Code of Conduct

Overview

Valorous Academy’s mission is education with a commitment to developing the next generation of leaders. We believe each student has been created by God with gifts, abilities, and purpose. As defined in our school values, leadership is the ability to influence, guide, inspire, and develop people.

Leadership is not limited to a title, position, age, or personality type. Every student has influence. At Valorous Academy, students are taught to use their influence for good by building trust, fulfilling their responsibilities, making wise choices, serving others, and upholding high standards.

Because leadership begins with character, students at every age level are expected to grow in leadership, integrity, courage, and strength. The Code of Conduct is designed to help students understand these expectations and develop habits that reflect strong character and God-honoring leadership.

High standards of conduct are expected of all Valorous Academy students. Students are expected to respect and follow the school’s Code of Conduct, policies, practices, and philosophy. The administration reserves the right to take disciplinary action, including withdrawal from enrollment, when a student’s behavior or continued pattern of conduct is inconsistent with the school’s expectations, mission, or philosophy.

Preschool (3K - 4K)

Our youngest students are beginning to learn what leadership looks like through simple, age-appropriate habits. In preschool, leadership may look like listening to teachers, following directions, using kind words, taking turns, caring for classroom materials, and learning to be a good friend. These early habits help build the foundation for respect, responsibility, and self-control.

Lower Elementary (Kindergarten - 2nd)

Lower elementary students are continuing to develop the habits and attitudes that help them become strong leaders. At this level, leadership looks like following directions, showing kindness, telling the truth, using respectful words, completing work with effort, caring for classroom materials, and learning to take responsibility for choices.

Upper Elementary (3rd - 5th)

Upper elementary students are expected to grow in responsibility and begin recognizing the influence they have on younger students. At this level, leadership looks like making wise choices, showing self-control, completing assignments with care, responding respectfully to correction, encouraging classmates, and setting a positive example for lower elementary and preschool students.

Middle School (6th - 8th)

Middle school students are in an important season of growth. They are learning to take greater responsibility for their choices, attitudes, work habits, friendships, and influence. At this level, leadership looks like showing respect, practicing self-control, completing assignments with integrity, responding well to correction, encouraging others, and choosing what is right even when it is difficult. Middle school students are expected to be role models for elementary and preschool students.

High School (9th - 12th)

High school students are the oldest students at Valorous Academy and are expected to set the tone for the rest of the student body. At this level, leadership includes personal responsibility, spiritual and moral integrity, academic ownership, respectful communication, service to others, and wise decision-making. High school students are expected to understand that their actions, words, attitudes, and choices influence the culture of the school.

All Students

Regardless of age or grade level, every student has the opportunity to lead. Valorous Academy holds students to high expectations because we believe they are capable of growing into leaders who reflect strong character, serve others well, and make a positive impact.

Academic Integrity

Galatians 6:4-5 (NLT): Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct.

Academic integrity involves a student remaining honest in all schoolwork and doing their best work on all assignments. This means refraining from receiving too much help on an assignment, cheating,  or plagiarism.

Cheating

Cheating is defined as any unauthorized communication before or during any grading event or any attempt to receive unauthorized assistance before or during a test, homework assignment, or project. If a student is considering getting or receiving help on your work, it is always a good idea to ask the teacher first. Cheating will result in a zero for the assignment/test and may be cause for immediate suspension. Additional cheating incidents will result in longer term suspensions and/or expulsion. Also see the Plagiarism section below.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a serious offense at Valorous Academy because it is a denial of two key purposes of the school: 

1. Plagiarism is fundamentally a matter of dishonesty and a violation of integrity. It is a combination of stealing, lying, cheating, and laziness. It violates the distinctly Christian perspective on which Valorous Academy is based.

2. Plagiarism is an attack on academic integrity in that the student is seeking to circumvent the learning process and receive grades which he/she has not earned.

With readily available internet access, it is very easy for students to plagiarize. Therefore, Valorous Academy imposes stiff penalties for plagiarism. Ease of access does not justify violation of scholarly standards.

Examples of plagiarism include, but are not limited to: copy and pasting text without quotations and giving credit; paraphrasing without attribution; insufficient acknowledgment of a borrowed source.

The penalties for plagiarism are severe. They include both academic and disciplinary consequences. These will apply for both minor plagiarism such as use of non-attributed quotations occasionally in a paper, and more extensive plagiarism such as copying an entire paper from another source with only minor editing.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

According to ChatGPT, AI-generated content is defined as: “any text, images, audio, video, or other forms of media that are created or substantially generated through the use of artificial intelligence algorithms, without direct human involvement in the content creation process. This includes but is not limited to content generated by language models, image synthesis algorithms, audio synthesis algorithms, and deep learning networks.”

There are both appropriate and inappropriate ways to use artificial intelligence within educational spaces. The following are situations in which students are permitted to use artificial intelligence:

• The teacher has specifically permitted the use of the program to enhance an assignment

• The student is using a program such as a smart search engine that presents information in easy-to-read and easy-to-understand ways

• The student is asking clarifying questions

• The student is generating writing prompts, ideas, or topics

• The student is generating practice questions

• The student appropriately attributes images or text when used in the student’s work

The following are situations in which students are not permitted to use artificial intelligence:

• The student is using the program to avoid doing their own work

• The student is copying text, images, or videos from the program without proper attribution

• The student is not fact-checking the AI-generated content

• The student is not exploring potential plagiarism issues with the AI-generated content

• The student is submitting personal data, either their own or someone else’s, to the program (examples: the student’s name, the school’s name, location, the names of other people, the student’s age or birthday)

• The teacher has prohibited the use of AI for a given assignment, project, or class

Proper attribution is determined by the teacher, and will depend on the subject, type of content, and type of project. Students unsure how to give proper attribution should seek assistance of their teacher.

AI should be used appropriately and responsibly. Students should never share their personal data with an AI program. AI should never be used to invade someone else’s privacy; to tease, demean, or bully another person; or to generate inappropriate or immoral content.

Consequences for violating this policy will depend on the type of infraction made. For example, a student found to have used Ai-generated content to avoid doing an assignment will receive a zero for that assignment and may receive further consequences, as is deemed necessary. 

Spiritual Integrity

1 Peter 3:16 (NLT): But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ.

Valorous Academy desires for students to grow in spiritual integrity, personal responsibility, and Christlike character. 1 Peter 3:16 reminds believers to keep a clear conscience and live in a way that reflects belonging to Christ.

Students will sometimes face situations where they must decide how to respond to behavior that is unwise, inappropriate, dishonest, harmful, or contrary to biblical principles and school expectations. In these moments, students are encouraged to choose integrity over approval, wisdom over popularity, and obedience over convenience.

Spiritual integrity does not mean pretending to be perfect. It means being willing to do what is right, take responsibility when wrong, seek forgiveness when needed, and make choices that do not compromise one’s character, witness, or influence.

Students are also encouraged to understand that loyalty to a friend does not mean covering up harmful or inappropriate behavior. True friendship encourages what is right. If a student is aware of a situation that could harm another person or create an unsafe environment, the student should speak with a trusted teacher, staff member, or administrator.

Biblical Conflict Resolution

Matthew 18:15-16 (NLT): "If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses."

Valorous Academy desires for students to learn how to handle conflict in a biblical, respectful, and mature way. Matthew 18:15-16 gives a pattern for addressing personal offenses with humility, honesty, and the goal of restoration.

When a student has a personal conflict with another student, the student should first consider whether the matter can be addressed privately, respectfully, and safely. This may include speaking to the other student in a calm and appropriate way, seeking to understand, apologizing when necessary, and working toward peace.

If the conflict cannot be resolved, or if the student does not feel comfortable addressing it alone, the student should seek help from a teacher or staff member. A trusted adult can help guide the conversation, clarify misunderstandings, and support students as they work toward resolution.

Some situations should not be handled by students on their own. Concerns involving bullying, threats, harassment, physical aggression, inappropriate conduct, self-harm, abuse, weapons, substances, or other serious violations should be reported to a teacher, staff member, or administrator immediately. Reporting serious concerns to an adult is not tattling, gossip, or betrayal. It is a responsible step toward safety, accountability, and love and care for others.

Students are expected to avoid gossip, retaliation, social media arguments, spreading rumors, or involving unnecessary people in a conflict. These actions usually make conflict worse and do not reflect biblical wisdom or leadership.

The goal of conflict resolution is not to embarrass, accuse, or control another person. The goal is to honor God, pursue peace, protect others, take responsibility, and restore relationships whenever possible.

Gender and Sexuality

Valorous Academy enrolls students from all types of families, but does not necessarily affirm the lifestyle choices of any given family. We do not believe that the sins of a parent, whether sexual or otherwise, should be held against the student. We believe a Christian education is beneficial to all students and wish to instill foundational Christian beliefs to any family who wants their child enrolled at Valorous. God created humanity with free will. He has called us as Christians to love all people including those who believe differently than us. Jesus came to save, not to condemn.

Gender and Pronouns

Genesis 1:27 (NLT): So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

We believe that since the human body is a creation of God where gender is biologically determined, disagreement with one’s biological sex or gender identity only leads to emotional chaos and spiritual confusion, and is regarded as sinful in its intent. For this reason, Valorous Academy will use the pronouns that match the student’s biological sex. Students and family members are expected to use the bathroom that matches their biological gender. Family members are permitted to take young children of the opposite gender into the bathroom of the family member’s gender. Students not willing to adhere to their biological gender will not be enrolled at Valorous Academy.

Sexuality

Reference: 1 Corinthians 6:9-20

As a ministry of Valorous Church, we welcome all people, but do not affirm all lifestyles. Put clearly, we do not affirm lifestyles that involve sexual intimacy within premarital relationships, homosexual relationships, polyamorous relationships, bisexuality, adultery, bestiality, incest, or pornography. For students struggling with temptation, repenting of sin, and desiring to walk in who God called them to be, we will provide grace, love, care, and direction to encourage them to grow and walk with God.