2023-24 Parent-Student Handbook

VIII. SOCIAL GUIDELINES AND EXPECTATIONS Our community is based on expectations of behavior supported by rules. Our standards of conduct are neither capricious nor unreasonable; rather, they exist to promote a civil society that is productive, fair, safe, and healthy. Our presumption is that our community members are of goodwill and character.

Our goal is to maintain a secure, challenging, and nurturing school environment in which students develop a strong sense of integrity and respect for others. To promote this goal, students are expected to be honest, use appropriate language, and have appropriate interactions with others.

Another equally important goal is to help students mature and learn a sense of self-responsibility.

For this reason, students are held to a high standard of integrity and are expected to appropriately seek help and report problems when circumstances arise. We encourage students to seek help and report problems on their own without parental involvement as much as possible.

Expectations of appropriate conduct are always in force for both day and boarding students, on and off campus, at all times when a student is enrolled in the school. While the school does not seek to unnecessarily involve itself in a student’s off-campus behavior, the school reserves the right to act with respect to off-campus behavior when it deems necessary, including, without limitation, when that offcampus behavior impacts the student’s ability to continue at school, impacts other students’ or employees’ ability to be comfortable at school, compromises the welfare of other students, or damages the reputation of the school. The rules, policies, and standards apply any time a student is on campus or in the immediate vicinity of campus, any time a student is participating in or attending a schoolsponsored event on or off campus, any time a student is officially representing the school, any time a student is traveling on behalf of the school, and in the evenings, weekends, and during school breaks, including summer break. The school also regards any behavior prejudicial to the best interests of the school, whether on campus or elsewhere, as sufficient grounds for a disciplinary response. We expect parents to support school conduct standards and any means the school deems necessary in determining a student’s potential violation of the policies, rules and expectations outlined in this handbook.

We expect students to learn the core values, accept them, and act upon them. A successful life harmonizes one’s own well-being with the well-being of others. Our students are expected to pursue this ideal actively.

Expectations are the positive side of rules; penalties are the consequences of breaking rules. Penalties are aimed at protecting the school community, helping others take rules seriously, and awakening the offender to the need for increased responsibility to self and others. Violations will result in serious consequences, up to and including suspension or dismissal from school. Students may also be held responsible for any damage or harm that they cause to individuals and/or the school community at large.

No list of expectations, policies, and rules can cover every conceivable situation and the expectations, rules and policies outlined in this handbook, in this section and elsewhere, should not be read as an allinclusive description of the school's standards. It is important to note that there will be consequences for unacceptable behavior whether mentioned here or not. Students and parents are asked to acknowledge the spirit of these expectations, rules, and policies rather than to look at the delineation of all possible violations.

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