1. Students will achieve a grade (or its equivalent) of “C” or better for promotion. Summer school will be required in order to make up a lower grade.  No credit, NC will be assigned.
2. Students will complete all homework and class work at designated times.
3. Students will complete required assignments on designated “Home School Days.”
4. Students will read a minimum of 30 minutes per day.
5. Students will use proper language at all times.
6. Make-up work:
   1. Individual student make-up work may be placed in a make-up folder on the student wall.
   2. Individual student work should have the student’s name on the work, and then be placed in the folder on the student wall. Group work need not apply.
   3. Students will know where the folder is, and will quietly go to where the folder is, find their work, retrieve it, complete their work at home, and return the next day.
   4. Make-up work may also be found on PlusPortals.
7. If a student is expelled for poor grades, the following apply: “Academic Redemption” is a plan implemented at the discretion of the teacher.  To qualify for the “Academic Redemption” process, a student must demonstrate a minimum of four of the traits listed below consistently for nine weeks.  The first two traits are prerequisites that the student must meet in addition to at least two of the six other traits. A student who qualifies for “Academic Redemption” will:
   1. Express a desire to change.
   2. Reflect on the need to change and set goals for a course of recovery.
   3. Meet current deadlines.
   4. Meet workplace standards.
   5. Manifest a cooperative attitude toward teachers and classmates.
   6. Involve parents in the process.
   7. Go to tutoring.
   8. Contribute to the school community. In addition to completing current work according to plan, the student must remedy past failure through appropriate work on a project agreed upon with the teacher.

One criterion of a student’s success in school is regular and punctual attendance. Frequent absences may lead to poor academic work, lack of social development, and possible academic failure. Regular attendance is of utmost importance for school interest, social adjustment, and scholastic achievement. No single factor may interfere with a student’s progress more quickly than frequent tardiness or absence.

According to state law, it is the obligation of every parent or guardian to ensure that every child under his or her care and supervision receives adequate education and training and, if of compulsory attendance age, attends school. Continuity in the learning process and social adaptation is seriously disrupted by excessive absences. In most situations, the work missed cannot be made up adequately. Students who have good attendance generally achieve higher grades, enjoy school more and are more employable after leaving school.

For at least these reasons, the Board of Education believes that a student must satisfy two basic requirements in order to earn full class credit:

Absences may be classified as either excused or unexcused. In accordance with the law, the school may impose appropriate penalties that relate directly to classes missed while unexcused. The administration shall develop regulations to implement appropriate penalties. Students and parents or guardians may appeal any penalties imposed as set forth in the regulation.

Classifications of Absences

Excused Absences Excused absences are defined as:

1. Satisfy all academic requirements, and

2. Exhibit good attendance habits as stated in this policy.

3. Absences because of temporary illness or injury.

4. A student who is absent for an extended period due to physical, mental, or emotional disability.

5. A student who is pursuing a work-study program under the supervision of the school.

6. A student who is attending any school-sponsored activity.

7. Absences by those who are in the custody of court or law enforcement authorities.

8. Absences determined by school administration to be excusable, such as doctor’s appointments or appointments with outside agencies.

Excessive excused absences will require verification from the appropriate doctor, dentist, agency, etc. Parents or guardians must notify the appropriate attendance office within 48 hours (excluding weekends) when their child will not be in school. When the absences have been deemed excused by school administration, students are expected to make up work and will be allowed 2 school days to make up work for each day of absence. For example, if a student is absent for 2 days, he or she will be allowed 4 days to make up work. Students under a block scheduling system will be allowed two school days to complete make up work for each day of school they missed. All major projects are due on the day specified. Out-of-school suspensions will not count as absences, and work may be made up for partial credit only unless the building administrator has determined otherwise.

Absences because of doctor’s appointments, outside agency appointments, or juvenile court appearances may be considered excused with appropriate documentation of the appointment. The absences may be considered unexcused until the appropriate documentation has been provided to the school’s administration. At that time, the school’s administration may deem the absences to be excused. If appropriate documentation of the appointment is not provided to the school, the absence may remain as unexcused.

All students will be allowed no more than 10 days of excused absences per school year. Absences for secondary school students will be documented in class periods. Once students have exceeded the approved number of excused absences, and there are more absences, written documentation from a practitioner or agency may be required in order for the absences to not only be considered excused but to also address the reasons for the excessive absences. The absences may, therefore, be considered unexcused until the appropriate documentation is provided to the school’s administration.

Prearranged Absences

Family vacations during school time are strongly discouraged, as they are counted towards total student absences which may exceed the specified limit and may become unexcused absences. Vacations should be planned for times when school is not in session. Parents are encouraged to follow the school approved calendar for scheduled breaks. A written request for a prearranged absence should be made at least a period of time equal to the length of time the student will miss school and presented to the school’s administration. For example, a one day absence would require a one day notice. All assignments are due prior to the period of absence unless otherwise specified by a teacher. Excused or prearranged absences in excess of district designated number of allowable absences may become unexcused.

School-sponsored Activities
Absences incurred when students miss class because of participation in school field trips, musical performances, student conferences, or other school-related activities will be considered excused. Teachers and administrators will be provided with a list of students participating in such activities at least 48 hours in advance. Assignments are to be completed and turned in prior to a school sponsored trip unless otherwise specified by a teacher. Administrators or teachers may refuse a student the right to participate if academic, behavioral and attendance expectations are not being met. 

Unexcused Absences
An unexcused absence is defined as an absence that is not covered by one of the foregoing excused absence exceptions. Each unexcused absence shall be entered on the student’s record. The parents or guardians of the student receiving an unexcused absence will be notified by the district of the unexcused absence whenever possible. When students accumulate 3 days or more of unexcused absences, a letter will be sent to the parents and guardians notifying them of the school’s concern. If after a further period of time, there is no significant improvement in the student’s attendance, or the student’s attendance continues to accrue in unexcused absences to a total of 5 days, the parents or guardians will receive another notification in writing. If upon further days of unexcused absences totaling 7 days, the school will file a notice of non-compliance. If the student continues to demonstrate unexcused absences which have accrued to 10 days, the school will follow the state procedure. 

Students with excessive absences may be designated as “habitually truant”. When a student demonstrates excessive unexcused absences, the student, parents and school working together are to determine the cause of the absences. The school may use site-based teams to address academic and behavioral concerns, use an attendance contract with the student and parent or guardian; make referrals to outside agencies if deemed appropriate to remediate the causal factors for the unexcused absences. In accordance with the law, the school may impose academic penalties which relate directly to classes missed while unexcused. The administration shall develop regulations to implement appropriate penalties. Students with unexcused absences are expected to make up work and will receive partial credit towards the earned grade.

Tardiness

Tardiness is defined as the appearance of a student without proper excuse after the scheduled time that a class begins. Because of the disruptive nature of tardiness and the detrimental effect upon the rights of the non-tardy student to uninterrupted learning, penalties shall be imposed for excessive tardiness. Parents or guardians shall be notified of all penalties regarding tardiness. Students with excessive tardies to class or who habitually leave school early for reasons other than those listed under reasons for excused absence, may be placed on an attendance contract and/or referred for truancy proceedings. A student who has excessive tardies may be designated at “Habitually Tardy” and the administration may impose penalties associated with such designation.

In an unavoidable situation, a student detained by another teacher or administrator shall not be considered tardy provided that the teacher or administrator gives the student a pass to enter his next class. Teachers shall honor passes presented in accordance with this policy.

Truancy

If a student is absent without a signed parental excuse or if the student leaves school or a class without permission of the teacher or administrator in charge, the student shall be considered truant. “habitually truant” shall be defined as a student of compulsory attendance age who has four unexcused absences during any school year. Absences due to suspension or expulsion shall not be counted in the total of unexcused absences.

Penalties
In accordance with law, the school may impose appropriate penalties that relate directly to classes missed while truant. The administration shall develop regulations to implement appropriate penalties for truancy.

• On the fourth tardy and early out, the teacher will contact the parent or guardian.

• On the fifth tardy and early out, or an accumulation of five tardies for any and all classes, a referral may be written, the student may have an administrative conference and may receive disciplinary consequences, and the parent will be notified. At that time, the student will be notified of the consequence for further incidences of tardiness.

• All students must purchase and wear to school our official Burgundy TIA Branded Polo. Remember you are ambassadors of our school.
• Clothing may not display or imply vulgar, discriminatory, or obscene language or images.
• Clothing may not state, imply, or depict hate speech/imagery targeting groups based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious affiliation, or any other protected classification.
• See-through or mesh garments must not be worn without appropriate coverage underneath that meet the minimum requirements of the dress code.
• Shoes must be worn at all times and should be safe for the school environment.
• No ripped shirts or pants including ripped jeans are allowed.

Cellphones, smart watches, personal laptops, and any other personal electronic device are prohibited in classrooms, restrooms, and or any other location on school grounds. Students are required to place all electronic devices in a designated box at the start of the school day. Students will collect their devices at the end of the day before leaving. Students are not allowed to use a personal laptop at school. They must use school laptops only.

Respect can be summed up this way: It’s about treating others as you would like to be treated.

What does this actually look like in the classroom? Kids who show respect and are shown respect:

• Feel safe around their peers and their teacher;

• Don’t yell or talk over others;

• Listen to others even when they disagree;

• Don’t try to control others;

• Talk openly about their needs and wants;

• Admit when they’ve made a mistake; and

• Freely express who they are and allow others to do the same.

Bullying is described as deliberate, hurtful gestures, words or actions that may be repeated over time.

Examples include:

• being excluded from a group of friends
• being hit, pushed or kicked
• cyber bullying – receiving offensive text, web based, or social networking messages
• being called offensive names
• having possessions interfered with or stolen
• offensive graffiti

What you can do about bullying:

• Tell the person(s) involved to stop
• Ask other people to stop, if you observe them bullying someone
• If you are being bullied, or someone you know is being bullied, report it

You can report it to:

• friend(s)
• parent(s)/caregiver(s)
• teacher(s)

When to Report

• Report bullying as soon as it happens.
• Do not ignore it, it may get worse.

How we respond to reported incidents of bullying:

• We will listen and talk to the person who is being bullied and to the person(s) doing the bullying.
• We will put negotiated consequences in place for the person who has been bullying others. These may include a formal warning, contact with parents, take home suspension and / or exclusion and mediation processes.
• These steps may change depending on the circumstance – each person and incident is different.

Prevention Strategies

• We use our positive school values to foster an environment of respect
• Our school fosters a caring environment where students are related to as individuals
• We aim to teach students about violence prevention, conflict resolution, anger management and problem solving
• We develop policies to promote student safety
• We value and celebrate diversity

Intervention strategies include:

• Counselling for those bullied and bullying
• Contacting parents to discuss strategies
• Consequences for bullies (including suspension for cyber bullying that occurs outside the school)
• District services support

Post-intervention strategies include:

• Monitoring those bullied to ensure their continued safety and wellbeing
• Checking that the bullying has stopped

• Play fighting, hitting back or hitting ‘because’ shall be treated as a fight. Students involved in physical fights shall be removed from the classroom or another school area for an immediate conference with a school staff member.
• All students involved in the fight must participate in conflict mediation before they may return to class. Conflict mediation will occur when all parties are ready to speak calmly about the incident.
• Parents will be contacted before the end of school on the day of the fight. In the case of suspensions, a letter will be given to the student and parents.
• Depending on the circumstances surrounding the fight and taking into consideration the history of the students involved, parents may or may not be asked to come to school for a conference before the student may return to class.
• Consequences for fighting will be determined by Administration and Teachers depending on circumstances of the fight as well as the history of the students involved.
• Only the Principal/Founder may suspend students involved in fighting.
• Fights that result in suspensions require an accompanying occurrence report to be submitted to the state, and will become part of the student’s Permanent Record.
• Repeated violations of our “no fight” policy may result in more severe penalties such as expulsion from our school.

• A student’s person and/or personal effects (e.g., purse, backpack, book bag, etc.) may be searched whenever a school authority has reasonable suspicion to believe that the student is in possession of illegal or unauthorized materials and/or as a result of Safety Contracts specifying ongoing (daily) or random searches.
• If a student refused a search, law enforcement will be called to handle the matter immediately.

All students will show the substitute teacher the same respect that you show your regular teacher. Do not be rude or disruptive while the substitute is teaching the class. If your peers goof off and treat the substitute disrespectfully, refuse to join in. Understand that everything is new for the substitute. Be helpful and represent our academy well.