Alcohol and Drugs
Context
Drug and alcohol abuse by students affects other students, staff and the organisation as a whole. The most significant effects are:
- when a student is abusing drugs or alcohol their academic performance will be impaired
- when a student is abusing drugs or alcohol they pose a health and safety risk to other students and staff
- students who are using drugs can negatively influence other students, causing drug or alcohol abuse to increase among students
- students that are abusing drugs or alcohol take valuable teacher time away from other students
- if alcohol or drug abuse becomes common practice among students this may influence the public perception of Dev Academy as a quality training provider
- if students escalate to selling drugs from Dev Academy-controlled premises the organisation could be at significant legal liability.
Procedures
Dev academy will not purchase alcohol for students to consume during end of phase celebrations. Dev academy may purchase alcohol for graduation ceremonies or grad events which are held on campus.
Students are not permitted to bring alcohol or drugs onto campus.
The following procedure will be followed when there is a consistent pattern of students performance on the course dropping and/or poor performance and the suspected reason is alcohol or drug use:
Concern by member of staff
If a member of staff is concerned about a student’s performance on the course and they suspect that the reason for impaired performance is related to alcohol or drug use they should report this concern to a member of Leadership. A list of reasonable grounds for suspicion includes but is not limited to a sustained pattern of:
- Lack of focus or concentration
- Lack of energy or motivation
- Lateness or absence
- Significant personality change
- Irritability
- Forgetfulness
- Declining or poor performance
Action by Leadership
The Teaching Lead or other member of Ngā Hau e Whā will:
- Speak with team members involved with the student to gather observed evidence. This must be done in a way that does not compromise the confidentiality of the student.
- Review the student’s performance including:
- Attendance
- Academic performance
- Training pathway
- Teacher observations
- Any other information they consider relevant
- Seek advice as required
- Interview the student to decide whether the conduct of the student is of significant magnitude to review the student’s status on the course. They will assess the level of alcohol or drug use by the student and how it is impacting their performance on the course.
There are three options for recommendations concerning the student’s status:
1. No change
There is not a case for further action. The student is either not using drugs or their performance problems are not alcohol or drug related. Action: No further action will be taken. The member of staff who raised the concern will be informed.
2. Conditional retention
If the student is cooperative and open to additional support, the student will benefit from additional support from the EE Teacher to develop and coordinate the student’s support plan. The student’s retention on the course is conditional on their cooperation with the support plan. Action: Referred to EE Teacher to develop support plan. Conditional retention noted on student’s file.
3. Dismissal
If the CEO concludes the student’s conduct is sufficiently disruptive they will be dealt with as per the existing policy STU 10.0 - Student Conduct. If the student is selling drugs from the Dev Academy premises the matter will be referred to the police.
ACTION: CEO acts as per the existing trespass policy or refers matter to the police.
Support plan
The HS Facilitator that develops and coordinates the student’s support plan will meet with the student and conduct a holistic assessment to identify what barriers exist to the student achieving their full potential while at Dev Academy.
The support plan should be developed collaboratively with the student. The plan should augment and reinforce the student’s career or training pathway.
The focus of the plan is not for the HS facilitator to provide counselling to the student. Where possible the HS teacher should refer to external agencies.
The HS teacher will then meet with the student and the student’s teacher fortnightly to review progress. The HS teacher will give regular feedback to the CEO about the student’s progress.
Confidentiality
The team member charged with developing and coordinating the student’s support plan will keep all information learnt during the development of the support plan and the review of the plan confidential unless they believe the student:
- Is in danger of harming themselves
- Is in danger of harming someone else
- Is supplying drugs to other students