Community Handbook
2014-15
Rigorous study within a caring community
This handbook summarizes many practices and policies that are important to New Heights Charter School students and their parents and guardians. It is not meant to be a complete handbook of policies relating to students and parents. Federal and state laws, regulations and practices at the school level are subject to change.
The goal of New Heights Charter School is to provide parents with a choice in their children’s education. Because parents have a right to choose whether or not to enroll at New Heights Charter School, enrollment into the school is conditional on the understanding, accepting, signing and adhering to the New Heights Charter School Community Handbook policies. All concerns or questions regarding the handbook should be directed to the Executive Director.The Executive Director of New Heights Charter School reserves the right to amend any part of this handbook at her discretion.
NON DISCRIMINATION STATEMENT
New Heights Charter School shall be nonsectarian in its programs, curriculum, admission policies, employment practices, and all other operations. New Heights Charter School shall not discriminate against any pupil on the basis of ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, or disability. New Heights Charter School shall not charge tuition.
New Heights is committed to providing a working and learning environment that is free from unlawful discrimination and harassment. The school prohibits discrimination and harassment based on an individual's sex (including sexual orientation or gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical condition); ethnicity (such as race, color, national origin, and ancestry); religion (including religious accommodation); disability (mental or physical disability or reasonable accommodation); age; marital status; or any other basis protected by federal, state, local law, ordinance, or regulation. Harassment based on any of the above-protected categories is a form of unlawful discrimination and will not be tolerated. Harassment is intimidation or abusive behavior toward a student or employee that creates a hostile environment and that can result in disciplinary action against the offending student or employee. Harassing conduct may take many forms, including verbal remarks and name-calling, graphic and written statements, or conduct that is physically threatening or humiliating. This nondiscrimination policy covers admission or access to, or treatment or employment in, school programs and activities. The lack of English language skills will not be a barrier to admission to or participation in school programs or activities.
VISION
The vision of New Heights Charter School is to prepare students in grades K-8 to use their minds well and become capable, caring citizens. Students learn academic knowledge and skills in a personalized learning environment that promotes health, creativity, and understanding of the big ideas that shape our world.
New Heights promotes rigorous study within a caring, civic-minded community. Through active inquiry, in-depth learning, New Heights will support students to develop the following competencies:
- The ability to read, write, speak, calculate, experiment, and reason with clarity and precision and to creatively express oneself through the arts.
- The ability to participate thoughtfully and responsibly with concern for the common good.
The school’s primary purpose is to enhance equity in educational opportunity. New Heights increases learning opportunities for all students, engages parents as essential partners, and has expanded professional development opportunities for teachers. We support students’ academic achievement as well as their ability to become self-motivated, competent, lifelong learners.Our educational philosophy is based on an understanding of how to enhance student motivation to learn and how to organize learning to promote understanding.
Intrinsic Motivation: New Heights recognizes that children’s academic, ethical, social, and emotional development is inter-related and interdependent. Students who feel connected to their school tend to have higher academic motivation and perform better academicontacty, while being more unlikely to engage in problem behaviors.
Student Understanding: New Heights prepares students to transfer what they learn in school to their lives outside of school. Teachers have clearly defined learning goals for students, focus on the “big ideas” of a subject, design effective assessments of student understanding, and create engaging learning activities. Students will demonstrate their learning through a Portfolio and through Exhibitions of Mastery – public performances for parents and community.
New Heights offers a positive alternative to students and their families. The school’s goal is to provide a strong foundation to students in their early years, so they can excel in the middle grades, and be fully prepared for the demands of high school and college.
WHAT IS A CHARTER SCHOOL?
A charter school is a public school that was approved by the State of California to have special freedoms and programs. The State of California established charter schoollegislation with the intent of giving public schools more autonomy in exchange for increased student achievement.
Charter schools must be authorized by the State Board of Education, which must approve the charter school’s petition for charter status. The charter petition describes the school’s goals, governance structure, insurance requirements, employee benefits, and almost every area related to the school’s functioning.
Autonomy
As a charter school, New Heights was granted many freedoms by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and the state of California to implement an effective educational program. New Heights has the freedom to create policy without having to obtain approval from LAUSD. The school is also exempt from certain educational code requirements.
Accountability
The state of California and LAUSD are responsible for holding New Heights Charter School accountable for meeting the goals as outline in the charter petition. These goals include increasing test scores and maintaining an effective learning environment. If the school does not meet these goals, the LAUSD may not renew the school’s charter petition.
Board of Directors
New Heights is governed by its own Board of Directors. The Board meets throughout the school year in public meetings open to all parents. The board calendar is available on each school campus and is put on the school website. The board is accountable for governance, fiscal oversight, and strategic planning. In addition, the board provides oversight and support to ensure the school meets its educational goals for all students.
2014-15 Board Members: Peter Schoenfeld, President, Kelli Agner, Secretary, Helene Brown, Financial Officer, and Octavia Miles. Please call 323-508-0155 for contact information for individual Board members.
ADMISSION POLICY
New Heights Charter School is open to all students in California. Parents or Guardians must fill out a New Student Application, attend a school Orientation to complete the registration process, and meet all deadlines for the application process. If more students have turned in their application by the deadline than the school has room for, students are selected by a public lottery process.
Withdrawal
If a parent wishes to withdraw or transfer a student, it is his/her responsibility to notify the Executive Director in writing. In some cases, the Executive Director may want to meet with the student’s parents as well.
Governance Structure and Organizational Chart
The School is governed by a non-profit board of directors, whose major roles and responsibilities include, but not limited to, establishing and approving all major educational and operational policies, approving all major contracts, approving the school’s annual budget, overseeing the school’s fiscal affairs, meeting corporate requirements and selecting and evaluating the administrative staff.
The Board of Directors meets at least 4 times a year. Dates and times will be published and posted at school.
School Information and Procedures
The school calendar is a traditional one. The specific calendar for each year is given to parents at enrollment or orientation sessions and is available online and in the school office.
School Day Schedule
The school schedule is set each year prior to the beginning of school and shared with parents at enrollment or orientation sessions and is available online and in the school office.
Arrival
Students can arriveas early as 7:00 am. Please make sure you drop-off your child in the designated area for Before School Program and remind your child to stay in supervised areas. Kinder parents are encouraged to walk their students to the classroom each day.
Dismissal
At dismissal time, students must be picked up, stay for the after school program, or walk home. Students in the after school program who are not picked-up on time will be charged a penalty. See afterschool procedures for details.
Shortened Days on Tuesday
Each week, students will have one shortened day on Tuesday to provide time for teachers to plan collaboratively to best meet the needs of our students. School will end early and afterschool will begin right after school ends. Please refer to the School Calendar. Additional shortened days may be scheduled – please be sure to read announcements throughout the year.
After School Program
Students are welcome to stay after school to participate in an after school program. The program will run from the end of school to 6:00 pm each day. Some after school activities may include: homework assistance, recreation/sports, cooking, Spanish class, arts, and literacy tutoring.
Parents interested in participating in the After School Program need to complete an application and agree to the terms for the program.
Emergency Cards (3 cards)
Every family needs to fill out new emergency cards every school year before classes begin. The cards must be turned into the Office. Please fill out new Emergency cards immediately after any of the information changes.
Emergency Release From School
During the school day your child will only be released into the custody of those people who you have previously identified on the emergency card (proof of identity may be required.) People NOT identified on the emergency card can only pick-up a child if the parent or guardian has sent a hand written and signed note to the school notifying the school of this person’s identity and proof of identification is provided.
Leaving School During the Day
If you must pick-up your child before the end of the school day, please send a note to the classroom teacher or notify the office with a phone contact. When picking-up students early, the parent or authorized adult should FIRST report to the office to complete an early dismissal form, and the student will be sent to the office for pick-up. Parents are asked not to enter the classroom to remove their child from class, unless previously agreed upon by the teacher or the office. Students will not be released within the last 15 minutes of school unless previous arrangements have been made with the teacher and/or the office.
STUDENT HEALTH AND WELLNESS
Lunch Program
We ask all parents who feel their child might qualify for a free or reduced lunch to fill out the appropriate application within one month of the first day of school each year.
Food/Nutrition
It is very important that your children eat a well-balanced diet. Please make an effort to feed your children nutritious foods every day. If your child gets hungry in between meals, please send a healthy snack with them to school.
HEALTHY SNACKS ALLOWED IN SCHOOL: Foods such as: fresh fruit, vegetables, yogurt, and water.
FOOD NOT ALLOWED IN SCHOOL: Foods such as: candy, gum, chocolate, chips of any kind, pudding, soda, french fries, fruit juice that isn’t 100% juice/artificially colored juices, Gatorade, and shelled sunflower seeds.
If students bring unhealthy food to school, school staff will hold the food in a safe place for students until the end of the day. Parents will be notified if this behavior recurs.
Birthday Celebrations
New Heights Charter School has a birthday policy. The class will have small monthly birthday celebrations (during the last 20-30 minutes of school) for all children with birthdays in that time period. We invite you to join your child on this day as the class honors you and your child and celebrates together through reading, singing, and sharing.
If you wish to join the class for the celebration or provide healthy, light snacks, please contact your teacher. Please do not bring pizza, chips, cupcakes, cake or anything that is not allowed as part of the school’s food policy. The celebration food is not meant to replace lunch for the day.
Health and Medical Conditions
The school office must be notified if a student with a medical or health condition requires accommodations in order to participate in the educational program. The school office will arrange to meet with the parents to develop an accommodation plan for the students’ medical condition. Students with diabetes, severe asthma, and severe allergies should have an accommodation plan at the school.
Students may not carry or use medication on campus without written consent. A student who needs to take medication during school hours must have a statement to this effect on file at the school, signed by the prescribing physician and the parent/guardian. Self –administration of medications may be permissible by special arrangement with the school office. School personnel do not prescribe or give advice regarding any kind of medication. If a child is taking medication, it is in his/her best interest to arrange a schedule so that a parent or legal guardian can administer the medication.
Illness
If your child is ill, please contact and inform the office, do not send him/her to school sick. If your child complains of feeling sick at school, depending on the severity, you may be contacted to pick him/her up. Please make an effort to get a copy of the homework your child missed during his/her absence.
Injuries
It is the policy of the school to treat minor injuries (scarps, bumps, paper cuts) with ice packs, cold compresses, or band-aids as needed. When confronted with more serious injuries, school staff will contact parents, and, if appropriate, transport the students to the nearest hospital emergency department, or contact 911 for assistance.
It is the responsibility of the parents to update school medical and emergency information.
SPECIAL NEEDS
Student Study Team
Students are referred to the Student Study Team to develop an intervention plan for specific identified needs related to academics or behavior. The team may include the classroom teacher, an administrator, and the parent/guardian. The purpose of this team is to develop and implement an action plan that will target the specific academic or behavior needs of the student as well as to identify students who my require a more individualized program or is in need of Special Education services.
Special Education
Students identified with physical, emotional, learning, or developmental disabilities have the right to placement in the least restrictive environment and may receive special education services according to a written Individualized Education Program (IEP). New Heights Charter School provides special education services.
HOME/SCHOOL COMMUNICATION
It is very important that there is regular, ongoing communication between your home and the school each year. To stay informed of all meetings and events, please check the monthly calendar on a regular basis.
How to Communicate with Teachers
- Contact the school or leave a message on the teacher’s voicemail.
- Email or text the teacher.
- Leave a note with the office staff to let the teacher know you’d like an appointment with the teacher.
- See the teacher during his/her “office hours.” Teachers will meet with people on a first come, first serve basis during office hours.
How to Communicate with the Office
- Contact the school’s general phone number. If someone is not available to speak with you immediately, please leave a message.
- If you need to speak with someone about an issue that may take MORE than 5 MINUTES, please make an appointment with the appropriate person so he or she can give you their full attention.
How to Communicate with your Child during the School Day
Contact the office and leave a message for your child. Please speak slowly when leaving your child’s name and the name of your child’s teacher. Your message will be given to your child as soon as possible. Your child will only be brought to the phone to speak with you if it is an emergency. (Please make all car-pool or after school pick up arrangements with your child before school starts each day.)