Visitors

The school welcomes visitors, especially parents, who have school business. However, to protect the safety of the students, all visitors to the campus must report to the office, sign in, and obtain a visitor’s pass. Non-Ranch students are not generally approved for a visitor’s pass unless they are investigating the possibility of registering at Ranch. Parents and visitors must sign out before leaving the campus.

Attendance

Regular attendance is one of the most important factors determining success or failure in school. Daily attendance is the responsibility of the individual student and his/her parent or guardian. Teachers are willing to assist students who must miss school for legitimate reasons. However, teachers are not expected to devote extra time and effort to assist students who are not making an effort to attend. Students are expected to be in class on time each day. After nine excused or unexcused absences in one semester the school may exercise its right to drop the student from school. The decision to drop a student from school may depend on the amount of effort the student exhibits to keep caught up with all assignments. If there is to be an extended absence, parents may request that missed assignments be available. Teachers are always allowed 24 hours to gather necessary materials.

Safety

We want to create a safe and nurturing environment where your child will grow. We at Sequoia Ranch take a firm stand against bullying and personal harassment of any kind, whether it is sexual or demeaning in nature or directed at a person’s race, religion, gender, height, or weight. Students are not allowed to persist in a behavior directed at another student which that student has made clear makes him/her uncomfortable.  Students who violate this policy are subject to disciplinary action including a verbal warning, suspension, or expulsion, depending upon severity, attitude, and previous disciplinary history.

Health Services / Medication

Parents/guardians are requested to complete an Emergency Medical Card for each of their students with a list of health problems and emergency contact information. Please inform the office if your address, home phone, business phone or emergency phone number changes during the school year. If we cannot reach you in an emergency, we may call paramedics who may decide an ambulance should be called. The cost of this service is the parent’s responsibility. State regulations prohibit a school health assistant from treating an ill or injured student. If your child becomes ill or is injured, you or your emergency contact will be called. The parent or a designee must promptly pick up students who cannot return to class, as we have no health office. Please do not send your child to school with symptoms of illness such as fever, diarrhea, vomiting, rash, or cough. In order to be in compliance with State guidelines, Sequoia Ranch School has implemented the following policy on dispensing medications to students during school hours:

1. Whether a prescription drug or an over-the-counter drug, the medication must come in the original container. Your pharmacist should be willing to provide two medicine vials (one for home, one for school), if necessary.

2. DO NOT send medication to school with your child. All medications are to be brought in by the parent/guardian.

3. Parents/guardians must provide written direction (medical consent form) before school personnel can administer medications.

4. All medications will be kept in a locked cabinet in the health office.

Homeless Policy

Admission of Homeless Students

In compliance with the Arizona State Laws and Arizona Administrative Code and the McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Improvements Act of 2001, Edkey, Inc. - Sequoia Ranch School recognizes a homeless child or unaccompanied youth as an individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. The school selected for enrollment must immediately enroll any homeless student, regardless of whether the student lives with the homeless parents or has been temporarily placed elsewhere.  Homeless children and youth will not be stigmatized or segregated on the basis of their status of homelessness.  Enrollment may not be denied or delayed due to the lack of any document normally required for enrollment, including;

• Proof of residency

• Transcripts/school records

• Immunization or immunization/health/medical records

• Proof of guardianship

• Birth certificate

Edkey, Inc. - Sequoia Ranch School will contact the student’s previous school to obtain school records.  Initial placement of students whose records are not immediately available can be made based on the student’s age and information gathered from the student, parent, and previous schools. If the student needs to obtain immunizations or medical records, Edkey, Inc. - Sequoia Ranch School shall refer the parent or guardian of the student to the liaison for homeless children and unaccompanied youth, who shall assist in obtaining necessary immunizations or medical records.

Edkey, Inc. – Sequoia Ranch School will provide transportation to and from the “school of origin”.

Liaison

Each of the Edkey, Inc. - Sequoia Ranch School’s Principals will designate an appropriate staff person as liaison for homeless students who will carry out duties as assigned.  Among those duties will be the responsibility to coordinate activities and programs in the best interest of the homeless students which may include but not be limited to; keep a homeless student in the school of origin (to the extent feasible), except when doing so is contrary to the wishes of the student’s parents or guardian or the unaccompanied youth (a youth not in the custody of a parent or guardian).

In the case of an admission dispute:

• The student shall be immediately admitted to the school in which enrollment is sought, pending resolution of the dispute.

• The parent or guardian of the student shall be provided with a written explanation of the school’s decision regarding school selection or enrollment, including the rights of the parent, guardian, or student to appeal the decision.

• The student, parent, or guardian shall be referred to the liaison for homeless students, who shall carry out the dispute resolution process in accordance with the procedure found in the Arizona State Plan

• In the case of an unaccompanied youth, the liaison for homeless students shall ensure that the student is immediately enrolled in school pending resolution of the dispute.

• Parents may appeal directly to the State Department of Education if in disagreement with school’s ruling.

Homeless students are automatically eligible for Title I, Part A services.

Discipline

The overall approach to discipline at Sequoia Ranch School is focused on positive behaviors, good choices, and individual student responsibility.

Computer Usage and Internet Policy

Sequoia Schools (designated as School) has established a policy effective November 17, 2009 with regard to access of the Internet and the School’s private Intranet.

Certain employees may be provided with access to the Internet to assist them in performing their jobs. The Internet can be a valuable source of information and research. Use of the Internet, however, must be tempered with common sense and good judgment. The School’s Intranet is a private information system of the School and its intended use is strictly for business purposes.

Any individuals using either system expressly consent to monitoring of their activities. Anyone using either system in violation of the School’s Internet usage policy may be subject to disciplinary action, including possible discharge. Furthermore, employees could be exposed to civil and criminal liability. The School reserves the right to amend or modify this policy at any time as may be required.

1. The School is not responsible for material viewed or downloaded by users from the Internet. The Internet is a worldwide network of computers that contains millions of pages of information. Users are cautioned that many of these pages include offensive, sexually explicit, and inappropriate material. Even innocuous search requests may lead to sites with highly offensive content.

2. Employees must not deliberately perform acts unrelated to legitimate business interests that waste computer resources. These acts include, but are not limited to, sending mass mailings or chain letters, spending excessive amounts of time on the Internet unrelated to business, playing games, engaging in online chat groups, listening to streaming audio (radio, music, etc.) or streaming video (News casts, TV, Movie Trailers, etc.),or otherwise creating unnecessary network traffic. Because audio, video and picture files require significant storage space, files of this, or any other sort, shall not be downloaded unless they are business-related.

3. The computers and computer accounts provided to employees are to assist them in the performance of their jobs. Employees should not have an expectation of privacy or ownership in anything they create, store, send, or receive on the computer system. The computer system belongs to the School, and may only be used for business purposes. The School has the right, but not the duty, to monitor any and all of the aspects of its computer system, including, but not limited to: monitoring sites visited by employees on the Internet, email traffic, any document created or stored on the computer system, and installed software applications.

4. The School may use software to identify inappropriate Internet sites, including but not limited to sexually explicit sites. Such sites may be blocked from access by the School’s network. In the event you nonetheless encounter inappropriate material while browsing on the Internet, immediately disconnect from the site, regardless of whether the site is subject to the School’s blocking software.

5. Material that is unlawful (including, but not limited to, illegal copies of software, music files, movie files or malware {malicious software}, such as computer virus, Trojan horse, spyware, keyloggers, etc.), harassing, embarrassing, sexually explicit, profane, obscene, intimidating, defamatory, or otherwise offensive (including offensive material concerning sex, race, color national origin, religion, age, disability, or other characteristic protected by law), or in violation of the School’s equal employment opportunity policy and its policies against sexual or other harassment may not be loaded, downloaded from the Internet, displayed or stored on the School’s computers. Employees encountering or receiving this kind of material should immediately report the incident to Administration. The School’s equal employment opportunity policy and its policies against sexual or other harassment apply fully to the use of the Internet and any violation of those policies is grounds for discipline up to and including discharge.

6. Employees may not illegally copy material protected under copyright law or make that material available to others for copying. You are responsible for complying with copyright law and applicable licenses that may apply to software, music files (.mp3, .wma, .rm, .ra, etc.), movie files (ripped copies of movies/videos to .avi, .mpg, .wmv, .mov, etc.), graphics, documents, messages and other material you wish to download or copy. You may not agree to a license or download any material for which a registration fee is charged without first obtaining the express written permission of the School.

7. To ensure security and to avoid the spread of viruses, employees connecting to our network from a computer not supplied by the School, must have up-to-date virus protection, a secure VPN connection, and use a hardware-based router or software firewall. The School will provide, upon request, VPN (Virtual Private Network) client software for installation on your personal computer. However, all other security software is the responsibility of the end user.

8. Files obtained from sources outside the School, including disks brought from home; files downloaded from the Internet, bulletin boards, or other online services; files attached to e-mail and files provided by clients or vendors may contain dangerous computer viruses that may damage the School’s computer network. If you suspect that a virus has been introduced into the School’s network, notify the IS Dept. immediately.

9. Information posted on the School’s Intranet is property of the School. Any copying, or unauthorized use, of such information is strictly prohibited without expressed written consent of the School.

10. All employees must acknowledge that they have read and understood the above computer and internet usage policy.