Staff Handbook
Guidelines, Policies and Processes for
Faculty, Student Services and Administration
School Year 2016 - 2017
Version 1.2016
Welcome to Franklin Virtual High School
Vision
Mission
Strategic Goals
FVHS Students
Program Accreditation
Participating in the Online High School
Customer Service
Staff Work Standards
Communication Standards
Roles and Expected Behaviors
Safety Plan
Staff Behavior Expectations
Progressive Discipline Policy
Appropriate Communication by Staff
School Accessibility
Schedules for Teachers and Administrative Staff
Student Application & Enrollment Process
Transfer Credits & Transcripts
My Plan - The Student's Curriculum
Time & Learning Requirements
Student Academic Expectations
Student Performance Targets
Assessment and Progress Reports
Grading and Reporting
Student Review System
Remediation and Recovery
Parent Conferences
Special Needs Students - Individualized Education Plans
Proctors and Exams
Tuition
Payment
Refund Policy
Financial Aid
Dropping Courses
Program Withdrawal
Academic Integrity & Plagiarism
Registrar Support
Security and Copyright
Intellectual Property
Computer Technology skills
Required Hardware and Software
Appropriate Use of FVHS Digital Systems
Unacceptable Uses of the School Computer System
Student Records and Privacy Expectations
Hiring Contractors and Staff
At-Will Employment
Payment and Compensation
Vacation and Time Off
Leaves of Absence
Staff Performance Evaluations
Professional Development Expectations
Discrimination and Harassment Policy
Americans with Disabilities Act
Compliance with Accounting Standards
Acceptance of Policies Agreement
Courses and Graduation Requirements
Welcome to Franklin Virtual High School
We welcome you to our team.Franklin Virtual High School puts the power of education in the hands of students, and as a staff member, your objective is to ensure a fully-supported educational experience for every student.Franklin Virtual High School is part of ESP Learning Systems, an organization that provides a versatile range of assessment, preparation, high school, adult education and career advancement services.
The FVHSCommitment: All FVHS students willexperience an efficient educational process that willsuccessfully prepare them for their career or academic objectives. Operatingcompletely online (all programs, curriculum and support)results in 24/7 accessibility, allowing our students to learn at their own pace in their own space. Ourweb-based curriculum, video instructors and interactive tools provide students with an engaging learning environment. Our automated system generates notifications and progress reports for students and teachers, keeping everyone on schedule.
The FVHSCareer Prep curriculum includes all courses required to graduate from high school; the College Prep curriculum adds an international language and advanced math requirementand meets major university entrance standards.
Once a student's registration process is completed (including credit transfer and validation processes), FVHS issues the list of core course requirements; students also select elective courses and their curriculum plan is entered in the FVHS system. The plan and the FVHSautomatedprompts help teachers monitor student progress from an academic and a schedule perspective.
FVHS, in conjunction with the E2020 system, measures the time students spend in the virtual classroom, and score tracking shows all performance(lessons, homework, lab work, quizzes and tests)against the student plan. If a student falls below the plan goals at any time, the FVHS system sends notifications so students, parents and teachers can take action. Most students complete about three credits per semester (approximately four months). Since the program is self paced, capable students can move at an increased pace.
Vision
Develop a community of motivated individuals that applies learning to make a positive difference in their lives and in their communities.
Mission
Provide quality, flexible, cost-effective education options to help students achieve their personal, educational and career goals.
Futuristic
Visionary
Honorable
Scholars
Strategic Goals
- Achieve national recognition as a quality learning organization
- Successfully complete the AdvancED accreditation process
- Inspire and support students through people, processes and systems
- Build and sustain a professional team to support organization goals
FVHS Students
Franklin Virtual High School provides completely online processes and support systems to help students complete their high school course requirements and earn a diploma. The school focuses on home school students, recovery students and students who need correspondence-style courses to satisfy specific graduation requirements.
Program Accreditation
The Franklin Virtual High School academic process meets or exceeds the nationally accepted State of Florida graduation standards for languages, math, social studies, and science. FVHS has partnered with Education 2020 whose proven coursework is aligned with state and national standards and used by a variety of accredited high schools and other learning institutions.
FVHShas earned CandidateStatusto accredit the FVHS traditional program through AdvancED, parent organization to SACS/CASI and an accrediting organization recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. FVHS submitted the Standards Assessment Review and will host the Quality Assurance Review in February 2012.
Participating in the Online High School
Franklin Virtual High School is built on the technology of the future and the tradition of the past. Our founders are educators, technologists, business experts, parents and community members who realize the changing world demands new education methods. Learning is a life-long process, and the FVHSstaff is committed to giving all learners an opportunity to complete high school and move to the next level of their personal goals.
As a member of the educational staff at FVHS, you're responsible to help all students succeed. However, since the curriculum content is delivered online (including video instruction), your role is focused on pace, coaching, facilitating and coordinating issue management and corrective action in a timely manner.
If you area Student Services team member you will focus on overall satisfaction, ease of use, issue management and process facilitation. You must be proficient with the defined processes and procedures spelled out by the FVHS management team and consistently demonstrate a positive interactive style. You will interact regularly with teachers, students, parents and members of the management team, so your role as a hub in the wheel of the school process is vital to student success.
Academic team memberswill still need to be fully proficient in all courses in their areas of expertise, but instead of lecturing, they'll be monitoring, advising and tutoring students. Interface with students is shifted from face-to-face to screens and phones, and our interactive tools offer simple, powerful ways to guide students to program completion.
To conduct your role (student services or teaching), you will log into the system daily to monitor your assigned functions or students and provide support. Tools will allow you to message, chat and send documents to students, parents or other stakeholders. In addition, the FVHS system will automatically highlight pending requests or actions from your students or from other FVHS faculty and staff. When completed, the system will update records and initiate any required actions.
While you will still work hard supporting students, parents and other school staff and objectives, you have flexibility to conduct administrative, advising and tutoring tasks in line with your schedule. As you learn the system, and as we improve it, it will improve your effectiveness and help our students achieve their next step.
Customer Service
We believe in complete customer satisfaction at Franklin Virtual High School. As a private, for-profit school, we have an important provider-customer relationship with our students and their parents or guardians. We expect FVHS staff to resolve all issues with customers promptly and satisfactorily, and escalate any open issues to their manager immediately.
In public school, the "customer" includes federal and state government, district superintendents, school boards, parent-teacher organizations, teacher unions, students and parents. As a private school, our students (and parents or guardians) are the primary customer. Accordingly, the FVHS staff must continually strive to support each and every student and their parents, especially when interacting.
Many students select Franklin Virtual High School because traditional education systems did not work for them. Students own the responsibility to learn, and staff owns the responsibilities to engage students and support student performance.
Within the Franklin Virtual High Schoolfamily of services, we extend many effective and affordable solutions to our customers. Our solutions approach and customer focus will keep us competitive and make us the online school of choice.
Staff Work Standards
All output produced by the FVHSstaff must demonstrate educational professionalism and includes written or verbal comments on student work,correspondence to parents and interaction between staff.All output must beclear, error free and professional.
Communication Standards
Any document our staff creates must adhere to FVHS logo and brand standards; in addition, all communication with parents, students and other stakeholders must provide a solution-oriented approach without focusing on problems or negatives at the school. To ensure appropriate response, teachers must notify the Chief Administrative Office immediately when students or parents raise issues about policy, business processes, academic standards or staff behavior.
Roles and Expected Behaviors
Students
Students musttake the initiative to sign in to the school website daily, participate in coursework, complete assignments, take tests and participate in reviews with their teachers. We expect students toinvest the effort to produce quality work. While our system tracks progress and prompts actions, students must seek help when needed,set daily schedules, and meet deadlines.
Parents/Guardians
Parents must provide a safe and productive environment, supervision and coaching, and overall support to ensure the student has the best opportunity to learn. If students are over 18 and live outside of their parent's home, parental involvement depends on the continuing role the parent plays in their child's development.
Praise and encouragement can assist with ongoing success, but parents may need to assist with coursework, assignments and test preparation, and serve as exam proctors. Parents also have access to school reports, including grade and progress reports, discussion boards and corrective action requests. Parents are encouraged to schedule meetings with homeroom teachers or contact Student Services to request support.
Student Services/Administrators
FVHSrequires the student services and administration teams to operate with professionalism, integrity and confidentiality. The administration team supports students and teachers, ensuring an effective experience while maintaining accurate, secure and responsive administrative processes. As a private school, the administration serves as the customer service element of the business and should provide prompt closure to all student and staff issues.
Teachers
Each student is assigned a home room teacher who serves as an academic advisor who guides students through the FVHS program, helping them from course selection to graduation. After the student completes state graduation or college entrance exams, advisors provide career and academic guidance to help them secure the next step in their development plan.
FVHSteachers monitor their assigned students' progress daily and communicate with themvia the message center, chat rooms, telephone and other distance education tools.
Monthly and each semester, the teacher and student participate in an online Student Review Process to review progress, pace and performance goals. Teachers enter the results of each review in an online tracking system along with requests for corrective action. Refer to the Teacher Interaction Guide for details on student reviews.
Teachers motivate students to keep them on their course plan. Teachers work with parents to help solve problems and engage them in student improvement processes as required.
Teachers also serve as tutors in their areas of expertise and are available for appointments via the FVHS online tutoring system. Teachers will provide regular feedback to the Faculty Manager on school processes, student and parent feedback and improvement ideas; the Faculty Manager will share it with the leadership team.
Tutors
FVHS offers tutor service for a fee to any student enrolled in the school. Tutors can be FVHS teachers or other qualified educators registered and authorized by the school. Students purchase credits for tutor service and schedule appointments for specific academic subjects using the Teacher Scheduling System. All tutoring is conducted via electronic and online tools. This initial system may change as we determine the best ways to support students.
Proctors
Students under the age of 18 must register at least one parent or guardian as a proctor. All FVHS students over the age of 18 can opt to “self monitor” for each quiz or test. However, the FVHS administrative staff strongly recommends that each student pursue one or more qualified individuals (family members, friends or community members) to serve as a proctor to monitor each test session. Before, during and at the end of each exam, proctors sign in to the test system to verify the integrity of the test environment.
Safety Plan
Franklin Virtual High School maintains a Safety Management Plan to ensure safe, secure operation of the school. The safety plan includes policies for protecting students, managing staff, controlling information and communicating during disruptions. The plan extends to crisis situations that may involve staff, students or other stakeholders.
The FVHS Safety Policy: The FVHS team will create a safe educational environment for all stakeholders and will respond promptly and completely to safety issues.
If staff members experience any emergency situation that involves or affects Franklin Virtual High School or a student, parent or staff member or other stakeholder of the school, report the incident immediately to a school administrator or teacher.
Emergency Contact Number: (850) 391-5115
Staff Behavior Expectations
FVHS management requires respectful, professional behavior in all interactions between staff, students, parents and third-party organizations or agencies. Any behavior that negatively impacts the educational process or experience will lead to appropriate disciplinary action.
FVHS uses a progressive discipline process that begins with written notification (unless the alleged offense warrants other action). As determined by the situation, FVHS administrators can escalate the process up to and including suspension, termination or student expulsion.
Progressive Discipline Policy
All violations or suspected violations of school policiesmust be reported to the FVHS Chief Administrative Officer. The CAO will conduct the necessary investigation and contact all affected parties in a timely manner.FVHS policy prevents any retaliation against those who report suspected violations as long as the report is made in good faith.
Franklin Virtual High School uses a progressive discipline policy to manage violations and complaints. Based on the severity and surrounding circumstances, administrators reserve the right to escalate this progressive discipline process. A similar progressive discipline process applies to students (see Student Handbook).
Step One: Written notification of violation with required corrective action
Step Two: Written warning, phone conference, formal corrective action plan
Step Three: Suspension or termination with written notice
If a staff member disagrees with a school decision, they can appeal the decision in writing within 10 business days to the Chief Administrative Officer. The CAO will review all appeals and respond in writing to the staff member within 10 business days. If the staff member does not support the CAO decision, they can escalate the issue in writing to the school's Board of Directors for a final decision. The Board decision is final and further challenges to policy decisions will be managed though FVHS legal representatives.
Appropriate Communication by Staff
Using the Internet allows flexibility but also requires a new set of communication behaviors. Since FVHS operates completely online, all staff, students, contractors and other support will apply these rules:
- All communication must be related to FVHS operations and academics.
- Staff must use approved FVHS communication tools.
- Staff must not share personal information, personal images, email addresses, phone numbers or mailing addresses with students.
- Always respond respectfully. Resist impersonal declarations and strong disagreement; instead, ask clarifying questions.
- Slang is inappropriate except for brief, informal postings in discussion boards and text chats. Slang includes intentional typos and abbreviations.
- Avoid using ALL CAPS. All-capital text reduces comprehension and retention, and it is often perceived as "shouting."
- All coursework should be submitted in standard written American English except when required in international language classes.
School Accessibility
FVHS is available all day every day through controlled Internet access. Customer service, teachers and advisors are available to students during the week and must respond to all requests for assistance within 24 hours. Our technical team monitors the school systems around the clock to ensure continual accessibility.
Each new student will enter their curriculum plan and completion schedule into the FVHS system. This plan will drive notifications and other administrative actions that will help the student meet their plan and ensure timely support from teachers and administrators.
Schedules for Teachers and Administrative Staff