On Campus Protocols
On-Campus Protocol
To ensure that your student’s experience at Valley Oak Charter is positive for all concerned, please review the school’s Safe Play/Good Neighbor Policy, Conflict Resolution Policy, and Code of Conduct for expected behavior. If you need help resolving a conflict with another member of the VOC community, please ask a staff member for assistance.
Safe Play/Good Neighbor Policies, 2015- 2016
• The Primary Play Structure, including swings, is for use by K-2 students only.
(Sorry, folks, but it’s in our lease.)
• Because they may cause injury to other children at play, objects of any kind (toys, sticks, food, etc.) are not to be taken
onto the play structure.
• Imaginary or created weapons (swords, guns, etc.) are not to be used against people. If you must shoot at something,
please make it something inanimate!
• Playground equipment in the storage bin is available to all, but if you take it out, please bring it back and put it away.
• Hallways and rooms are for walking. Please save the running, jumping and other forms of energy release
for the playground, blacktop and field.
• Siblings and guests need to be with their ‘grown-up’ at all times. Our liability insurance limits staff supervision
to enrolled students.
• Before students run out to play on the field, they need to make sure a teacher is out there, too.
• Students must not be in the rooms or the computer lab if a teacher is not present.
• Please clean up after yourself. Place leftover food in the trash cans, and bottles, cans, plastic and paper in the recycle bins.
• Please be cooperative during workshops. Share concerns and suggestions at an appropriate time.
• At VOC, we treat each other with kindness and respect; please be sure your actions and language are in keeping
with that statement at all times.
Conflict Resolution Policy and Procedure
Adopted by Board of Directors March 6, 2003
Policy P (cr): Resolving Disputes between Members of Valley Oak Charter:
As a condition for initial and continuing enrollment and employment at Valley Oak Charter, individuals shall adhere to the following grievance procedure in resolving conflicts with co-op members. Individuals required to participate in and adhere to the established grievance procedure include, but are not limited to, staff members, parents and guardians, students and committee members.
1. The individual(s) with the grievance shall first speak to person(s) involved in an attempt to resolve issue.
2. If unsuccessful at resolution, individuals shall call on a third party mediator as a fair witness to both parties.
3. The third party mediator should be uninvolved with the conflict under discussion, and may be a member of the Valley Oak
Charter community, and shall be professionally experienced in mediation, facilitation or other mutually acceptable training in
conflict resolution.
4. If the conflict is not resolved during Step 2, either of the parties involved may submit the grievance to a Resolution Panel,
which is to include two representatives from the Parent/Student community, one operations council member, a professional
mediator and an alternate. Both parties involved will agree to accept the decision of the Resolution Panel if the grievance
elevates to this level.
5. In the event the grievance involves a member of the panel, said member shall recuse him/herself with an alternate panel
member of similar standing in the Valley Oak Charter community, standing in for the resolution of that grievance only.
6. In the event any party involved in the grievance fails to adhere to the decision of the Resolution Panel, the last option is to bring
the grievance to the Valley Oak Charter Board of Directors. Rulings by the Board are binding and not subject to an appeals
process.
Additions To VOC Conflict Resolution Policy
Adopted by VOC Board of Directors March 24, 2004
7. All Steps need to be put in writing using the official form.
8. All parties must sign and date the form. There will be a two week limit within which to bring up a conflict.
9. Conversations not agreed to as part of the formal process and/or documented as such cannot be used.
10. Conflicts should be dealt with one at a time, even when more than one party has the same issue with the same person.
11. To discourage overuse of this procedure and protect everyone’s best interest, records of the process will be kept in a
semi-confidential grievance file for each person initiating a grievance process. This file would belong to VOC. As such,
administration, the persons involved and the committees empowered in review and re-hire would have access. Only when and
if a grievance needs to be used in the review process would it become part of the staff member’s permanent record.
12. The parties involved will keep all other aspects of these procedures confidential.
13. According to the charter, the director of operations this year and next will have sole signatory powers and as such is
responsible for the daily administrative operations as outlined in the charter.
14. When this includes any areas of contention with staff not previously specified in policy, job descriptions or procedure, the
responsibility to respectfully resolve that dispute is the Director’s, until such time as the issue can be further clarified internally, if
necessary, by the steering committee and/or Board of Directors.
15. Any dispute of written policies, jobs descriptions and procedures exclude the use of any professional mediation, as they can be
clarified internally. However, paid mediation in matters of misconduct or poor communication skills should certainly be
requested.
Code of Conduct
Valley Oak Charter is a place of learning and growth and as such must necessarily be a place where every individual feels safe, accepted and nurtured. The staff and families of Valley Oak Charter recognize the importance of individual responsibility towards achieving this ideal and are committed to supporting its actualization.
Therefore, the following agreement is hereby adopted:
Students, parents and staff will treat one another with kindness, consideration and respect at all times.
Clothing, language and behavior will be school appropriate.
Safety is paramount. Unsafe behavior is not allowed.
Verbal, physical or mental abuse of any kind is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.
School conduct, whether on site or at an off-campus location, will reflect the values and standards of this code.