Behavior Guidelines and Discipline Policy

Religious Education Behavior Guidelines Based on Our Seven UU Principles

• We believe that each and every person is important
  

Safety is our first concern!

Children must remain in classrooms or supervised areas until picked up by parents.

Only gentle play is appropriate on church grounds.

Treat everyone with respect. Use caring language and behavior.

• We believe that all people should be treated fairly and kindly.

Listen and follow directions.

Be polite. Take turns.

Care about one another.

• We believe that we should accept one another and keep on learning together.

Make a commitment to regular attendance. Your friends and teachers depend upon you.

Include everyone in activities and planning.

Friends are welcome. Let them know our rules.

Participate with enthusiasm.

• We believe that each person must be free to search for what is true and right in life.

Share your ideas and respect the ideas of others.

• We believe that all persons should have the right to speak out and have a vote about what concerns them.

Express your opinions constructively.

Respect the decision of the group.

• We believe in working for a peaceful, fair and free world.

Ask for help when you need it.

Do your best to get along with others and to be helpful.

Be willing to listen to reminders about your behavior.

Participate in church social action projects.

• We believe in caring for our planet earth, the home we share with all living things.

Take good care of our church. Help clean up.

Be careful with our space, furniture and materials.

Use only what you need. Recycle.

Be gentle with the plants and animals. Do not climb trees or walk in the gardens.

This was developed at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin, Texas and reprinted with permission from Andrea Lerner, Metro New York Religious Education Consultant, UUA.

Accotink’s Discipline Policy

If you have a disruptive child, the teacher should remind the child of the class-created covenant and ask the child to stop. If the child continues to be disruptive, the teacher should try one or more of the following techniques, depending on the situation:

• Separate child from others
• Move the child next to a teacher, or a teacher next to the child
• Try to involve the child in the group discussion
• Give the child a special project to do (color, write)
• Separate the child from the class and activities for a period of time. A teacher may accompany the child out of the room or you can call on the DLE or LEC member, who will be floating around.

If the child continues to behave inappropriately, try the above measures again. Offer the child choices, including correcting their behavior and taking a break from the class. The teacher should also speak with the child’s parents and ask them to speak with the child about their behavior at church.

If the child misbehaves again (third week), he/she should be brought to the DLE. The parents may be asked to leave the service and will be asked to attend class with their child the following week.

If the behavior of a child is disruptive or inappropriate to the extent that the teachers deem it necessary to remove the child from class (and skip above ‘steps’), they are welcome to do so.

This system is designed to treat the child with respect and to give him/her several opportunities to be responsible for modifying his/her behavior. It is also designed to inform parents of issues early on so that they and teachers can work together to help the child.