Puerto Rico School Discipline Laws & Regulations: Scope

Discipline Compendium

Puerto Rico School Discipline Laws & Regulations: Scope

Category: Codes of Conduct
Subcategory: Scope
State: Puerto Rico

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LAWS

3 L.P.R.A. § 9809b. Disciplinary measures and sanctions.

(a) The disciplinary measures taken by the school's administrative personnel must be directed at improving student behavior, thereby creating a school environment that is safe and optimal for learning and improving a student's academic performance. The disciplinary process shall be preventive, progressive, just, and reasonable for rehabilitation and re-education purposes, while upholding the rights of the school community in general. For such purposes, if a student undergoes a disciplinary process or an evaluation by a psychologist or a counselor, said process shall be completed within fifteen (15) days from the commencement thereof.

(b) The strategies used to address disciplinary issues or toxic conduct must be directed at repairing the damage done and restoring the respect and peaceful coexistence that must prevail in the school community and, specifically, to reintegrate students into the school community.

(c) Teachers shall be responsible for the school's discipline, both inside and outside of the classrooms, thereby ensuring that students satisfy this requirement. They shall refer disciplinary issues to the School Principal after having exhausted all resources available to them, such as, but not limited to: restorative measures, mediation, interviews, and meetings with the student, his guardian, or the interdisciplinary team, or referring the student to the homeroom teacher, the school's social worker, or a professional counselor, among others.

(d) Before imposing any sanction or taking any disciplinary action, all intervention and counseling resources available to students, parents, custodians, or guardians must be exhausted. These measures must be documented and filed in the student's record. Moreover, the student subject to the disciplinary measures and the affected party shall always be afforded an opportunity to express themselves and be heard in an orderly, timely, and respectful manner.

REGULATIONS

Regulation Num. 8115. Article IX, C. Institutional order.

1. Members of the school community and public order officers will be responsible for institutional order on school grounds, within one hundred (100) meters of the school, and in activities organized by the school, as established by this regulation. They will assure the development of the best relationships in the school and will make the maximum effort to create an environment favorable to the development of responsibility, cooperation, and good school discipline.

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