The state Board of Education has approved a school climate and discipline policy that will require public schools to “create an environment where all members are respected, welcomed, supported and feel safe.”

The new policy is aimed at providing guidance for implementing what’s known as Chapter 19, the section of the Department of Education’s administrative rules dealing with student misconduct. But the effort, which began in early May, proved controversial with school-level administrators.

Some principals objected to earlier drafts that would have mandated schools only use out-of-school suspensions as a last resort, arguing that they need flexibility and discretion to carry out discipline measures that work best for their schools.

Others blasted earlier versions for focusing too much on supporting misbehaving students while failing to balance the needs of victims of bullying or harassment. An initial draft, for example, said the policy aimed to promote effective discipline and support practices to keep students in school, and reduce and avoid criminalization of students.

“If there are no disciplinary actions that administrators can take as part of a well-rounded approach, we’re going to have problems,” Bruce Naguwa, principal of Kapolei Middle School, told the board at its monthly meeting Tuesday. “I’m hoping we can produce a school climate that will enhance everyone’s learning. … However, when you have certain students that make it very difficult for everyone else, we need to do something about that.”

The board twice deferred action on the discipline policy before sending a draft back to a committee last month to make changes.

At the board’s request, the DOE solicited feedback from principals. Tammi Chun, assistant superintendent for strategy, innovation and performance, said the department received 50 responses.

Chun said one of the points principals made is that they “do need discretion in terms of addressing issues that arise on their campus, that very strict procedures are really hard to manage the real-life situations that they deal with.”

Hawaii youth advocates had supported the original draft for trying to make out-of-school suspensions a last resort, and told the board suspending students for minor offenses isn’t effective and often steers at-risk youth into the criminal justice system.

Some 6,345 students were suspended statewide last year, accounting for 10,530 suspensions issued in the 2013-14 school year. The DOE said 94 percent of public school students had no disciplinary incidents that year, meaning Hawaii’s overall suspension rate is roughly half the national average of 11 percent. (Of note, however, is that the suspension rate at individual Hawaii schools was as high as 31 percent of a school’s student body.)

The full board voted 7-1 Tuesday to approve a revised version that removed the requirement about suspensions being a last resort.

BOE member Jim Williams, who took the lead on the revisions as vice chairman of the Student Achievement Committee, said that while that was the most significant revision, “when you take the whole policy in total, the thrust of it is that suspension should not be the first option.”

The approved policy also removed language that would have required all schools to come up with school climate goals. Only schools with data indicating “significant concerns” regarding school climate and discipline will need to develop the goals.

A motion by BOE member Amy Asselbaye to reinsert that language failed. Asselbaye said she was troubled by results in the latest Youth Risk Behavior Survey, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2013, showing widespread bullying at schools.

The survey found statewide 61.6 percent of public middle-schoolers strongly agreed or agreed that harassment and bullying by other students was a problem at their schools, up from 59.1 percent in 2011. Meanwhile, 44.6 percent of middle-schoolers said they had been bullied on school property, up from 40.7 percent in 2011.

“Those statistics trouble me a bit when we look at the revised policy and we think about the idea that a climate plan is no longer required,” Asselbaye said.

Naguwa noted that at his school, several advisory periods are dedicated to a character-building class and a mandatory course on bullying. The school also puts on workshops on cyberbullying for parents.

BOE member Maggie Cox, a retired Kauai principal, cast the lone opposing vote, citing concerns about the policy being too prescriptive.

“Procedures don’t belong in policy; it belongs in the implementation plan,” she said. “There are several sentences in this revised policy that I feel are procedure.”

The DOE will need come up with an implementation plan within 90 days.

Without a policy, Chapter 19 has served as the only guidance on discipline and reinforced a zero-tolerance mentality, stating, “Disciplinary action shall be taken for all class offenses in grades kindergarten through 12.”

The rules prohibit 36 actions categorized into four classes, with Class A offenses being most serious and Class D offenses the least severe. For example, assault, fighting, possession of illegal drugs and property damage are Class A offenses, while truancy and smoking are considered minor offenses. Suspension is one of 16 disciplinary options listed in the rules, which also allow for parent conferences, detention, loss of privileges, restitution and dismissal.