take messages about such everyday matters as school lunches or changes in pick-up plans. (A few parents call frequently to say they will bring the child a lunch from a restaurant or to apologize for putting the peanut butter sandwich in this child’s lunch instead of the sibling’s lunch or to ask the child if s/he prefers to be picked up by Aunt Sally or Uncle Joe. Our staff simply is too busy to deal with matters like this on a routine basis, so we ask for understanding from the few families who would like to have more ready access to the classrooms for routine communications with their children or the teachers.) Email: In conversation with parent leaders and teachers, we have decided against widespread use of email for home-school communication with individual teachers. We ask that parents be respectful of this decision. Timely Replies from the School: For routine matters, parents can generally expect a reply (to messages requiring a reply) within two or three days. For more urgent or time-sensitive matters, teachers and school administrators try to respond by the end of the next school day. If parents do not receive an anticipated response within this time frame, we ask them to contact us again in case a message did not get to its intended recipient. This does not happen very often, but we greatly appreciate parent understanding when something unexpected happens in our busy office. Student Use of Email and the Internet: As appropriate for the age and grade level, Broadoaks provides students with information about the appropriate and courteous use of the Internet and email. The school also explains to students that everything on any school computer, camera, or other technology belongs to the school, not to any individual. We request that parents carefully supervise their children’s use of the Internet and email. (See other school policies regarding technology in Chapter 2.) The Broadoaks Website: Changes to the school calendar, school newsletters, and information about school events will be posted on the school’s website as expeditiously as possible: http://www.whittier.edu/broadoaks Completing Forms and Recommendation Letters: The turn-around time for completing forms and recommendation letters is typically two weeks. RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN TEACHERS AND PARENTS It is important for parents and teachers to work together as partners in the education of their students/children. Teachers welcome comments and suggestions from parents and hope that parents will value teachers’ comments and suggestions as well. The school’s policy is NOT to hold parent-teacher discussions while young children are present. This includes brothers and sisters of enrolled children. Children are quite sensitive to what is being said about them or their family members, so it is best not to talk in front of them, other than to exchange positive comments such as “Billy was so helpful during clean-up time today.” We encourage parents to share information about the child and his/her family circumstances. It is usually best to hand the administrator or teacher a brief explanatory note whenever some event or circumstance might affect the child at school. Families in Crisis or Need: The professional staff will share information with one another, but we respect the privacy of families. We do not discuss one family’s matters with other families unless given permission to do so. Therefore, we ask families to let us know if they want/need assistance. For example, in the case of illness or death in the family, Broadoaks families and staff will want to help. If the family experiencing the difficulty lets us know that it is OK, we quickly activate the phone tree and are usually able to arrange for food, transportation, childcare, and other support families in crisis might need. Notifying the School of Special Events: We also encourage parents to let us know when new babies arrive and when other important family events take place.
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