3.7.7 School Employee Code of Conduct with Students

The San Francisco Unified School District Board of Education expects all employees to exercise good judgment and maintain professional standards and ethical boundaries when interacting with students. This Code of Conduct with Students contains sections from applicable Board Policies that apply specifically to adult interactions with students. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of unprofessional conduct and employees are encouraged to view the complete Board Policy documents by using the links and references below.

Inappropriate employee conduct includes, but is not be limited to:

Violations of Professional Standards

1. Engaging in any conduct that endangers students, including, but not limited to, physical violence, threats of violence, or possession of a firearm or other weapon
2. Engaging in harassing or discriminatory behavior towards students, or failing or refusing to intervene when an act of discrimination, harassment, intimidation, or bullying against a student is observed
3. Physically abusing, sexually abusing, neglecting, or otherwise willfully harming or injuring a child
4. Using profane, obscene, or abusive language against or in the presence of students
5. Retaliating against a student who voices a concern or makes a complaint about an adult’s behavior

Violations of Professional Adult/Student Boundaries

1. Engaging in inappropriate socialization or fraternization with a student or soliciting, encouraging, or maintaining an inappropriate written, verbal, electronic, or physical relationship with a student
2. Being alone with a student without a legitimate educational purpose
3. Inviting a student to the employee’s home or visiting the student’s home without a legitimate educational purpose
4. Maintaining personal contact with a student outside of school by electronic communications, including social media, or other means without including the school principal and/or the student’s parents/guardians
5. Singling out a student for personal attention, using personalized terms of endearment, disclosing the adult’s personal, sexual or private concerns, and/or encouraging students to confide personal or family problems with no legitimate educational purpose
6. Touching students or initiating inappropriate physical contact without a legitimate educational purpose
7. Transporting student(s) in a personal vehicle in a non-emergency situation and without written authorization
8. Dating, flirting, or otherwise attempting to form a romantic or sexual relationship with any student, regardless of the student’s age
9. Making sexual slurs, sexual jokes, engaging in sexual banter, innuendo, or writing sexual notes to students
10. Leering, or making personal comments about a student’s body
11. Displaying or transmitting sexual objects, pornography, pictures or depictions to a student

Duty to Report

Any employee who observes or has knowledge of inappropriate conduct between another employee and a student shall immediately report such conduct to the site administrator or Assistant Superintendent. An employee who has knowledge of or suspect’s child abuse or neglect shall file a report pursuant to SFUSD District policy and SFUSD Administrative Regulation 5141.4 – Child Abuse Prevention and Reporting.