By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Princeton school officials, having had to confront racist and anti-Semtic incidents in their district, want to send a message to the public that they have no tolerance for “hate-motivated behavior.”
Students and staff would be punished for using “slurs,” “negative stereotyping” or making threats electronically, among other things contained in a new policy that will have a first reading at the board meeting next week. That conduct already is prohibited by state harassment, intimidation and bullying laws, school board vice president Dafna Kendal said this week.
But it would seek to help officials, who find themselves confronted by community members asking how the district is addressing such incidents.
“And we can’t say anything because of student privacy issues,” Kendal said Tuesday at a board policy committee when the proposal was discussed. “So the board wants to have something to say, ‘Well look at our policy, these are some of the consequences the students may face.’ ”
Based on the proposal, those consequences can include students getting counseling, suspended or barred from extracurricular or co-curricular activities. Staff members also face punishments if they commit such acts, “knowingly allow” them to occur or don’t report them.
The policy, assuming it passes, would be on track to be adopted in January and take effect for the current academic year.
Located in a progressive town that prides itself on its liberal values, the district was stung by the revelation that Princeton High School students, in 2016, had been found playing a Nazi-vs. Jews-themed beer drinking game in a private home. Then in March, a high school student posted the n-word on Snapchat. But more recently, officials have seen issues surface in the lower grades.
“With the latest incidents at (John Witherspoon Middle School), the board feels very strongly that we need to send a message, as (Superintendent) Steve (Cochrane) has, that this kind of behavior is not going to be tolerated,” Kendal said Tuesday.
Kendal, speaking after the policy committee meeting, declined to elaborate on what “incidents” had occurred at the middle school. The only matter to become public involved a Google spreadsheet, created by teachers at JW for a science lab, being vandalized with racist, anti-Semitic and sexual messages, the district has said. Cochrane said last month that a student had uploaded the spreadsheet to an online platform, but he had said, at the time, that the district did not know who was responsible for writing the offensive material.
“It was absolutely addressed from a disciplinary and an educational standpoint,” Cochrane said Tuesday at the policy committee meeting.
In terms of the reach of the proposed policy, some officials sounded this week like they want the rules to apply even during non-school hours, off school grounds.
“The point is, originally we wanted it to be, sort of, any incidents 24/7, regardless of location,” board member Betsy Baglio said Tuesday.
But there are limitations to what the district can do.
“So the law would say that it becomes the school’s responsibility when the behavior outside of school impacts the learning inside of school,” Cochrane said. “So just the sheer act of the behavior outside of school — we don’t have jurisdiction unless it’s impacting learning during the school day.”
