A.  Student Management

Supervision of Students
Students are to be supervised at all times while under the control of the organization. This includes the time students are attending school, while away from the school on school-sponsored events, or while participating in extracurricular activities, such as clubs. Supervision will be provided for 15-minutes prior and 15-minutes after the start and end of school. Students may not be left alone without supervision.

B.  Parent Grievances

Although no member of the school community shall be denied the right to petition the board for redress of a grievance, the complaints will be referred through the proper administrative channels for solution before investigation or action by the board. Exceptions are complaints that concern board actions or board operations only.

The board advises the school community that the proper channeling of complaints involving instruction, discipline, or learning materials is as follows:

1. Teachers
2. Dean of Students
3. Principal
4. Governing Board

Any complaint about school personnel will be investigated by the administration before consideration and action by the board of directors.

C.  Photographs of Students

Snapshots
Frequently throughout the school year school staff take pictures of events that happen during the school day. Should a parent not want their child photographed in such a way, they must submit written notification of their request to the school operations manager. This request will then be passed along to school staff. Snapshots may periodically be used for promotional materials for the school. Every attempt will be made to receive parental permission prior to the publishing of promotional materials which include the photograph of students. Additionally, the school reserves the right to utilize such snapshots through electronic media which do not individually identify any specific student. If a parent or guardian requests the removal of such a photograph, the school staff will comply with the request within 72 hours.

D.  Prohibition Against Firearms and Weapons

The presence of firearms or weapons poses a substantial risk of serious harm to organization students, staff and community members. Therefore, possession of firearms or weapons is prohibited on school premises at all times except for law enforcement officials and may constitute a criminal act under Florida law. As used in this policy, the phrase “school premises” includes all organization buildings, grounds, vehicles and parking areas. This prohibition also extends to the sites of school activities, whether or not those school activities are conducted on organizational property.

Individuals found to be in violation of this policy will be dealt with severely. Students will be disciplined up to and including reassignment as provided elsewhere within this policy manual. Law enforcement officials will be notified and the individual violating this policy will be directed to leave school premises. Non-students violating this policy will be barred from all school premises and school activities for a period of one (1) year. Subsequent violations by the same individual will result in a permanent bar from organizational properties and activities.

Student participation in school sanctioned gun safety courses, student military or ROTC courses, or other school-sponsored firearm related events does not constitute a violation of this policy, provided the student does not carry a firearm or other weapon into any school, school bus, or onto the premises of any other activity sponsored or sanctioned by school officials. In addition, persons passing through organizational property for purposes of dropping off or picking up a student do not violate this policy if they possess a lawful permitted weapon in the vehicle during this time.

E.  Volunteer

Background Checks
All individuals who are not employed by the organization must enter through the main office. Should they wish to go beyond the main office, their identification must be scanned by the background check system, and printed a badge to wear, identifying that they have properly checked in through the office. It is the responsibility of all staff members to help police the halls to ensure that all visitors have properly checked into the office. Any individual who does not have an appropriate name badge must be walked back to the office to ensure they are signed in properly.

Background Check Concern
If, during the background check, an individual is identified as having a background as a sexual predator, the school operations manager will immediately be notified by the system. The person running the check should call the school operations manager and/or designee to decide what to do about the situation. The following guidelines are in place:

1. If the person trying to gain entry has a relative who is a student attending the school, and there are no outstanding court orders barring that person from having contact with the child, the person may enter the school only with a staff member escort. The individual may not be left alone with any student on school property.
2. If the person trying to gain entry has a relative who is a student attending the school, and there are restrictions on the visitation, the appropriate action will be taken as identified by the court documents. In most situations, the Police Department will be notified.
3. If the person trying to gain entry does not have any relatives attending this school, they will not be permitted access to the building, and the Police Department will be notified.
4. If the person trying to gain access is a volunteer, the person will not be granted entry until after their information has been entered into school district’s volunteer background check system, and a clearance is given from the offices of Professional Conduct through the district offices.

Student Supervision Background Checks
If an adult plans to volunteer with students (such as field trip chaperones, student tutoring, etc.) the individual must complete a volunteer registration form. If the adult will be responsible for student supervision (such as running an after-school club), the parent must go through a Level 2 background check, the cost of which the parent is responsible for. The school district conducts the complete background check to ensure the individual is clear of anything in their past which would prevent them from working with children.

Adopted: May 5, 2020