Chrysalis – a community of kindness, respect, and love of learning, encouraging the light within each student to shine brighter.

Chrysalis Parent-Student Handbook  2007-2008

Chrysalis’s intent is to create a school that inspires students to soar higher in more ways than we, as a culture, expect from our schools. We express this metaphorically as “taking the ceiling off our school so students can soar higher”. However, we have also learned that we need to maintain a floor beneath which students do not drop. This means there are certain expectations that students and families need to meet if they wish to remain part of Chrysalis.

The four basic expectations are:

Students will maintain a 95% attendance.

Students will complete at least 90% of their assignments.

Students will behave in a way that does not disrupt the school’s environment of learning and respect.

Parents will offer at least 40 hours of community service per year.

Student expectations

95% Attendance

A condition of enrollment at Chrysalis is that a student maintains a 95% or higher attendance record (which is 9 days of absence each year) – unless there are extenuating circumstances as determined by either the teacher of record or the Chrysalis Council . Examples of extenuating circumstances would be a prolonged illness as documented by a letter from a doctor or a disruptive emergency within the family.

Non-classroom Attendance

Chrysalis believes family involvement is very important to a child’s education. We will try to accommodate any parental need or desire as long as we believe there is educational validity to it. This includes: welcoming parents and siblings into the classroom, creating independent study contracts for family vacations, and reducing homework for families who experience homework as an imposition on their family time. The following procedures spell out the conditions within which we will support independent study.

1. Families may obtain short-term independent study contracts ahead of time when families are going on a trip, or if the family wants to take advantage of a special educational offering. These contracts may be downloaded from our website and must be signed by a teacher ahead of time. However, to receive credit, the contract and work artifacts must be correctly filled out and turned in to the child’s lead teacher during the first day back to class.
2. The lead teacher will review the submitted work and decide whether the packet reflects work worthy of attendance credit. If not, or if paperwork is not turned in the first day back, then credit will not be granted. The absence will be recorded as an absence.

Chrysalis will initiate the referral process to the School Attendance Review Board (SARB) whenever we feel one of our students is missing school for reasons we can’t support.

90% Assignment Completion Policy

It is not Chrysalis’s intent to fill all of a child’s free time with school assignments. We believe children need time independent of school, exploring other aspects of their existence. However, it is also Chrysalis’s intent to maximize the quality of our teachers’ time with our students. Certain activities such as writing drafts of essays, reading literature prior to a class, practicing mathematical procedures are important parts of a student’s learning that should be done independent of the teacher. Students who haven’t completed this work prior to the next class retard the momentum of that class. Therefore, a condition of enrollment is that students will complete at least 90% of all homework assignments each month. Before a student is dropped from our program, there will be opportunities to make sure the assignments are appropriate to the student’s ability and to adjust schedules so the student has opportunities to work on assignments while at school.

Appropriate Behavior

Chrysalis encourages responsible behavior by giving more freedom and responsibility to students who demonstrate responsibility. Occasionally a student or parent will complain that because of this, not all the students are being treated the same. That’s true, we reply. This is the way the real world works. Demonstrated responsibility earns trust privileges.

We strive to give students immediate feedback on behavior that is either wonderfully helpful or that we consider inappropriate. These practices help create a culture of responsible students. Unfortunately, this is sometimes not adequate. Chrysalis has adopted the following procedures for dealing with continued inappropriate behavior.

1. Teacher will contact and discuss behavior concerns with parent either through a conference or a phone call.
2. If problems continue, a teacher will send out a First Contact Letter to parent(s) requesting a conference. A copy will be made for the school records.
3. Parent and teacher meet (student attendance optional - to be decided by teacher and parent) to address concerns.
4. If problems continue, a teacher will send out the Second Contact Letter to request a conference to develop a Behavioral Contract.
5. Parent, teacher, and administrator will meet to develop a behavior plan. Student will participate in this process unless both teacher and parent agree they should not. Family will be informed that the next step in this process is appearance before the Chrysalis Council which has the power to suspend, terminate contract, or recommend expulsion.
6. If problems continue, a teacher will send out the Third Contact Letter setting a time on the next Chrysalis Council agenda.
7. Chrysalis Council will meet with the parent and child in closed session. The parent and child will be given the opportunity to address the council in any area they feel appropriate. Afterwards, the council will determine in closed session what course they will follow and then notify the family of this decision. The decisions of the council will then determine what happens from that point on in this process.
8. If the Chrysalis Council recommends expulsion, the Chrysalis Nonprofit Board of Directors will hold an expulsion hearing in accordance with the school’s expulsion policy.. The Board shall meet in closed session (unless the parents request an open hearing). The student and their parents or guardians will be invited to this meeting and may present evidence and witnesses. If a majority of the board members present vote for expulsion, the student will be removed from Chrysalis.

Some of the behaviors that might lead to a letter and conference are:

Physical violence or the threat of violence – This includes punching or threatening to punch, kicking, headlocks throwing things at others, tripping. Some kids call this “playing around”. We don’t. The three letter procedure described above can be shortened to just the Second or even the Third Contact Letter if a child’s behavior threatens the safety of other children.

Put-downs, teasing, and foul language/gestures – These things create a barrier to letting one’s light shine, create a barrier to trying new things and being oneself. Therefore, we give abundant feedback to students to help them grow beyond this form of interacting with others. But at a certain point, we will let a student go rather than continue with everyone else’s lights dimmed.

An anti-school coolness – Chrysalis is proudly intellectual. Kids at Chrysalis delight in using their minds to make their lives more interesting. Thinking is cool. Unfortunately, some kids try out an attitude that it’s cool to not participate and not get excited about learning. This can poison a class.

Damaging or Destroying School Property – We want kids to have ready access to the equipment needed for learning. We try to give kids easy access to good equipment. If somebody shoots all the staples in a stapler or breaks pencils for the fun of it, this impacts all the kids using that equipment and undermines our confidence in giving our students access privileges. Such behavior also creates a slouchy atmosphere of taking that keeps that student from achieving their best.

Some Other School Rules

The following are some school rules we’ve developed over the year to keep our energy centered on the noble work at hand.

Games and toys from home: Please do not bring games or toys from home unless you have received permission in advance from the teacher. Such toys often create distracting energy. If the toy is in any way damaged by another student, that creates a huge swirl of energy that can consume attention for the rest of the day.

This rule includes gameboys and other handheld electronic games. We want students to interact with each other and the opportunities at school, not play the games they can play at home.

Cell phones are to be turned off and out of sight during the school day. If you need to talk to your child, please call on the school phone.

Chrysalis reserves the prerogative to take possession of personal games, toys, and cell phones being used at school until a parent or guardian claims them.

For the sake of our carpets, eating and drinking will be restricted to certain areas of the school.

Acceptable Use of Computers

We support student use of computers to research appropriate topics, edit video, create art, write papers, using school tools such as Accelerated Reader, analyze data, layout yearbook pages. We do not want students using the computers in a way that will (a) harm the computers (such as unwittingly downloading viruses) or (b) distract from Chrysalis’s learning environment. Examples of unacceptable uses are:

            Downloading files (including songs).

            Sending emails or instant messaging.

            Going to game sites and playing games.

            Going to offensive sites.

            Going to sites that have an audio component that will distract other students.

If a student wants to check out a site that might be questionable, it is the responsibility of the student to first ask permission.

Any student using school computers for an unacceptable use can, on the first time, lose their access privileges for the rest of the school year.

Students should not eat or drink near the computers nor switch the cables or move the computers.

Dress Code

Our dress code is focused on appropriate appearance and appropriate function for a school that goes out in the field regularly and unpredictably. Flip-flops and high heels should not be worn. Cotton sweatshirts with hoods are not appropriate rain gear. There needs to be a waterproof layer on the outside. Wheelies can only be worn with advanced teacher permission.

In terms of appropriate appearance, there will be no clothing worn that is gang affiliated; is “see-through”; has “spaghetti” straps; exposes the midriff; is shorter than where fingertips touch the thigh; has profanity, vulgarity, nudity, put-downs, or offensive pictures or language; promotes violence; advertises drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes. We acknowledge that not all inappropriate clothing can be addressed here and therefore give discretion to individual teachers to determine the appropriateness of a particular outfit for our school setting.

Though we anticipate no problems in this area, it should be mentioned that any student bringing a weapon to school will, depending on the circumstances, be reported to the police and expelled from Chrysalis.

Commerce Street Dismissal Policy

Because the front door of our Commerce Street site is only a few yards from a trafficked street, we have created the following policy. Students are to exit the front door only when in the company of the adult who is picking them up. The only exception is when the student’s ride is parked in the loading zone directly in front of the school. Not following this rule is a suspendable (at the teacher’s discretion) offense.

Congestion can be minimized if we all park according to the following rules.

-          The two parking spaces directly in front of the school are for quick loading. The driver must remain in the car. As much as possible, drive to the front of the two spaces if you have the option. If your child is one of those who takes five minutes to gather their stuff after you arrive, please don’t park in these two spaces.  The intent is that these two spaces allow for the quick exiting of as many of the students who are ready to go as possible.

-          If you want to talk to a teacher or do some activity so that you will be in the building for some time, try as much as possible to park on the other side of the street (south side) so that as many of the other spaces on the north side of the street are available for parents who will just pop in and out. Also, please accompany your child across the street back to your vehicle.

-          Please realize that the teacher’s first responsibility during dismissal is the safety of the students. If you want to talk with your child’s teacher, please wait for about five minutes until the main rush has subsided.

Parent Expectations

40 Hour Parent Service Requirement

Families are required to provide 40 hours of adult service throughout the year. Families with more than one child in Chrysalis only need to do 40 hours. This can take many forms from being a classroom aide to helping on field trips to doing maintenance work to helping with fundraising to serving on governing boards. Chrysalis will make an effort to create service opportunities during non-school hours for working families.

Record service hours in the notebooks residing at each site. Foundations consider each hour equivalent to $16 of in-kind donation.

The following are some possible contributions.

Classroom assistance

            Classroom and reading aides

            Playground supervision

            Teaching something you are good at. Examples: cooking, gardening, knitting,                             drawing, geo-caching, sharing great literature

Non-classroom assistance

Hot Lunch manager – (confidential materials) – phone in last minute changes, monitor money

Publishing the school’s newsletter

Mail person – pick up mail at post office and county office and take to Virginia , sort out junk mail, pick up school mail and deliver

Projects manager – help organize special events such as our camping trips, graduation, float trip, STAR tests, etc.

Parent Representative – Serve on Council, board

Community Coordinator – Create opportunities to strengthen our community: potlucks, dances, welcoming committee for new families, rosters so people learn each other

Volunteer coordinator – keep track of volunteer hours, pass on to newsletter, support other volunteers, sign up and train people,

Receptionist – route incoming calls, take messages,

Special Events Scout – Scout out upcoming and outlying possibilities

Web site link coordinator – Take incoming suggestions and organize a school’s neat list of links.

Alumni –coordinator – semi annual newsletter, list of current addresses,

Gopher – do daily errands for teachers, drive MTV’s to museum

Building maintenance –

Pre-cleaning – help with end of school clean-up

Facilities Team – Help us complete our dream of having our own site by next year. Search for site, gather information, compile architectural plan, communicate to fundraising team specific needs, etc.

Fundraising Team – Be on the lookout for and develop opportunities for raising funds.

Parents are an essential part of our governance. Two parents serve on our nonprofit’s Board of Directors and each site has a parent representative on the Chrysalis Council . Talk to a teacher for more information if you are interested in being part of the school’s governance.

Parents at School

Chrysalis strives to be a helpful ally in service to your responsibility of raising your children. We welcome parental involvement and participation. In fact, many of the special things we do such as camping trips, small group instruction, and many field trips are possible only because of parents. Many parents become good friends with one another. That is great – but please don’t engage in these wonderful conversations within the classroom. Either go outside or focus on the students and save the conversations for a more appropriate time – such as during snack and lunch.

We also welcome preschoolers for three reasons. (1) Many parents of young families can not serve in the school unless their younger children can be with them. (2) It’s good for our students to be around and care for younger students. (3) Many of these preschoolers will become Chrysalis students and these years of “informal attendance” are wonderful preparation.

However, preschoolers can damage, disorganize and lose school materials and supplies. Therefore, a parent’s first responsibility is to monitor their preschooler and pick up and re-organize after them. If your child’s behavior is a distraction to the class, please take him/her outside of the learning area.

Parent Code of Ethics

Members of the Chrysalis family must maintain high standards of behavior during school activities. These standards apply to interactions between adults and children and between participating adults. We are all responsible as role models to our children. Our goal is to maintain a safe and productive learning environment for all Chrysalis students.

Prohibited Behavior

The use of physical or verbal aggression toward any child or adult, including profanity or abusive language.

Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol with children in or near your vehicle.

Violations of either of these standards may result in a discipline hearing before the Chrysalis Council .

Confidentiality

You may be privileged to information involving a child, teacher, parent of family. Please use discretion and avoid gossip.

Problems between parents need to be solved privately. In the event of an impasse, a teacher may assist in dialog.

If a problem with a teacher arises, please discuss it with the teacher. Avoid discussing the matter with others or in front of children.

Handle phone conversations with caution. We often forget that there may be children in the room.

Respect the many and varied religious ideals represented in our community.

Discipline should be positive and constructive.

Issues with learning or discipline should be relayed to the parent by a Chrysalis teacher, not be another parent.

Let common sense prevail!

No alcohol or illegal drugs on Chrysalis trips or camp-outs.

No smoking.

Please remember to remove firearms from your vehicle before driving on a Chrysalis trip.

If an incident occurs involving any Chrysalis community members and you are contacted by the press, please refer them to the school administration.

Conflict Resolution

Chrysalis has developed specified procedures for resolving significant conflict. If a parent has a conflict with a teacher, the first step is to talk with the teacher as soon as possible before the conflict becomes significant. We teachers try to model openness to feedback; that is how we get better so please don’t feel that you are out of line to share concerns with a teacher.

If that does not resolve your concerns, then meet with an administrator.

If that still does not resolve the conflict, then the third step is to take the matter to the Chrysalis Council which meets monthly. The council’s resolution of the issue is final. Be aware that you have a parent representative on the council whose job is to help the school stay in touch with parents’ concerns. Therefore, feel free to talk with your representative at any point. But the first step is definitely talk to the teacher. 90% of concerns are due to misinterpretations and checking the source before things fester can be very healing.

If you have a conflict with an administrator, the first step is to talk with the administrator or, if you are not comfortable with that, talk with your child’s teacher about the conflict.

If that does not resolve the conflict, the second step would be to have a meeting with that administrator with your child’s teacher present.

If that does not resolve the conflict, the third step is to bring the issue up at a weekly teachers’ meeting. They will determine a final resolution through majority vote.

The state also has a complaint procedure if you believe there are not sufficient textbooks or instructional materials, if school facilities are not clean, safe, or in good repair; or if there are teacher vacancies or misassignments. The state’s complaint form can be obtained from the office or at www.cde.ca.gov/eo/ce/wc/index.asp