reasonable person may suspect inappropriate behavior.
• Employees must keep communications with students professional and, when communicating with students, may not:
  • Use sexualized or suggestive language;
  • Gossip about, disparage, or share private information of other students or adult members of the school community;
  • Ask students personal or intimate questions unless this is part of an employee’s job duties (e.g., the school counselor);
  • Share the employee’s personal or intimate information with a student or discuss the employee’s personal problems with a student;
  • Discuss drug or alcohol use (except when necessary to the purpose of the employee’s professional duties);
  • Keep a student’s secrets or ask a student to keep secrets from other employees or their parents or guardians.
  • Send communications to students of a personal nature if the content is not about school activities;
• Employees must limit electronic communications with students as follows:
  • Inappropriate use of social media with or about students is not permitted (See policy on Social Media Contacts with Students and Their Families in the San Domenico Employee Handbook);
  • Employees should not use personal email or texting with students.
    • Employees should use school email or Google Chat as the default means of direct electronic communication with students. Text messages and text-like platforms, including SMS and WhatsApp, may be used only when reasonably necessary for school-related logistical, supervisory, or health and safety purposes, such as coordinating travel, pickups or drop-offs, schedule changes, or locating a student. Such communications should be limited to those purposes and should not be used for personal, social, or nonessential conversation. Whenever possible, employees should avoid one-on-one messaging and instead include another employee, a group of students, or another accountability measure appropriate to the circumstance. Employees travelling with students for field trips or other school activities may request a virtual phone number, which allows them to communicate with students and parents over voice/text while travelling, without disclosing their personal cell phone number. Employees should contact the Director of IT for more information.
• Employees must keep parents, supervisors, the appropriate administrator, or School counselor informed when a significant issue develops about a student. Failure to do so is not permitted. 
• Employees should not swear or use inappropriate language in the presence of students
• Employees should not make commentary in a derogatory or discriminatory manner to a student, either about that student or another student

Employees’ Duty to Report 

If an employee finds him or herself in a difficult situation related to boundaries, the employee should ask for advice from a Supervisor, School Level Director, School Counselor or Administrator. When any employee becomes aware of another employee, contractor, or volunteer crossing appropriate boundaries with a student, the employee must report the matter to a School Level Director, School Counselor or Head of School. In some circumstances, employees will also have the duty to report such conduct in accordance with the mandated reporter requirements.

The School encourages parents or other members of the School community who have concerns about adults crossing appropriate boundaries with students to inform the relevant Division Head or the Head of School.

Retaliation

The School will not retaliate against anyone who reports conduct that may violate this policy.  An employee who retaliates against an individual who makes a report under this policy will be subject to discipline.

Interactions between Contractors or Volunteers and Students

Below are examples of conduct that cross the boundaries of appropriate interactions with students and guidelines for maintaining boundaries. The examples below will not address every situation a contractor or volunteer may encounter, so they should confer with the School administrator overseeing their work if they have questions. 

• Contractors and volunteers may not have physical contact with a student except in emergency situations where physical contact is required to prevent physical harm to the student and no School employee is available to assist.
• Contractors and volunteers may not engage in conduct that would violate the Policy Against Harassment and Discrimination in the School’s Student and Family Handbooks including: 
  • Making, or participating in, sexually inappropriate comments; sexual jokes, stories, or jokes/comments with sexual innuendo with or in the presence of students; or
  • Displaying sexually-oriented materials in the presence of students, except where part of approved curriculum.
• Contractors and volunteers may not intentionally be alone with a student (1) in a vehicle (except in an emergency situation), (2) in a space that cannot be observed by others, or (3) away from campus, without permission of a School administrator and the student’s parent or guardian; 
• Contractors and volunteers may not have contact with a student or group of students off campus, outside of school-sponsored activities (except for volunteers who are also parents of School students who oversee contact between their children and other students).
• Contractors and volunteers may not be under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs in the presence of students or encourage them to use alcohol or illegal drugs.
• Contractors and volunteers may not engage in preferential treatment or excessive personal attention toward a particular student (or group of students) including:
  • Giving gifts to a student that are of a personal or intimate nature;
  • Seeking emotional involvement with a student for the adult’s benefit;
  • Becoming involved with a student so that a reasonable person may suspect inappropriate behavior.
• Contractors and volunteers must keep communications with students professional and, when communicating with students, may not:
  • Use pet names or terms of endearment for students;
  • Use sexualized or suggestive language;
  • Gossip about, disparage, or share private information of other students or adult members of the School community;
  • Ask students personal or intimate questions, share their own personal or intimate information, or discuss their personal problems;
  • Keep a student’s secrets or ask students to keep secrets from employees or the student’s parents or guardians.
• Contractors and volunteers may not connect with students (other than their own children or family friends) on any social media platform.

Volunteers and contractors may communicate electronically with students only when reasonably necessary for school-related logistical, supervisory, or health and safety purposes. Text messages and text-like platforms, including SMS and WhatsApp, should be used sparingly, only for those limited purposes, and never for personal or social communication with students. Whenever possible, such communication should not occur one-on-one and should instead include an employee, a group of students, or another appropriate accountability safeguard.