Yorkton Regional High School has recently implemented a new extra-curricular code of conduct. As far as they’re aware, they’re the first school in Saskatchewan to create one.
The code of conduct was put together by female student president Haley Koch. It consists of five primary areas: representation, commitment, social media, fees and drugs and alcohol.
“It sets guidelines for each and every student on what is expected of them if they are on a team or if they’re representing our school in any way,” said Koch. “It keeps them out of any negative light and to have a good representation of not only themselves, but our school.”
The extra-curricular code of conduct was officially launched on Mar. 14, 2017. Going forward, all sports teams, clubs and groups at YRHS will ask each and every member to sign the code of conduct before they take part in their sport/activity.
The five primary areas seem pretty straight forward, but Koch said it’s helpful to have them laid out for students, to remind them of what is expected of them.
“In the beginning of the year, I myself, with being president, made my own mistakes like this. With mistakes there’s a lot of consequences,” said Koch. “Sometimes students don’t understand the effect of what they do. They don’t realize that there is that unspoken standard that they need to hold themselves to.”
“I feel as though it’s important to have these guidelines so it stops kids from making these mistakes and it gives them that consciousness to think before they do.”
The idea for the code of conduct first came up back in November, and went through many steps before it was solidified and made official.
It started as a conversation between Koch and YRHS principal Mike Haczkewicz.
From there, it went to a series of meetings to formulate a basic outline, and then went on to a group of student representatives from each team and group of the school. It then went through coaches, teachers and on to the school community council. Adjustments were made at every step until everyone was happy with the final product.
“It was a really big project that I took on and became the head person for, and I’m really proud of how it turned out. I think it’s definitely a really good guideline and will stop a lot of incidents going forward in sports.”
Principal Haczkewicz said the goal is to have their students acting as good ambassadors of their school, the Good Spirit School Division, and the city of Yorkton.
“I think it’s important to have a baseline of expectation of behavior of our students. We’re sending them out weekend after weekend, and they’re throwing on orange jerseys and uniforms, and they’re representing our school,” said Haczkewicz. “Basically, the code of conduct sets a bar of what’s acceptable behavior when you’re representing our school.”
Before this particular extra-curricular code of conduct was made official, there were only rules put into place by each individual coach and advisor.
“Then what would happen in a big school like this, when you have a multitude of activities, is that you’ve got all these different rules. And the expectations of one sport aren’t the same as the next club. We needed to set a baseline,” said Haczkewicz.
Coaches and advisors for the school’s teams/groups are able to add additional rules for their teams, but there is now a school-wide understanding of what is expected of students who choose to take part in the many extra curricular activities offered at YRHS.
