Putnam Schools Adopt New Visitors Code Of Conduct

The Putnam County School System has adopted a new code of conduct for visitors throughout the district.

Deputy Director of Schools Tim Martin said the system did not have a visitor’s code of conduct before now, but a new state law requires one for all public schools. Martin said the code goes over prohibited behaviors for visitors, all of which were previously seen as unacceptable.

“It just looks a lot like anything that you would expect,” Martin said. “It talks about language and threats and things like that and how they won’t be tolerated on school property and we just expect people to behave when they’re visiting,” Martin said.

Martin said the new policy will not have a big impact on visitors because the school system already had the security and check-in processes required by the new law. He said the code reinforces the kinds of behavior they were already promoting within Putnam schools.

“Before we did not have a specific visitor’s policy,” Martin said. “It would just be something that would be considered, you know, standard. I mean, like you wouldn’t, you don’t see that at Walmart and places like that either, but there’s certain things you just can’t do in public.”

Martin said they have had a few incidents in the past, but it is very rare for a visitor to be escorted off school premises during a school day.

“Probably the biggest thing, generally, you know, sometimes we have to escort a visitor away from a ball game or something but that’s usually because they get excited about the ball game and say something they shouldn’t or get upset or something like that,” Martin said.

Martin said the code of conduct they approved came as a recommendation from the Tennessee School Boards Association.

“I just want to make sure that everybody understands that, that our schools are still welcoming and we’re not trying to keep people away from our schools or anything like that,” Martin said. “This is a mandate by the state, but we’ve always expected good behavior.”

Martin said they are not required by the state to update the policy in the future, but the school board is allowed to do so as they see fit.

“Usually our board reviews policies on an annual basis anyway so if any board member wants to make a change then they can suggest that change to the full board,” Martin said.