The Co-Op School 2014-15 Employee Handbook

2014-15 EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK

THE CO-OP SCHOOL 2014-15 EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ...... 4

WELCOME ...... 4

HISTORY ...... 4

MISSION STATEMENT OF THE CO-OP SCHOOL ...... 4

EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY ...... 5

WHAT A COOPERATIVE MEANS ...... 7

THE FGCH CO-OP SCHOOL LISTSERV– EMAIL COMMUNITY & COMMUNICATION...... 8

PLANNING TIME...... 8

ASSESSMENT...... 8

STUDENT ATTENDANCE ...... 8

CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT...... 8

TRIPS...... 8

INQUIRY BINDERS...... 8

CUMULATIVE STUDENT RECORDS...... 8

SUBSTITUTES...... 8

THE CO-OP STAFF ...... 8

EMPLOYMENT AND HIRING POLICIES ...... 9

AT-WILL POLICY AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...... 9

COMMITMENT TO EQUAL OPPORTUNITY ...... 9

DIVERSITY STATEMENT ...... 9

AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT ...... 10

BACKGROUND CHECK ...... 10

HIRING 10

INTERNAL APPLICATION PROCESS ...... 10

EMPLOYMENT OF RELATIVES ...... 10

CELLULAR PHONE...... 10

COMMITTEES...... 10

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT...... 10

OBSERVATIONS & REVIEWS...... 10

NEW EMPLOYEE INFORMATION ...... 11

STAFF ORIENTATION WEEK ...... 11

CURRICULUM NIGHT...... 11

EMPLOYMENT, TAX AND/OR ELIGIBILITY FORMS ...... 11

CHILD SUPPORT REPORTING REQUIREMENTS ...... 10

EMPLOYEE CLASSIFICATIONS ...... 12

HOURS OF WORK ...... 13

MEAL AND REST BREAKS ...... 13

OVERTIME ...... 13

PAY POLICIES ...... 14

PAYDAY ...... 14

ADVANCE POLICY ...... 14

PAY DOCKING ...... 14

PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS ...... 15

WAGE GARNISHMENTS ...... 15

PERFORMANCE AND EVALUATION ...... 15

PERFORMANCE DOMAINS ...... 16

PARENT/TEACHER COMMUNICATION ...... 18

STAFF/COOPERATIVE COMMUNICATION ...... 18

DISCIPLINE ...... 18

STAFF GUIDELINES ...... 19

EMPLOYEE APPEARANCE AND DRESS ...... 20

INSUBORDINATION ...... 20

COMPLAINT POLICIES ...... 20

HEALTH AND SAFETY ...... 21

HEALTH OF CHILDREN...... 21

ALLERGIES...... 21c

ACCIDENTS...... 21

LICE...... 21

FIRE DRILL/EMERGENCY EVACUATION...... 21

EMPLOYEE PRIVACY / RECORDS ...... 22

DRUGS AND ALCOHOL ...... 24

DISCRIMINATION AND HARASSMENT ...... 24

ENDING EMPLOYMENT ...... 25

JOB DESCRIPTIONS (APPENDIX a) ...... 28

SCHOOL POLICIES (APPENDIX B) ...... 37

DAILY SCHEDULE & GUIDELINES (APPENDIX C) ...... 40

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS (APPENDIX D) ...... 44

HANDBOOK ACKNOWLEDGMENT FORM ...... 52

THE CO-OP SCHOOL

81-87 Irving Place, Brooklyn, New York 11238
40 Brevoort Place, Brooklyn, New York 11216

INTRODUCTION

WELCOME

It is our pleasure to welcome you to The Co-op School. We are an energetic, creative and dedicated group. We value each one of our staff members, and we hope, in turn, that each of our staff members finds his or her work here rewarding and satisfying. We believe that our staff are happiest and value their roles when they know what they can expect from The Co-op School and what The Co-op School expects from them.

The purpose of this handbook is (1) to introduce you to the history, educational philosophy and general operating procedures of the school, and (2) to outline our employment and evaluations policies so that this information is clear and accessible to our staff.

HISTORY

The Co-op School was created by a group of neighborhood parents who saw the need for a high quality and affordable preschool option in the Fort Greene/Clinton Hill community. From our inception in a family brownstone in 2003, and subsequent move into Taaffe Lofts, the Co-op School had longed for a more permanent home. After two years of searching high and low we moved to a, new and spacious location at 87 Irving Place in the summer of 2009. A year later, the school expanded by opening a second location at 40 Brevoort Place. As of 2013, The Co-op School operates in both buildings and is a private pre-school as well as a growing elementary school.

The school is a child-centered and parent-supported cooperative serving Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bedford-Stuyvesant and surrounding communities. Our program is a non-profit, ethnically and culturally diverse and non-sectarian program. Our Irving Place facility occupies three floors of a commercial building between Fulton Street and Putnam Avenue, and our pre-school facility is fully licensed by the Department of Mental Hygiene, Bureau of Day Care. Our Brevoort Place facility occupies three floors of a commercial building between Franklin and Bedford Avenues, and our elementary school there is chartered by the New York State Board of Regents. We invite neighborhood families to join us in creating a unique learning environment for our children.

MISSION STATEMENT OF THE CO-OP SCHOOL

It is our purpose as a school and a community to provide a safe and stimulating environment for children. Each member of the staff and Board of Trustees is expected to fulfill all jobs requested of them and to execute them to the utmost of their abilities. Within this environment, our goal for the students is to love learning and creating. We expect and encourage the children to foster warm relationships with their peers; to respect the boundaries (both physical and emotional) that their teachers and peers set; to listen when a teacher is speaking; and to offer support and encouragement to friends.

The students of The Co-op School participate in all activities; work as a community and think as individuals; contribute all feelings and ideas peacefully and respectfully; and learn how to share both personal and physical space throughout the school year. Compromises will be made so that the needs of each child are met without hindering the needs of the group. With the staff, parents and student body, we work towards our ultimate goal of blending community, education and family.

EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY

The Co-op School believes in progressive, constructivist education through differentiated instruction that educates the entire child on all levels: emotional, social, physical and intellectual. We follow the lead of our students and work our curriculum around their desires for learning and exploration. In the preschool program, this is evident in our emergent curriculum approach. For our elementary aged children, we mature into an Inquiry approach that spans all subjects and ideas. We have high expectations for our students and provide them the support they need to excel. We teach reading, writing, mathematics and science through hands-on learning activities. We believe children learn through experiencing and experimenting. We listen to our children to find out what questions they have and do our best to make learning fun and engaging! We believe that children learn best when they are invested in finding out the answers to their questions and when learning is embedded in meaningful contexts. Children receive direct instruction in all content areas as well as ongoing social studies inquiry projects. Not only are parents and teachers on committees but children are as well! We want the children to feel empowered in their thoughts and opinions. Their opinions are important and they can create change in the world around them.Each new year brings a new staff view and a new classroom desire. This means that each tenant and value may be reexamined and altered to fit our community’s ever-growing search for knowledge.

PRESCHOOL

Play

The largest emphasis in our preschool classrooms is play. Children should be supported, nurtured and encouraged through open/free play. Teachers will constantly look for teachable moments through play and will use their student’s interest to develop their classroom centers, activities and curriculum.

Projects/Studies

Each year the preschool classes will partake in several projects and studies. The way these are introduced, created and enacted in the classroom is influenced by the Reggio Emilia model and Emergent curriculum. As a group, we encourage questioning, exploration, critical thinking and they allow the children to have a say in what they are learning about.The teachers set overarching themes, such as school, community, family, but the way the class explores these topics is based solely on student interest and engagement..

The Arts and Movement

Fostering self-expression and creativity are also significant parts of our ethos and each classroom makes use of painting, drawing, clay, collage, construction, block building, cooking and gardening.

We have a gardening, music and movement teacher to host weekly classes.

Through these studies, we encourage each child to look and engage in the process. We are instilling perseverance and problem solving, by encouraging them to think outside of the box and create in a way that is new and invigorating to them. Most importantly, we hope to teach them that many ideas have different outcomes than what we originally anticipated but that in the end our product reflects the hard work and continued process of our creative efforts!

ELEMENTARY

Projects

An integral part of our curriculum are our Inquiry Projects, influenced by the Reggio Emilia model, as they encourage questioning, exploration, critical thinking and they allow the children to have a say in what they are learning about.The termprojectrefers to an in-depth look into a particular topic, usually undertaken by a class working on subtopics in small or whole group, occasionally even individually. The key feature is that it is an investigation, research that involves children seeking answers to their questions. This approach to learning emphasizes children’s active participation in the planning, development, and assessment of their own leaning. Children are encouraged to take initiative and responsibility for the work they are doing. Long-term projects provide contexts where children’s curiosity can be expressed purposefully as it enables them to experience the joy of self-motivated learning. We are creating curriculum with and for children to help them develop lifelong thinking and communication skills.

Community Service

An important aspect of our curriculum is the idea of building active and pro-social members of our community. Our teachers are working with the children to find interesting ways to not only teach this behavior within our school but, also, within our community as well. Each grade will focus on one topic that will span the school year. Each classroom will find a neighborhood organization to partner with.

Literacy

The Co-op School uses a balanced literacy approach, a researched and proven method which recognizes the need for both the explicit teaching of skills and the opportunity for children to participate in activities that are designed to build comprehension and meaning.

Our goal is not only will every child be able to read and write but that they will love doing it! We work with our literacy coaches from Lit Life to cultivate readers through a balanced literacy approach, which explicitly teaches reading and writing skills. It also gives students a chance to participate in meaningful literacy rich activities. Balanced literacy instruction provides students with a differentiated instructional program that supports the reading and writing skill development of each individual child.

The reading and writing workshop model is used in this approach, where the teacher begins by modeling one reading/writing strategy in a mini lesson. The bulk of the time is spent practicing the focal strategy in small groups or independently as the teachers circulate and provides guidance. Selected students share their work so they become comfortable talking in front of a group as well as gain confidence in their ideas. Beginning in kindergarten, students are asked to read leveled texts independently or write independently for an extended period of time as the teachers observe record observations and confer. Additionally, starting in kindergarten, guided reading groups also occur, where teachers look at student assessments and make small book clubs. During this time, the teachers model a specific targeted strategy. They work together to master this skill, whether it is word study, fluency, or comprehension related. The purpose of guided reading is to support and differentiate decoding, fluency and/or comprehension skill-building in an organized fashion.

Additionally, phonics and word study is taught through phonics-based minilessons. A phonemic element is directly taught and then students practice the phonemic pattern. Following this, students analyze the patterns of word derivations, root words, prefixes and suffixes.

Math

Beginning at an early age the children have opportunities to play with open ended math manipulatives that give them the foundation for patterns, numbers, geometry, fractions and more. Many mathematical concepts are seamlessly embedded into classroom activities (looking at the calendar, counting how many children are here, figuring out how many snacks we need per child). In addition to a daily math workshop beginning in kindergarten, there are also math centers that take place during choice time. Additionally, math is constantly being utilized during project work (ex: During a Playground Study, children might count playground equipment and create a graph comparing various neighborhood playgrounds).

We use TERC Investigations of Number, Data, and Space, which is aligned with the Common Core Standards, along with supplemental investigations from Contexts for Learning. These investigations teach computation skills as well as encourage reasoning and problem skill development through practical applications. Children are encouraged to figure out problem solving strategies that work for them and then find ways to represent and explain their work. Additionally we have a math coach working with our staff to best meet our students’ needs.

Science

The Co-op School has developed its own science curriculum, taught in our brand new science laboratory. The curriculum is aligned to the Common Core Standards. It teaches children, pre-k and up, the scientific method through hands on exploration and investigations. Each lesson starts with open ended questions and encouragement for student observation and input. We have integrated literacy, art and movement into our curriculum so our budding scientists will always be active and engaged!

The Arts and Movement

Fostering self-expression and creativity are also significant parts of our ethos and each classroom makes use of painting, drawing, clay, collage, construction, block building, cooking and woodworking. We have an art teacher as well as a wood shop teacher. Children participate in a variety of movement activities as well, such as weekly yoga and Capoeira.

Spanish

Additionally we have Spanish classes for kindergarten, first and second grade classes. The classes are fully immersed in Spanish, with no English instruction. We will teach the children through conversation, storytelling, music and games.

We have introduced you to The Co-op School’s history, values, culture and goals. Please incorporate this information into your day-to-day performance, understanding where we began, where we hope to go and the community of families and teachers who make everything run!

The remainder of this Handbook will familiarize you with the benefits and responsibilities of being a Co-op School teacher. This Handbook can only highlight and summarize our policies and practices. While it cannot cover every detail, it does state who and how to ask if you have questions or concerns. If you are not sure about a written or unwritten policy, practice or benefit of The Co-op School, have questions about any portion of this Handbook, or need further information, your first and best resource is the School’s Director.

This Handbook is presented as a matter of information only, and is not intended to create any promise, representation, guarantee, or contractual obligation, express or implied, that conflicts in away way with the at-will employment policy of The Co-op School, nor does it in any way alter the “employment-at-will” relationship that exists between The Co-op School and its employees. “Employment-at-will” means that either The Co-op School or the employee may terminate the employment relationship for any reason that is not illegal, without cause and with or without notice.

Please understand that at The Co-op School, as in the rest of the world, circumstances are constantly changing. As a result, we may revise, rescind or supplement these policies when necessary. Nothing in this Handbook is a contract or a promise. Policies can change at any time, for any reason, without warning or prior notice.

We are always looking for ways to improve communications with our staff. If you have suggestions for ways to improve this Handbook in particular or employee relations in general, please bring them to the School’s Director.

WHAT A COOPERATIVE MEANS

Each family in this school participates in the school community in a meaningful way. Each family has chosen to be part of this environment because they value the cooperative approach and are willing to contribute time and energy to the school. Families participate in both prescribed and ad hoc ways. The former includes participating on a committee, in maintenance work shifts, contributing to weekly snack duty, and participating in fundraising tasks. The latter includes chaperoning on field trips, bringing a special song or lesson into the classroom, helping with tasks around the school, etc.

THE CO-OP SCHOOL LISTSERV – EMAIL COMMUNITY & COMMUNICATION

Co-op School families communicate through a closed listserv – meaning that only current Co-op School parents may participate on the listserv, and that all Co-op School parents must use the listserv to share and receive important notices, information and other postings having to do with the school. The Director also uses the listserv to post monthly lesson plans, circle-time songs, daily updates, helpful parenting articles, meeting times, and any other news or needs.

All staff members are also welcome and expected to be part of the listserv. It is a nice way to become familiar with the families in the community and to share information when appropriate. For example, head teachers may use the listserv to share fun information about their class each day. However, please remember that anything you wish to communicate about a school matter, or about a particular student or family, must be communicated through the Director. It is important that she be the mouthpiece, as it is not only her role, but also protects employees and families from any matters of disagreement. If you have any question about whether or not your post is appropriate for the listserv, please ask the Director.