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Welcome to Our School |
Vision: At Clarkfield Charter School our vision is to create a regionally known rural K-8 school by teaching to students’ individual learning styles, by building concrete foundations in academics and by promoting strong moral values, healthy lifestyles and community involvement. Mission: At Clarkfield Charter School, we believe that all K-8 students have a purpose and learn in a unique way. Our mission is to develop a love of learning by finding and teaching to the students’ individual learning styles and expanding their knowledge through community based learning. This will allow students to master academic building blocks necessary for a successful transition to senior high school. Learning will take place in a nurturing and stimulating environment with a 15 to 1 student-to-teacher ratio where staff, families and community members support students to become life-long learners leading healthy, active and productive lives. Arrival time Attendance Policy At Clarkfield Area Charter School we believe consistent attendance is a vital part of student success. Our expectation is to have students miss as little class time as possible. If a student should miss class for any reason, they are to bring a written excuse to their teacher when they return to class. The written excuse should include a reason for the absence and a parent signature. Parents/Guardians can also contact the school office if their student will be absent.
Any absence without a parent/guardian excuse will be considered Unexcused. An absence will also be considered unexcused if no written excuse or phone call is received within three days of the absence. For absences of three days or more a doctor’s note may be requested from the school before the absence will be considered excused.
Any student absent from school without excuse for seven days in any school year is considered truant. Truant students will be referred to the County Attorney’s Office. If you know in advance that your child will be absent please notify the school as soon as possible so your child’s teacher can prepare any assignments for him in a timely manner. Please try to schedule appointments outside of regular school hours whenever possible.
Behavior Policy All students have the right to learn. At Clarkfield Area Charter School we expect each student not to interfere with the learning of any other student. Each classroom will have its own procedures, but we hold the following expectations for all students at all times:
Birthday Treats We welcome any student to bring treats for their birthday if they wish. Any treat brought to school should be commercially made. Please ensure there are sufficient treats for all students in your child’s class. Students are welcome to share invitations to a home party in school if all the boys and girls in the class are invited to the party.
Books and Equipment Students are responsible to care for any books and/or equipment provided to them to keep it in the best possible condition. Excess damage will be fined to the student at a rate deemed appropriate by the school considering the age and prior condition of the book or equipment.
Bus Conduct and Transportation
Computer Use Policy In an ever-changing society, Clarkfield Area Charter School recognizes the importance of technological education for all students. We use computers and the Internet on a regular basis to provide students with current data and the skills to locate and use online resources as well as to communicate with other students and individuals as necessary for their education. We view computer/technology use as a privilege, not a right. The following is expected of our students, and is our Acceptable Use Policy:
Unacceptable use of school networks, computers, software, Internet, e-mail, includes but is not limited to: accessing, downloading, viewing, or storing, or printing obscene, pornographic, lewd, vulgar, rude, inflammatory, threatening, disrespectful, or sexually explicit material or language.
Conferences At Clarkfield Area Charter School we value open communication between parents, teachers, students, and administration. Parents are welcome to schedule individual conferences at any time with their child’s teacher. Conferences will be held three times a year. One conference will be held prior to the opening of school to provide an opportunity for parents, students and their teachers to get to know each other before the first day of school. This offers an opportunity to discuss learning styles, past successes and challenges, and set personal learning goals and physical fitness goals for the year
Curriculum MathThe Clarkfield Area Charter School uses Saxon Math curriculum because its focus is on student success. This success is promoted through the sound educational practices of incremental development and continual review. With incremental development, topics are developed in small steps spread overtime. One facet of a concept is taught and practiced before the next facet is introduced. Both facets are then practiced together until it is time for the third to be introduced. The content in the Saxon program is organized in a series of lessons that gradually develop concepts. This incremental approach provides students with time to solidify prerequisite concepts and skills before they are introduced to the next step of instruction. Through continual review, previously presented concepts are practiced frequently and extensively over the year. Saxon’s cumulative daily practice strengthens students’ grasp of concepts improves their flexibility to work with several mathematical concepts at a time and improves their long-term retention of concepts. The student textbook consists of 120 daily lessons and 12 investigations. These investigations target the multiple intelligences aspect of our school framework. This curriculum presents pacing ideas to help the teacher and students complete the textbook within a school year, a worthwhile goal for all classes. Each daily lesson is composed of four sections: the warm-up, new concept(s), lesson practice, and mixed practice. After every lesson is a teacher-directed Investigation. These are whole-class activities and focus on a difficult concept. Each student is actively involved and participating in these investigations. The ability to read and to work with mathematical concepts provides a foundation for further education, broadens career opportunities, and prepares individuals for the challenges of everyday life. This curriculum, developed and refined in classrooms by classroom teachers, has been designed to provide all students with the time and opportunities necessary to build a rock solid foundation.
Language Arts Clarkfield Charter School uses the Open Court Reading program for a variety of reasons. They have a 40 year record of being in the business of maintaining a successful reading curriculum. The instructional plan of Open Court provides systematic and explicit instruction for every skill throughout the program. There are 3 parts to each lesson: Preparing to Read—includes teaching sounds and letters, phonics and fluency and word knowledge. Students quickly, efficiently and effectively learn sound patterns that make up English words. Practice and review of these key skills are systematically built into the curriculum to ensure mastery. Reading and Responding—teaches specific comprehension skills and strategies. This comprehensive development of skills and strategies are modeled, practiced and reviewed daily by teacher and students. Language Arts—includes spelling, vocabulary, writing process strategies, writer’s craft, English language convention, grammar-usage-mechanics, listening-speaking-viewing, penmanship and basic computer skills. Each skill is explicitly taught and practiced in reading and/or writing activities. The quality of the literature that is emphasized in this program is very interesting and promotes understanding and discussion for the teachers and students. The literature in each unit is organized around one of two types of themes: Universal themes, such as Keep Trying, Friendship and Survival encourage in-depth and critical thinking Research themes, such as Weather, Astronomy and Ancient Civilizations, develop inquiry and research in science and social studies content areas. Throughout lessons in OCR, students do more than just read literature. They also ask questions, discuss, research, write about and think about the concepts and ideas centered around the themes they read using all of their senses. This reading program is rooted in research. The authors are experts on how children learn to read and read to learn. The lessons are very organized and logically and efficiently teach children to read and write with skill and confidence. Social Studies/Geography/History Clarkfield Area Charter School uses Pearson Learning Core Knowledge for History and Geography for the social studies curriculum. Pearson Learning provides essential American and world history and geography concepts. This curriculum follows a sequence to teach key history and geography topics at each level creating a solid base of knowledge of history and geography topics. In 2002, the New York Book Show selected this series as one of the best educational series of the year for the elementary grades. In addition to our purchased curriculum, students will be introduced to our local ancestry and history. Local residents will share how their ancestors immigrated to this area. Topics such as the Homestead Act, importance of the railroad, history of farming and farming practices, and history of Clarkfield will be covered. Students also study different cultures and countries to give them a broader perspective. Community members who are first or second generation immigrants will be asked to present to students regarding what day-to-day living was like in their home country. Community members who have visited other countries or lived in other countries can share their experiences also. Clarkfield Area Charter School believes this will foster an understanding and appreciation of different cultures. ScienceThe Clarkfield Area Charter School uses The McMillan McGraw Hill as part of its science curriculum. The goals for our science curriculum are: A. Uses the Minnesota State Standards areas of science as a benchmark.
B. To use the “Multiple Intelligence” theory in teaching science
C. Explore and Interact with Nature
D. To Incorporate the Community
E. To Incorporate the Use of Technology
Music/ArtStudents study art history and how cultures used art to express themselves throughout history. Students learn the elements and principles of design along with art terms. Art is taught in kindergarten through eighth grade in conjunction with other curriculum areas such as: reading, math, and science. Health/Phy-Ed. Clarkfield Area Charter School promotes healthy lifestyles, healthy nutritional choices, safety, decision-making, and goal setting. One of the goals of health education is to provide knowledge and teach skills to help students make food choices that maintain and promote health. Students will also research and study the prevention of disease such as depression, diabetes and cardiovascular disease and alcohol and drug abuse along with the risky behaviors of youth. Students will be aware of physical, social, and emotional development. The school will promote nutrition, exercise, positive self-image and positive attitudes throughout all the grades and staff. Clarkfield Area Charter School’s development team knows that students need to have physical activity scheduled daily. In addition to recess, Phy-Ed will be used to introduce students to a variety of ways for them to stay physically fit for a lifetime. Character Education Instilling character education into the curriculum at Clarkfield Area Charter School is a priority. We believe that to have a safe and caring learning environment everyone needs to model appropriate behaviors. Clarkfield Area Charter School uses homeroom time to teach character education. The character skills that are emphasized include: respect, asking for help, saying thank you, following instructions, completing assignments, ignoring distractions, recognizing another's feelings, dealing with anger, using self control, problem solving, accepting consequences, deciding what caused a problem, reacting to failure, saying "no", listening, and being honest.
Community-Based Learning Clarkfield Area Charter School ’s educational program includes community-based learning as an approach to instructing students. This approach allows students to:
Teachers supplement their instruction by utilizing community members, local experts and business owners as guest speakers. They will share their expertise and experiences about the local environment, government, and business community along with knowledge of history and the importance of physical activity to help bring learning to life. These guest speakers will be selected based on units being studied by the class and will be aligned with Minnesota state standards. Students experience new and ever-changing learning opportunities by having community experts teach them about their specialty area and they have the added advantage of knowing the people in their community care about them and want to be involved in their education.
Family Involvement Clarkfield Area Charter School strongly encourages each family to volunteer a minimum of 20 hours a year. Volunteering can take a variety of different forms from helping in the classroom, supervising after school extra curricular activities, chaperoning field trips, cutting out letters for a bulletin board from the leisure of your own home, and as needed by staff. In addition, attending student/parent/teacher conferences and assisting your child with homework or tutoring another child are also volunteer hours. The charter school development team believes that for a student to be successful there needs to be support from the school, parents, and students. However, it is understood that participation will not impact a student’s enrollment opportunity.
Dress Code We believe student dress is a reflection of student attitude. Student dress should be neat and appropriate at all times while on school property. School officials will determine appropriateness of student dress on a consistent basis, considering the following:
School staff may require a student to change their dress or grooming when it causes distraction to themselves or others. If needed, a parent may be asked to bring a change of clothing to the school for the student.
Electronic Devices We discourage students from bringing personal electronic devices to school. These include, but are not limited to, cell phones, CD players, MP3 players, laptops, etc. . . If a student chooses to bring one of these items to school they must keep it turned off and put away during the school day. The school is not responsible for any lost or stolen items. If a student brings one of these items to school and a staff member takes it from them they will receive a warning upon the first offense and will get the item back at the end of the school day. The second offense will result in the parent having to come in to get the item back.
Emergency Information The school must be able to reach a parent or guardian in case of an emergency. Emergency contact information will be requested from each family at the start of the school year. It is important that any changes be reported to the school office immediately. In the case of an emergency or inclement weather, school may be dismissed early. Busses will be sent in a timely manner to ensure students arrive home safely. If a student is to go someplace other than home parents need to let the office know. The following TV/radio stations will report early morning announcements as well as early dismissal information. Radio: KDMA 1460 AM/KMGM 105.5/FM – Montevideo/Granite Falls KMHL 1400 AM – Marshall WCCO 830 AM – Minneapolis, St. Paul KKRC 93.9 FM – Granite Falls KDJS 95.3 FM – Willmar K-Q102 102.5 FM – Willmar KKCK 99.7 – Marshall
TV: KARE – Channel 11 – Minneapolis, St. Paul KSAX/KSTP – Channel 5 – Alexandria WCCO – Channel 4 – Minneapolis, St. Paul
Field Trips As a part of our focus on community-based education, classes may occasionally take a field trip. Teachers will send a permission slip home with details of the trip in advance. These permission slips must be returned for a student to be eligible to attend. A student may be considered ineligible for the trip as a school consequence; in this case an alternative learning experience will be offered to that student on the day of the field trip.
Food Service
Forbidden Items There are many items that have no place within our school facility or on school grounds. They include, but are not limited to, guns, knives, weapons, cigarettes, drugs, water guns, and pornography. Students will be suspended for bringing any of these items to school. There may also be criminal consequences.
Grading Policy Student grade reports will be printed for parents at the end of each quarter and for student conferences. Teachers use the following grading scale to determine student grades: |
100-96 A 95-94 A- 93-92 B+ 91-89 B 88-87 B- 86-85 C+ |
84-82 C 81-80 C- 79-78 D+ 77-76 D 75-74 D- < 73.5% F |
In some instances, if a student is not achieving academic success, it may be necessary to repeat a grade or course to master the content. In such a case, a meeting will be called with the student, parent, teacher, and school director to determine the most appropriate course of action.
Health Services
Homework Policy At Clarkfield Area Charter School, we recognize homework as an aspect of school success. Students should expect some homework assigned on a daily basis. While we strongly encourage students to miss as little school as possible, we understand that from time to time a student will miss class due to some circumstance. For each day a student is absent he will be allowed one day upon his return to complete the work he missed for full credit. For extended absences, a reasonable due date for the missed work may be arranged with the teacher. Parents can call the school to arrange to pick up homework assignments for their child. If a student has been suspended from school, parents can arrange to pick up homework assignments in the office. The work is due upon the first day the student returns to class for full credit. No extra time will be offered.
Insurance
Lost and Found Any items found should be brought to the office immediately. Students can describe the lost item to a staff member to pick it up. Items left in the lost and found after the end of the school year will be either given to a local charity or disposed of.
Pupil Fair Dismissal Act The Fair Dismissal Act applies to any student being denied the current educational program. It does not include a student being removed from class. Clarkfield Area Charter School follows this policy; a copy of the policy is available in the school office for review.
Records Parents have the right to review and inspect school records. Requests to review student records should be made to the school Director, who will arrange for the records to be reviewed.
Report Cards Report cards will be printed at the end of each academic quarter. This report will show student progress in academic areas and may also show progress in areas of student habits and social growth. Grades will reflect students’ daily work, quizzes, tests, and class participation. Students with Special Needs may be graded in a manner deemed appropriate by their Special Needs Teacher and their IEP.
Smoke Free Environment Clarkfield Area Charter School is smoke and tobacco free. Smoking and the use of tobacco had been identified as a major health concern; in an effort to provide a safe, healthy, and clean environment for all students, staff, and community members smoking and the use of tobacco products is prohibited both in the school and on school grounds.
Telephone Calls Students may be reached by leaving a message for them with the school office during the school day. Students will not be excused for phone calls. Students are encouraged not to make any phone calls during the school day. In the case of an emergency, students may be allowed to make a call from the school office. We ask that any after-school plans be arranged before the school day begins. Teachers are often not available to take calls during the school day either. If a parent needs to contact a teacher, they can either send an e-mail to the teacher or leave a message with the school office. The teacher can then call the parent back at his earliest convenience.
Testing Clarkfield Area Charter School staff believes that students develop a love of learning by identifying their individual learning style. In the fall of each year, all students will be tested to determine their learning style. T teachers which will use the identification of students learning styles to create instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse learners. We use the MCA and NWEA MAP Assessment Tests, also given in the fall, in addition to non-traditional assessment methods, such as portfolios, presentations, models, charts and other displays to ensure students are achieving adequate individual goals. Test scores will be reviewed and areas of concern will be addressed to increase student achievement. It is our goal to have our students test above the state average.
Title I Program
Title IX Program
Visitors Policy At Clarkfield Area Charter School we appreciate parent and community member enthusiasm with our students’ education. In an effort to maintain a safe environment for all our students, we request that all visitors check in at the school office upon entering the school. Visitors will receive a Visitor Pass to wear while they are in the school or on school grounds during the school day.
Volunteer Policy Clarkfield Area Charter School uses community experts and local residents as “educators.” Lesson plans include speakers, such as local residents and business owners; research using textbooks and the Internet; and potential community-based projects. Using community experts to help educate the children offers an opportunity for students to sharpen their listening, note-taking and interviewing skills, which all enhance many aspects of our literacy program. Volunteer time can be arranged with the classroom teachers.
At the Clarkfield Area Charter School we believe that each student has the right to learn and each teacher has the right to teach. Any person causing a disturbance to this right will receive a school consequence. We understand there are a variety of reasons for wayward behaviors, and will handle each situation on a case-by-case basis. We do not view school discipline as a punishment, but as a means for our students to correct their behavior. Our goal is to help students recognize their negative behaviors and to make wise choices to avoid making the same mistake again. The following will be used as a guideline for helping students correct their behavior to provide a safe environment for all to learn. For students with an IEP, student disabilities will be considered when issuing a school consequence. The school consequence is unrelated to any possible criminal charges; the local law enforcement authorities will be called if deemed appropriate. In some situations restitution will be required. A copy of any written warning will be sent home. A suspension may be either in or out of school.
2007-2008 Clarkfield Area Charter School Student/Parent Handbook We have read and discussed the CACS handbook and understand all students will be held accountable for following the procedures and policies identified. We also understand and will accept any school consequence awarded for breaching these policies. _____________________________________ print student name student __________________________________________ signature
___________________________________________ parent signature parent ___________________________________________ signature
Clarkfield Area Charter School Parent Permission for Student to be Photographed and/or Video Taped During the course of the school year classroom teachers, student teachers, and/or the local newspaper may photograph or video tape our students. Pictures may be used in a local newspaper, in school publications, newsletters, school projects, or in the school annual. We may also use photos on our web site.
Please indicate whether or not you give permission for the following:
Parent/Guardian Signature _______________________________________Date ________
Internet Use Our internet use policy can be found on pages 2-3 of this handbook. Students will review the policy during the first week of school. I understand that any violation of this policy may be a violation of the law as well. I also understand that any violation could result in revocation of access privileges, a school consequence, and/or appropriate legal action.
_______________________________________________________________ student signature date
As a parent/guardian of this student, I understand that access is designed for educational purposes. I understand that it is impossible for the school staff or district to restrict access to all controversial materials and I will not hold them responsible for materials accessed on the Internet. I also accept full responsibility for supervision if and when my student’s use in not in a school setting. I give permission for my student to use the Internet for educational purposes.
____________________________________________________________ parent/guardian signature date |
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Clarkfield Area Charter School Discipline Policy