LAUSD Discipline Foundation Policy Attachments: School-Wide Positive Behavior Support

Students Walking to Class

The Practical Tools That Were Supposed to Turn a Historic Policy Into Practice and Why Parent Accountability Still Matters

What This Resource Is and Why It Matters

When LAUSD adopted its Discipline Foundation Policy in February 2007, the policy itself was only part of the picture. Alongside the foundational bulletin, the District released a set of official attachments that were meant to translate the policy’s principles into concrete school-level action. These attachments are what schools were actually given to implement School-Wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS), the framework CADRE parents had fought for.

The attachments cover every level of the school community. They provide step-by-step guidance for building or refining a school-wide positive behavior support system, including how to form a leadership team, establish school rules grounded in dignity and respect, create recognition systems for positive behavior, put reactive strategies in place, and monitor outcomes through data. They also include dedicated sections for students, parents and caregivers, teachers, and school staff, each articulating specific responsibilities and rights in creating safe, supportive school environments.

For South LA parents, the Parent and Caregiver Responsibilities section is particularly significant. It declares that parents and schools are partners in children’s education, not adversaries, not afterthoughts. It invites parents into the process: to learn the school rules, to participate in school functions, to communicate with teachers, and to be treated with respect by all district personnel.

This resource matters because it shows exactly what LAUSD promised every school community in 2007 and gives parents a concrete reference point for holding schools accountable when those promises go unfulfilled. CADRE’s later shadow reports documented that these commitments were unevenly implemented across South LA schools. These attachments remain the official standard: what schools are still required to provide, and what families have every right to demand.

Understanding these attachments is not just for policy experts. It is essential reading for any South LA parent who has ever been left out of a discipline decision, who has watched their child lose classroom time without explanation, or who has been told they have no role to play in how their child’s school operates. This document says otherwise.

PDF DOWNLOAD

Key Highlights

  • Provides step-by-step guidance for schools to establish or refine a School-Wide Positive Behavior Support system under a leadership team that includes parents
  • Requires schools to establish positively stated school rules aligned with a Culture of Discipline: Guiding Principles and post them district-wide
  • Includes a dedicated Student Tips section affirming that students matter, their ideas have value, and they are partners in school climate
  • Includes a Parent and Caregiver Responsibilities section naming parents as the most important people in a child’s life and as essential partners in school discipline
  • Outlines responsibilities for teachers and classified staff in modeling, reinforcing, and responding consistently to student behavior
  • Includes a School Resource Survey for schools to assess available counselors, support staff, behavior programs, and conflict resolution resources
  • Directs schools to monitor office referral data, suspension rates, attendance, and dropout rates as accountability measures

Who This Resource Is For

  • Parents and caregivers who want to know what LAUSD schools are formally required to provide in terms of behavior support and family partnership
  • Parent organizers and advocates using policy documents to hold schools accountable
  • Educators and school administrators responsible for implementing SWPBS at their school sites
  • School counselors and support staff looking for practical implementation frameworks
  • Researchers and policy analysts studying the gap between written school discipline policy and lived school reality

Publication Details

Title: LAUSD Discipline Foundation Policy Attachments: School-Wide Positive Behavior Support
Author: Los Angeles Unified School District, Office of Student Health and Human Services
Year: February 2007
Document Reference: BUL-XXX Attachments A through G

This report is part of CADRE’s broader work to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline, outlined in our Theory of Change.

Tags
Share

Related Resources