City Gates Academy Student Handbook

City Gates Academy Sudent Handbook Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.  It is the Lord Christ you are serving.                            Col 3: 23,24 At City Gates Academy, it is our desire to truly serve God through serving the homeschooling community.  We seek to go about the business of teaching in a Christian environment and to help our students manifest Christian values as they go about the business of learning.  We teach our students respect for one another, and for one another’s gifts, as well as respect for their own God-given abilities.  We encourage the kind of behavior that will reinforce this respect.  Our teachers and parent monitors need to be able to rely on students’ respect for authority to enforce the rules of the school that we believe will serve the students best, by showing them how to exhibit the virtues of kindness, diligence, modesty, and integrity.  Our parent volunteers are essential to maintaining a safe and orderly atmosphere in school during the school day, and we ask for continued cooperation from all our parents in instilling in their students respect for proper authorities.  Our hope is to create for our students a sense of community, in which all members work toward the common goals of academic excellence and formation of Christian character, to the glory of God. Parent Responsibilities Parents must attend Parent/Student Orientation and Parent Teacher meetings.  Make sure you put these dates on your calendar. 
  • The students’ syllabi will be given out on these nights.
  • An individual time will be set to cover material from missed meetings and a fee of $50 will be required to reimburse the teachers for their time if this meeting is missed.
  • If there is a serious problem keeping you from attending you must contact the individual teachers ahead of time to arrange to get the syllabi.
  • We will not give the syllabi directly to the students.
  • Parents must complete four volunteer hours per year for each class their children are signed up for with a maximum of thirty-five hours. 
  • In addition to volunteer hours served for classes, each family must clean three times during the year.  This must be fulfilled by an adult.
  • Parents are required to grade certain work designated by the teachers.  If parents do not do this, the student will be asked to leave the school.  Complete payment for the year will be required.
  • A parent must monitor all tests taken at home.
  • Unless otherwise indicated by the teacher, all books related to the test should be removed from the room in which the test is being administered.
  • Once a test is begun, it must be completed in the same sitting.
  • Graded tests are to be signed by a parent and returned to the teacher the following week.
  General Rules
  • Students may only attend study halls when they have a free period in-between classes or when a sibling is in class.  No early drop-offs or staying after scheduled classes will be permitted.  Students may not attend more than two study hall periods a day.
  • Please leave all electronic devices at home.  This includes Ipods.  Calculators are an exception.  Students may bring cell phones; however, they may not be left on while in classes and they may not play games on them.  Any electronics will be confiscated and given to a parent.
  • Students may not leave the building in-between classes or for lunch.  Students will automatically be expelled if they go off the church property. 
  • If you bring any gym equipment to school, please put it in the hallway by the coat racklunch room. Gym equipment is not allowed in the classrooms.  (This includes balls.)
  • Do not chew gum in school.
  • No food or drinks permitted in classrooms.  Water in a bottle with a lid is an exception.
Student Behavior
  • Show respect and consideration for all adults and peers.
  • No ridiculing or humiliating anyone.
  • Walk and talk quietly in the halls when changing classes.
  • You may not loiter in the hallways or outside of the building.
  • You must be in the designated study hall room during free periods.
  • You must be in the lunchroom during lunch period.
  • Students may not be in any room without an adult.
  • Stay in our wing of the Church.
  • Take care of Church property and equipment.  No drawing on tables or any other furniture.  If found drawing on tables or furniture the student will be asked to clean it off.  If it does not come off the student will be charged to replace the item for the church.  (The cost could be over $100.00)
  • Clean up after yourself and leave the area cleaner than you found it.
  • St. Paul's and CGA are not responsible for any personal items that are lost or broken.
  • Use wholesome language.
  • Do not use the Lord’s name in vain.
  Dress Code
  • Shirts are to be solid colored or striped short or long sleeved Lands End style polo shirts with the bottom buttons buttoned.  These can be purchased at most stores in the boy’s or men’s department as well as Lands End or LL Bean.  Target has them for a good price and Good Will usually has them as well. CGA t-shirts are the only t-shirts permitted
  • Solid colored or striped long sleeve shirts may be worn under polo shirts
  • Solid colored sweaters and sweatshirts may be worn over shirts when it is cold.  (No logos) We must be able to tell that you are wearing a polo shirt underneath.
  • Any pants may be worn within the following guidelines:
  • No low rise or lace up pants
  • All pants must be hemmed and cannot drag the floor
  • Pants must be free of holes or tears
  • Underwear must be covered at all times
  • No skin is to show between the shirt and pants when standing, walking or sitting
  • No hats may be worn inside the building
  • Only girls are allowed pierced ears, no other body piercing is allowed
Classroom Behavior
  • Students are responsible for arriving on time for each class (Demerits will be given for late arrivals)
  • Students must have a teachable attitude
  • Students are to raise their hand before speaking in class
  • Students must be attentive and speak only when called upon.  (Remember that the teachers only have an hour to present a week’s worth of material.)
  • All assignments must be turned in on time.  If they are turned in after the designated class time the grade will be lowered.
  • If one week late the grade will be lowered one full letter grade (i.e. A- to B-)
  • If two weeks late the grade will be lowered two full letter grades (i.e. A- to C-)
  • After two weeks the student will be given a zero for the assignment
  • If a student is habitually late handing in assignments, we will have a meeting with the student and a parent.  If the problem continues, the student will be asked to leave the school.  (Complete payment for classes will still be required)
Lunch Behavior
  • Adult lunch monitors will lead the students in prayer before lunch.
  • Students are responsible for cleaning up after themselves.
  • Liquids must be emptied out in the sink before containers are thrown away.  (We don’t want leaky trash bags.)
  • Half-filled sodas must be emptied and thrown away.
  Study Hall Behavior Study halls are provided as a place for working, not socializing.
  • Make sure that your behavior helps others to get their work done
  • No talking
  • Bring work to do
Cheating Cheating, or stealing other people’s work, cannot be tolerated. Students cheating on quizzes or tests, or students helping others to cheat, will be given a grade of F for the quarter. If there is a second offense, the student will be asked to leave the school. Deliberate plagiarism counts as cheating (see below).   Plagiarism Plagiarism, briefly, is the presentation, as your own, of another person’s ideas, words, or research.  It may happen through ignorance, carelessness, or deliberate fraud.  It is a serious academic offense, as well as a violation of one’s integrity.  All students need to learn how to properly make use of the work of others so as to avoid committing plagiarism. Essential to avoiding this problem is taking careful notes whenever doing any kind of research.  Making sure you note what words or ideas are taken from which source, and from what page, will help you properly document your research later on.  Material may be quoted, paraphrased, or summarized, and students need to know how to handle the requirements of each of these situations.  Here are few examples to get you started:
  • ORIGINAL (from Paul Johnson’s The Birth of the Modern, p. 879)
Compared to Britain, France was an industrially backward country.  Most of its steam power was imported from Britain, and often the men to operate the engines: Up to 1, 400 British’ experts’ were working in French mining and industry by 1824. PLAGERIZED (no documentation to indicate source):     Actually, in the 1820s, Britain was more advanced than France in industry.
  • CORRECTLY SUMMARIZED
    Actually, in the 1820s, Britain was more advanced than France in industry (Johnson 879).
  • CORRECTLY QUOTED
    Actually, in the 1820s, as one historian notes, “[c]ompared to Britain, France was an industrially backward country” (Johnson 879).
  • PLAGERIZED (using the author’s own phraseology without quotation marks)
Actually, in the 1820s, France was industrially backward, at least when compared to Great Britain (Johnson 879). This last example is the trickiest for students to understand.  Here, the writer has given a reference for the information, but by merely “changing the words around,” has not avoided using Johnson’s own words and phrases.  The writer would be safer to quote directly, indicating that Johnson’s original words are used. Students using any kind of outside source for their schoolwork should be aware of this issue, and should consult with teachers if they have any questions about handling these situations. Procedure If An Infraction Occurs
  • If an adult sees an inappropriate attitude or behavior he or she will give the student a demerit.
  • If the student accrues three demerits he or she will receive an appropriate consequence.  For example, the student may be required to clean an area of the building, or may lose recess gym privileges.  Parents will be notified when their child receives three demerits and will be responsible for monitoring their own child’s punishment.
  • Blatant disobeying of authority or physical violence will be treated as a more serious offense than a demeritable offense, and will require contact with a parent. 
  • If the problem continues, the student will need to be accompanied by a parent to every class for a determined amount of time.
  • If the above does not bring the student into line, the student will be expelled.  Payment will be expected for the remainder of the year.
Attendance
  • If the student knows he/she will miss a class, the instructor should be contacted beforehand for assignments and to make arrangements to hand in assignments on time.
  • If the student is sick/absent, he/she will be responsible to get work turned into the teacher either by mail (post-marked within 24 hours of class time), sent in with another student or dropped off by the parents. Call the school before class time to have them inform the teachers of the child’s illness.  The parent must contact the teachers within 24 hours to find out any information that their child missed.
  • Students may have no more than four unexcused absences.  An excused absence is for sickness and family emergencies.  If contact is not made within 24 hours with the teacher to make arrangements to cover work missed the absence will be considered unexcused. 
  • It is disruptive to the class and difficult for the teachers when students are away for prolonged periods.  If students are away for more than two weeks the teacher has to be contacted to determine how to handle the work for that period of time.  If the period is extensive the teacher may ask the student to opt out for the quarter.  Tuition will still be required.  If the choice is to continue work over that period the teacher will draw up a contract establishing what work will be completed during the time away, how it will be sent to the teacher, how a grade will be determined and exactly what dates the student will be away.  For some classes the syllabus will be easy to follow, some classes will require regular email contact, and in other cases a project may be substituted for the syllabus.  A copy of the contract will be given to the student, the teacher and the director.
Essays For the sake of uniformity and simplicity, all essays are required to be:
  • typed or handwritten in dark blue or black ink
  • double-spaced
  • in 12-point non-bold font (use a conventional font such as Times New Roman)
  • with a title centered at the top
  • with name and date on the upper right-hand side of each page
  • This is so the students do not have to remember different requirements for each teacher.
Test Taking Policy
  • A parent must monitor all tests taken at home.
  • Unless otherwise indicated by the teacher, all books related to the test should be removed from the room in which the test is being administered.
  • Once a test is begun it must be completed in the same sitting.
  • Tests are to be returned to teacher in a sealed envelope with parent signature across the seal.
  • Graded tests are to be signed by a parent and returned to the teacher the following week.
Evaluations/Grades Evaluations of students’ work will be given every quarter. Awards Principal’s Honors - Students who are enrolled in four or more core classes and complete the year with an overall “A-” average or higher are eligible for the Principal’s Honors.   If more than four core classes are taken, the student must complete the year with an “A-” average or higher in four core classes and no lower than a “B-” average in the fifth core class. Distinguished Honors - Students who are enrolled in three core classes and complete the year with an overall “A-” average or higher are eligible for Distinguished Honors.  Honors - Students who are enrolled in two core classes and complete the year with an overall “A-” average or higher are eligible for Honors.   Snow Days If a significant snowstorm occurs, classes will be cancelled and you will be called.  Also,  you may check your email/CGAweb site to find out if we have closed school.  Students will be required to continue working through the assignments on the syllabus.  Teachers will email material or notes or send them in the mail.  CGA follows the Brandywine School District cancel/delay pattern     Guest Policy Only prospective students and their parents may attend classes, and only after obtaining permission from the director.
  • Please do not bring friends who have the day off from school.