FACULTY HANDBOOK
ACCIDENT REPORT
Whenever an accident occurs the teacher on duty must fill out and sign a report form and file it with the office immediately (forms can be obtained in the office). This form is needed for insurance purposes.
ASSIGNMENTS
Teachers occasionally fail to realize that if a student is given even a moderate assignment by each teacher the load will be impossible to complete in one night. Therefore, the school's policy is that homework assignments be kept to no more than the following in the general or Judaic subjects:
Grades 1-2 20-25 minutes
Grades 3-4 30-35 minutes
Grades 5-6 45 minutes
Junior High 30 minutes in each subject,
but no more than 3 hours on any night
A teacher would be well advised to inquire about previously assigned work before giving a lengthy assignment. During the pre-holiday-achievement testing, or final exam period, no homework should be assigned.
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT SHEETS
Homework assignment sheets are available in the office. Teachers in grades 1-4 should distribute the sheets and be sure they are properly recorded. This will provide proper communication between home and school to assure that assignments are completed on time.
Projects should be spaced so that a student does not labor with more than one project in a two week period.
It is expected that homework will be corrected as soon as possible and that at no time should a student have to wait more than 1 week to receive his corrected work.
ATTENDANCE
It goes without saying that there is a correlation between the perfect attendance of a teacher and the success of his or her class. However, in the event that a teacher must be absent due to illness, the office should be called, or after school hours, the assistant principal or secretary should be called at home in the evening or by 7:00 a.m.
The faculty contract provides for paid absence for personal reasons as long as the principal is informed of the impending absence at the proper time.
The exception to this rule is on the day preceding and the day following a school vacation. No teacher may take either of those days as personal leave. In the event a teacher is absent on those days, the faculty contract specifies that he/she will be fined at the rate of two (2) days for each absence.
ATTENDANCE AT STAFF AND PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES
Teachers will be available and participate in individual parent conferences or meetings before and after their classroom responsibilities at mutually convenient times. Attendance at faculty meetings is mandatory.
ATTENDANCE TAKING PROCEDURES
Good attendance is imperative and a prerequisite to a successful academic career. The recording of attendance, lateness and absences are essential if the school is to promote and maximize the efforts of each student.
Each teacher is required to take the roll daily. A roll book is distributed to each teacher for that purpose and should provide for accurate attendance records.
In the junior high school, each homeroom teacher will complete the roll report daily and will send it to the office. The office will prepare a list of absentees daily to be circulated among the faculty. This will simplify the roll taking procedures after the homeroom period. Roll books are the property of (INSERT SCHOOL NAME) and are collected at the end of the school year.
If a student cuts class or has an unexcused absence the teacher is to notify the office in writing.
BOOKS AND CARE OF SCHOOL BOOKS
(INSERT SCHOOL NAME) distributes textbooks to students as a loan at the outset of each semester or year; they are returnable at the end of the course.
When assigning books at the beginning of the year: Note the condition of books as you assign them to students. Make sure they are all stamped and numbered. This will ensure inventory control.
Inform the student that the condition of the book is his/her responsibility. The student will be charged at the end of the year for any book which was loaned in good condition and returned in poor condition. Lost books are also a student's responsibility, even if they were taken from the student's locker.
A teacher may confiscate any book left in a classroom after school hours and hand it in to the office. The school secretary will levy a fine when the book is claimed by the student.
Students are required to cover all books to keep them in proper condition. While this is a student's responsibility, teachers are requested to supervise its execution.
Textbooks are stored in storage rooms. While teachers have access to these rooms, no book should be removed from the storage room by a teacher. Written request for any book is required so that inventory may be kept current.
At the outset of the school year, a teacher will check out the books needed for the year and indicate the number of books on a class inventory sheet. On this inventory, teachers will indicate that books have been returned at the end of the year or that they need replacement.
BULLETIN BOARDS
Bulletin boards should be decorated as soon as possible even in junior high school. The boards are often usable as teaching tools as well as displays. Secular and Judaic teachers should subdivide their bulletin board space at the beginning of the term and be responsible for sections throughout the year. Children's work should be displayed conspicuously on the bulletin boards around the room.
CARE OF CLASSROOMS, SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND PROPERTY
It is essential to emphasize to the students that it is their responsibility to keep the school clean and undamaged. They should be impressed with the importance of pride in a clean classroom and a clean building. Since the classroom takes the place of the home during school hours, steps should be taken to make it as pleasant a living place as possible. Decorating the room and keeping it in order has several educational values. It affords a practical application of all principles, and an opportunity for training "Midos Tovos".
Each student should be responsible for the condition of his or her desk, both inside and out, and the area on the floor around it. If there is litter on the floor, the teaching should be interrupted until it has been disposed of properly.
All classrooms have ample bulletin board space. In the event empty wall space is used for decorative purposes, thumb tacks or nails should not be used, masking tape should be used instead.
Desks may be kept in neat rows or in any other orderly arrangement. All students should be assigned to permanent seats.
COMMUNICATION POLICIES
The door to the principal's office is always open. This is seen as being essential to the success of the school. In the event that there is a need for the principal to confer personally with any teacher, a memorandum to that effect will be put in the teacher's mailbox.
The principal will review all submitted plans weekly and comment about them. It is important, therefore, that all plan books be submitted when they are due.
Bi-monthly informal meetings will be scheduled with each teacher so that an exchange of opinions and views might ensue. Team meetings in the elementary school may be more often than bi-monthly.
CONTROVERSIAL SUBJECTS
Topics relating to the age of the earth and man, the various geological stages, different religious beliefs, etc., and any other ideas which may be dichotomous with the Jewish theology are not to be discussed in the classroom without express permission and guidance from the principal on how these matters are to be presented.
In this category are: the application of modern psychology, general philosophy, sex education, and religious and seasonal holidays not of the Jewish faith, among others.
Secular teachers should not hesitate to inquire of the Hebrew staff when in doubt about certain religious observances.
DISCIPLINE: POLICIES GOVERNING STUDENT BEHAVIOR
For any policy regarding student behavior to be successful and yield a well-disciplined school, it must be universally applied by all faculty members. If there is consistency in the standards of acceptable behavior; if students know what is expected of them and what they may expect if they deviate from what is expected, then we can expect a well-disciplined student body. To that end, and to assure proper and uniform follow-up, the following will be instituted.
It is generally accepted that the first and foremost place for a student to be disciplined is the classroom. When a teacher sends a child to the office for disciplining, it is an acknowledgement of an inability to deal with the problem.
The first formal process for censuring a child is the conduct referral form which is sent home to parents and a copy is kept in the office. Any student receiving three (3) conduct referrals will automatically have his/her parents invited to school for a conference with the principals. Failure of parents to respond to the invitation will necessitate the removal of the student from the classroom.
If the misbehavior reoccurs, the student will have to serve detention on the day of the misdemeanor. Three such occurrences will immediately yield suspension from school.
What is expected:
In the classroom- Students should conduct themselves as polite, thoughtful people living in close proximity. Organization and responsibility must be encouraged and demanded. A classroom code of behavior outlining what is expected of all students and what they may expect should be established at the outset of the year.
In the hallways- (INSERT SCHOOL NAME) expects hallways to be quiet and only students bearing a classroom pass should be going to a prescribed destination. When an entire class leaves their room at any time they must be accompanied by the teacher.
On the playground- Games should be orderly, safe and supervised at all times. The teacher must control all interpersonal conflicts. At no time may any student be permitted to leave the confines of the playground and venture onto the sidewalk.
In the lunchroom- Students must be seated as soon as possible and with proper table manners. Shouting and disorderliness can never be tolerated. It is the teacher's responsibility to see that all students who should be in the dining room are present. Birchat Hamazon must be dignified and the dismissal organized.
In the gym- All activities must be supervised by a faculty member. Students may not play on the stage or in the locker rooms, or in the hallways.
DISMISSAL
Teachers are required to escort their students from the classroom to the playground at dismissal. Children will line up according to their buses to await dismissal to their buses.
DRESS CODE
Members of the faculty are expected to maintain the same standards of modest dress required of the student body (see handbook).
EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
(INSERT SCHOOL NAME) encourages the students to develop their talents and outside interests. A music and an art program are part of the school's curriculum. In addition, a selection of after school activities are scheduled for the junior high school.
Under no circumstances may any class time be devoted to what is rightfully an extracurricular activity unless permission is granted by and planned with the principal.
FIELD TRIPS
Teachers are encouraged to include meaningful, off campus trips to enhance the quality of the classroom instruction with a "hands on" experience.
A field trip request form must be completed and handed into the office at least one week in advance and the school's trip procedure followed.
The student G.O. will plan a number of extended trips during the course of the year; they will need the assistance and cooperation of the faculty. (INSERT SCHOOL NAME) views these trips as an extension of the social experiences of its students.
FIRE DRILLS
Fire drills will be held on a regular basis; their importance as a safety precaution cannot be overrated.
Teachers are requested to familiarize children with the procedures as soon as possible.
A. SIGNAL FOR IMMEDIATE LEAVING....fire gongs rung rapidly in succession.
B. PROCEDURE:
1. STOP WORK IMMEDIATELY. Give brief commands, such as "Silence" and "On Line".
Use same system of lining up as you use daily in dismissals from room.
2. Assign a monitor to rear of line to prevent straggling and to help maintain ABSOLUTE SILENCE.
3. Classes use designated exits and line up on street as listed on attached page.
4. In a Fire Drill occurring during LUNCH PERIOD, children will follow directions of person in charge of lunchrooms as to which exit to use.
5. Children who are not in their classroom when the bell rings are to report to the teacher in the room nearest them.
C. WAIT FOR INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE RETURNING TO SCHOOL BUILDING.
D. ABSOLUTE SILENCE must be maintained throughout the drill.
E. At any streets that are to be crossed, the teacher should be positioned at the crossing and wait until the class has passed. The teacher then catches up to the class and maintains control. At no time should the teacher simply lead the class, rather the teacher must control the class from the center of the line.
F. Any student not adhering to rules during a fire drill should be reported to the office.
G. EXIT ROUTES ARE POSTED IN EACH CLASSROOM- a teacher should be familiar with them.
HEALTH
Teachers should report any symptom of illness to the office immediately; they may not administer any medicine internally, however, a full supply of first aid items will be kept in the office for external use.
HEALTH RECORDS
Health records of each child are maintained by the school office; teachers will be asked to collect health forms and other data from students from time to time.
If a student is ill, the office will call the home and decide together with the parent if the student is to leave school or not.
HOMEWORK- See Assignments.
INDOOR RULES
No student may leave the room without a pass. A pass may merely be an index card indicating from which room it emanates, and is signed by a teacher. A student stopped in the hall without a pass will be disciplined. No more than one student at a time should leave the room. The hallways must be clear and quiet during class time. If for any reason a class leaves the room in the middle of a period, they must walk silently to their destination. Enforcement of this regulation is a collective responsibility of all teachers.
Elementary school classes must be accompanied by a teacher at all times, indoors and out. Junior high school students must accept the responsibility of going quickly from one place to another and obeying class regulations. They need not be accompanied to and from lunch, to and from gym, etc.
LESSON PLANS
Meticulous lesson planning is the best assurance of an orderly and clear presentation. Teachers are required to submit a copy of their lesson plans to the principal who will review them and comment either in writing or during bi-monthly conferences.
Plans should be written so that a substitute will be able to understand them, and must include the development of the lesson, the objectives, reference to the pages in text, and any related assignment.*
Lesson Plans are due in the office on the first teaching day of the week.
The carbon copy of lesson plans are to be left in the principal's office each week. The original copy shall be the property of the teacher.
*(In Hebrew subjects include the Mussar Haskel).
Teachers should submit regularly scheduled test papers, worksheets, etc., and are requested to record exceptionally good or exceptionally poor grades.
One copy of all stenciled sheets should be submitted to the principal along with the teacher's name, date, subject and grade.
OFFICE
Students may visit the (INSERT SCHOOL NAME) offices only if they have business there. A note is required from a teacher if a student enters the office during class time.
Should any student wish an appointment with the principal, an appointment request may be filed and it will be attended to at the earliest convenience.
OUTDOOR RULES
Student interaction must be civil at all times and play kept within the bounds of safety. Special areas are assigned for each class and students must be limited to them. Children must never be left unattended, or permitted to venture onto the streets.
RECORD KEEPING
Each teacher is required to maintain complete records of all students. Records should be kept of each assignment and test, lateness or absence. These records will be the basis of students' quarterly and semester grades.
A plan book, as well as a roll book, is provided to each teacher for this purpose. Roll books are the property of (INSERT SCHOOL NAME) and are collected at the end of the year.
REPORT CARDS
Report cards are issued 3 times a year. Full details about their preparation will come in a memo prior to the end of the marking period.
If a student is in danger of getting a failing or near failing grade on the next report, teachers are required to send a failure notice to parents at least three weeks prior to the end of the period.
SCHOOL CANCELLATION
If there is unusually inclement weather necessitating the closing of local Public Schools, (INSERT SCHOOL NAME) will likewise be closed. A faculty chain call will inform all teachers and auxiliary personnel of the pertinent facts. Teachers are requested not to call school or administration personnel. If for any emergency reason, school must be dismissed during the day, parents will be notified by telephone.
SIGN IN
Each teacher is expected to clock in upon arrival.
SPECIAL PROGRAMS & VISITING SPEAKERS
All special programs must be developed jointly with the principal. In the event a visitor is asked to the classroom, the principal's approval must be obtained and he/she informed of the date and time of the visit.
STANDARDIZED TESTING
The Standardized Achievement tests will be administered to all elementary students in the spring.
STUDENT ABSCENCES
Homeroom teachers are required to call home on the second day a student is absent to ascertain the reason. In the event a prolonged absence is foreseen, home study should be prescribed. It is a good idea to call a student at home if he is absent for more than two days.
STUDENT REFERRALS
Students may be referred to the office for special assistance with academic or social difficulties. Children may need tutorial help, they may need to work with the Learning Resource Teachers if they have a minor learning dysfunction. Children may be referred to one of the visiting psychologists or counselors if they are experiencing emotional difficulties. As soon as a problem becomes apparent a referral form should be sent to the office.
TEACHER'S LOUNGE
A teacher's lounge has been set aside. It affords an opportunity for a teacher to relax and unwind.
The maintenance of cleanliness in the lounge is the collective responsibility of all teachers; teachers are requested to be aware of their peers' comfort when using the lounge.
TEACHER MAIL BOXES
All teachers are requested to check their mail boxes daily for any communication from the principal or the administrative office. All teachers' mail will be deposited in their boxes. In the case of a large package, a note will be inserted in the mail box informing the teacher to pick it up from the office.
Only in the case of an emergency will a message be delivered to a classroom.
TESTING
Elementary school teachers may schedule tests to suit the individual needs of the class involved. On the junior high school level, one day in the week will be assigned to each teacher for testing. In this way, students should at no time have more than one test in either general or Judaic studies on any given day.
Midterm and final examinations will be scheduled so that each class will have just two exams daily. Any proposed change in a scheduled test must be cleared with the principal in advance.
TUTORING
No teacher should suggest the need for tutorial services to parents unless it is first discussed with the principal. However, should a teacher feel tutoring is necessary, the principal should be apprised as soon as possible.
VISITORS
Visitors are not permitted in a classroom without a pass from the principal's office.
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