-
The Gates Chili Central School District Board of Education is committed to providing a safe and orderly school environment where students may receive, and district personnel may deliver, quality educational services without disruption or interference. Responsible behavior by students, teachers, other district personnel, parents, and other visitors is essential to achieving this goal.
The Board recognizes the need to clearly define these expectations for acceptable conduct on school property, to identify the possible consequences of unacceptable conduct, and to ensure that discipline when necessary is administered promptly and fairly. To this end, the Board has adopted a Code of Conduct & Character.
The GCCSD complete Code of Conduct & Character is available for review here: Code Of Conduct 2024-25
The Spartan Way:
The continual development of students’ character is one of our highest priorities at Gates Chili Middle School. To be successful in school and in life, students must not only have the academic skills to meet the demands of the 21st century, but they must also have the social skills and moral fabric to contribute to the advancement of our society. The values of the Spartan Way outline the behaviors and attitudes which this community embraces as positive ways of life. At Gates Chili Middle School, we teach and model the Spartan Way daily. Our Code of Conduct and Character establishes the standards of behavior for the students and staff in our school community.
Respect, responsibility, compassion, and hard work comprise our core values.
Respect - A person of character values all persons, respects the dignity, privacy, and freedom of others, is courteous, and is accepting of differences.
Responsibility - A person of character is accountable, pursues excellence, and exercises self-control.
Compassion - A person of character is caring, compassionate, kind, and considerate.
Hard Work - A person of character does their share, helps the community, and is a good school citizen.Dress Code
In collaboration with students, the Gates Chili Central School District has established a student dress code to foster equity, safety, and consistency in all schools. The dress code is designed in a manner that does not reinforce stereotypes and is meant to minimize reasons for conflict. The dress code welcomes students to attend school in a way that allows them to express their identity and to wear protective hairstyles (including but not limited to braids, locks, and twists) or to wear their hair in a particular texture in accordance with the CROWN Act. Students should be able to dress comfortably for school, express their identity, and engage in the educational environment without fear of unnecessary discipline or body shaming. Students may wear non-religious head coverings as long as their face is visible to staff at all times. Reasonable accommodations based upon religious or cultural practices will be provided to the extent possible.
Students must wear:
● Clothing that covers private body parts with opaque (non-transparent) material
● Shoes - no bare feet
● Clothing that is suitable for all scheduled classroom activities, including physical education, science labs, technology spaces and other activities where unique hazards exist. Students will be made aware of such requirements.
● Clothing that does not depict or advocate:
- violence
- profanity
- obscenity
- criminal activity
- use of alcohol, tobacco, vape products, or drugs or pornography or nudity
- symbols of hate or hate speech targeting race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, religious affiliation, or any other protected groups.
School staff will support students’ understanding of these requirements and address instances of not meeting requirements with Tier 1 responses and interventions. This includes asking students to modify their appearance by covering, removing or replacing the item. As with other Tier 1 behaviors, repeated instances of not meeting dress code requirements may be considered a persistent Tier 1 behavior and may require additional support beyond Tier 1 interventions.
Cell Phones
The school-wide expectations pertaining to the use of cell phones and other personal electronic devices (tablets, smartwatches, ear buds, gaming consoles, etc.) is that they are silenced and away during the school day EXCEPT during a student’s lunch period and when permitted for instructional purposes by a classroom teacher. Students who require more than one redirection or reminder on this policy will need to keep the device in their community office for the remainder of the school day. Students are always allowed to contact their families from any device when in their community office.
