Parent Association of Christian Educators

Safety & Protection Policy

Safety: 

To create a location that is safe for all children, PACE and Victory have hall monitors and teacher helpers. But we also have informed the local police department of our class days so that they may intentionally patrol our area. We have a sign for the road, encouraging people to drive slowly and we will fence off our recess area. We will have a teacher training with a local police officer to train us on emergency procedures in the school environment. We will also train the students on fire drills and educate the teachers on the evacuation plan.

While PACE/VHA does its best to create a safe location for all we cannot be held responsible for overseeing the safety of every student. As a cooperative, that role primarily falls on the parent/guardian. It is your job to keep track of your children, teach them our school rules, and make sure they follow them during all parts of the school day. We reserve the right to change school rules based on our location. They also can change through the school year as we adjust to new locations and encounter different situations. Rules that apply in one location may not apply in others. We thank you for taking the safety of our children seriously. If you see something that is unsafe, and is not your child, we encourage you to intervene kindly and find that child’s parent.

Protection:

This policy provides guidelines that both inform teachers and helpers how to interact with the students as well as keep students safe.

VHA requires that you:

1. Meet with minors in public places and always have another adult present while counseling minors.
2. Two adults should always be taking young children to the restroom, exemptions to this are the parent of the child.
3. Physical contact should be kept to a minimum, with exemption of a modest hug.

VHA requires that you DO NOT:

1. Meet alone, in secret, or behind closed doors with minors, especially of the opposite sex.
2. Check for injuries on a child underneath clothing, except in the cases of emergency.
3. Kiss children except in the cases of your own children.
4. Allow older children to take younger children to the bathroom, except in the cases of siblings.
5. Ride alone with a student except in cases of emergency.

These are basic guidelines that help us protect our students and we appreciate that all parents of VHA follow these guidelines. A safe environment for our children is best achieved when we have helpers that are willing to be accountable to VHA Directors as well as other cooperative parents. We thank you for doing your best to keep children safe.