SCS School Policies and Procedures

Part I:

1. Policy 7300

For anyone with common sense, this is pretty straightforward. Be a role model in the community and in your school. You are held to the highest ethical standards as a teacher and member in your community. This policy also outlines that if you are arrested or convicted of anything above a minor traffic violation that you are to report this, in writing, to the assistant superintendent immediately.

2. Testing Code of Ethics

After reading the Testing Code of Ethics, it becomes quite apparent that it is vital that teachers and administrators become intimately aware of the standards and protocols for testing. The information that standardized tests provide is so vital that it is necessary that all teachers perform their duties to their utmost so that the most reliable data can be provided and so that students can meet and exceed their potential. For a teacher to be ethical in their duties they must receive proper training, provide instruction that meets and exceeds the standard course of study, help students become familiar with test formats, teach test-taking strategies, and ultimately prepare them for the test. This is their ethical and moral duty. Besides the preparation, teachers must uphold the highest ethical standards to keep the test safe and reliable during test day with a secure and safe classroom that is free from distractions and infringements.

3. Policy 5000

1. Policy 5240: Advertising

   1. This policy is about the inclusion and exclusion of advertising on school grounds. Basically, advertising is generally discouraged from school grounds because the main purpose of school is to educate, not entice, students. School is a place to be free of distractions. It is absolutely banned if it is vulgar, distracting, inappropriate, misleading, or not conducive to learning. It is appropriate in yearbooks, newspapers, ball fields, and in recognition of generous donors.

2. Policy 5230: Research Projects

• 1. Research projects are encouraged in Surry County, as long as they promote education and learning. If a survey is to be done, it must be in compliance with federal regulations. Much of this policy is approved and performed at the superintendent level.

3. Policy 5027: Explosives and Weapons

• 1. This policy, quite reasonably, outlines the prohibition of any and all weapons and explosives from school grounds. The list of banned weaponry is quite extensive. Basically, anything that could hurt someone else. What is allowed are objects that are used solely for ceremonial or sanctioned events under the supervision of an adult who has been approved by the administrator. An example of this was in Mr. Amos' class last year a "Frontier" lifestyle expert, Mike Lowe, was an expert who demonstrated for the students hunting techniques from the pioneers' time period.

4. Grade Book

In Wong's book, they detail some of the techniques of an effective grade book and some suggestions to improve it. It is very important to tailor your gradebook to your subject and not just assume that every grade book is created equal (or for your particular subject, either!). Most schools simply order the same kind of gradebook for everyone and every grade, but different grades and subjects call for different kinds of grading. I personally use a different kind of "grade book" that is very unconventional, but works for me and for my specific subject and educational goals. I keep a shared Google document with each student and their parent, giving both access to their grades and my feedback. On the document is a generic table posted for each assignment with boxes for "Continue" "Revise" and "Begin". For each assignment, I post narrative feedback to the student in the form of paragraphs on what they can improve on and continue to excel at. Over time, new tables are added to the document and I can see if they have changed over time and improved. I have found that this type of feedback in a narrative gradebook that is shared with student and parent is the most effective way to grade.

5. Student Accountability

Part II

1. Faculty Handbook

When I read the faculty handbook for the first time, I had many conversations with my wonderful mentor, Jonathan Amos, about the way our school was run and the role the faculty had in the school. Many of the policies that were unfamiliar and foreign to me were the flexibility of our daily schedules and the ways in which we all had to pitch in to keep the school running smoothly. For example, in our handbook the daily monitoring schedules are outlined. This is, to this day, a bizarre and unique lesson in flexibility. One day I am required to be on lunch duty for twenty minutes and then three weeks later another random day. Other concerns I had about the faculty handbook revolve around the standard protocol for events that you could almost never foresee. I have learned that no handbook can adequately prepare you for the unforeseen events and behaviors that each and every individual student can bring to your classroom, but the best course of action is to have a trusted group of colleagues you can ask for help.

2. School Procedures

When I first began, one of my concerns was how to request technology repairs for student computers. Since I began we have now put in place a Google Form on our faculty Haiku page that has cleared this procedure up and has assisted me greatly. The only thing that is still unclear or I wish we could improve on would be a better and more standard way to publicize lunch and parking lot duty. Since working on this project, I have now spoken to Jeff Edwards and we decided to improve this methodology by posting the dates on the faculty Haiku calendar, so that everyone can view it.