GUIDELINES & POLICIES

• HOPE Families and Teachers should “read and heed” all of the policies and guidelines in order to maximize the benefit of
  classes for all students. Parents attest that all students have been informed of these policies and guidelines.

• These policies apply to all HOPE sponsored functions on or off campus. HOPE campus consists of all space
  inside/outside of the buildings and parking lots. Building and equipment consists of all HOPE and host facility property.

• Implementation and interpretation of all policies and guidelines is at the discretion of the Board. Please contact the Director for clarification or if you have additional questions.

Dress Code for Adults and Students

1. Dress and groom oneself in a way that honors Christ and brings you respect. Guideline: Modesty

   • No clothing that is revealing, see-through, or skin tight on top, middle, or bottom.

   • Shorts, skirts, and dress hemlines, and tops worn over leggings, must have adequate coverage.

   • All clothing must cover undergarments.  No spaghetti strap tank tops.

2. Dress in a way that is appropriate for the type of class attending (ie appropriate athletic attire and shoes for PE classes).

3. No clothing with inappropriate, illegal, or immoral designs.

4. Dress code violations will result in a student being asked to change or leave HOPE premises until he/she is dressed
   appropriately.

General Behavior

1. Students are expected to act in a respectful and polite manner to adults and fellow students. For example: no talking over others, especially the teacher; raise your hand to be called upon; stay seated in your chair; say “Yes, ma’am/sir”, “Thank you”, “Mr./Ms. ____”, etc

2. Bullying behavior (whether physical, emotional, or verbal, including social media, text, etc.), and promotion of behavior contrary to any portion of our Statement of Faith, will not be tolerated.

3. Any controlled-substances found on HOPE premises will be confiscated and, if illegal, turned over to the Frisco Police with appropriate names and information regarding the confiscation.

4. No smoking or e-cigarettes on the HOPE premises, including in vehicles. If found, the cigarettes or entire unit may be
   confiscated and disposed of without repayment or return.

5. No weapons, including pocket knives, allowed at HOPE.

6. No public displays of affection at HOPE, including hand-holding, kissing, embracing and/or other physical fraternization.

7. No rough housing, running or talking loudly.

8. Students are to be in designated areas only and may not loiter in the bathroom. If found in a restricted area they will be given a discipline notice.

9. HOPE does not comply with the Directive from the Federal government in regards to transgender bathroom use. Students and parents are required to use the bathroom facility that corresponds to their gender on their birth certificate. Students must dress, conduct themselves, use pronouns, and use bathrooms consistent with their sex assigned at birth.

10. No gum is allowed at HOPE.

11. Students may not bring food or drinks to class other than a water bottle.

12. No electronics, including cell phones, may be in use in the classroom except those brought or authorized by teachers. All unauthorized or disruptive devices may be confiscated and returned at the end of the day.

13. Your belongings are your responsibility. Items left at HOPE will be placed in HOPE’s Lost and Found box. All unclaimed
    items will be donated to charity at the end of each semester.

Illness and Medical Issues

1. Please do not bring/send your children who have had fever, vomiting, or diarrhea within the last 24 hours.

2. Please do not bring/send your children who have a cloudy, runny nose or a consistent cough.

3. Any accidents should be reported to the Administration immediately. Parents must be notified.

4. Adults only will deal with bodily fluids/blood and gloves must be worn.

5. All open wounds must be covered before the student may return to class.

6. If you have a child with a medical condition or food allergies/restrictions of which HOPE should be made aware, please indicate that on the Medical Release/ Liability form and inform teachers. HOPE and its families do not claim medical expertise, but will administer reasonable regular care when possible. No medicine will be administered without consent.

Building and Equipment Policies

We are guests at this facility.  Treat the facility with respect. For example, keep bathrooms neat and avoid tracking mud into the building.

1. HOPE Prep Students are not to use:

   1. Church Sanctuary

   2. Any Church Equipment (Sound/Music/Stage/Platforms) except under the direct supervision of a HOPE Admin/Teacher.

2. HOPE Prep Students may not:
   1. Go behind the Youth Building nor Church Office Buildings
   2. Go inside/near/climb on the dumpster
   3. Climb the dumpster/utility walls and/or fences.
   4. Pull, touch, climb, kick any landscaping (including, but not limited to) trees/shrubs/bushes/flowers/bedding
   5. Enter the playground area at any time or use the doors that lead to the building from the playground area
   6. Sit on, write on or carve on tables or desks or deface/damage/destroy any item belonging to HOPE or Preston Ridge Baptist Church

Discipline Policy

Discipline notices are reserved for blatant or repeat disobedience and disrespect as put forth in these set HOPE Policies and Guidelines. 

Warnings may or may not be given before issuing a discipline notice for these offenses. Discipline notices may be submitted by any adult member of HOPE during any HOPE function, including regular or extra class days, programs, or field trips. 

The maximum amount of Notices received by a student before removal and suspension from HOPE is a total of 4 per school year.

1. First offense: Documented Verbal Notice. This notice is considered 1/4 notices allowed per student for the duration of the school year. Parents will be notified.

2. Second offense: Documented Notice. This notice is considered 2/4 notices allowed per student for the duration of the school year. Parents will be notified.

3. Third offense: Documented Notice. This notice is to be considered 3/4 warnings allowed per student for the school year. Parents will be notified. HOPE Admin and Parent conference will be called to discuss ongoing HOPE Policy and Guideline violations.

4. Fourth offense: Final Documented Notice. At the time of this notice the student will be removed from classes at HOPE during the current school year and placed on suspension for the remainder of the current HOPE school year. Additionally, the student will also be placed on suspension for the following HOPE school year.

5. The HOPE Board reserves the right to expel any student and/or family.

Exceptions – Grounds for immediate expulsion:

• Any purposeful acts of vandalism.

• Any defiant behavior or foul language.

• Any alcohol or controlled substances.

• Any bullying behavior.

• Theft of any kind.

• Putting Students/Staff/Teachers in harms way on HOPE campus or at a HOPE sponsored event.

Lunch (12:00-12:45 pm)

1. Lunch is eaten in designated areas only as instructed by HOPE Admin and may change year to year or for inclement weather. 

2. Students are responsible for cleaning up after themselves after lunch. Students caught leaving waste and excessive messes behind may result in a written discipline notice.

3. Drinks should be limited to light or clear colored. Coffee is the only exception.

4. Only students 16 years of age or older may leave HOPE campus during lunch. If the 16+ year old has siblings, parents may give Written Consent to HOPE Admin for the 16+ year old sibling to transport ONLY the permitted siblings off campus for lunch. No other student that is under 16 may accompany. Once the students leave the campus, HOPE is no longer responsible for the student(s).

5. Parents may check in/out students under the age of 16 at the Admin desk in the front lobby.

Loitering and Study Hall Policies

1. Students are allowed to remain on the premises for up to fifteen minutes before class, between classes or after classes.

2. All students must leave by 2:55 pm.  A $10 fee per child for every 15 minutes late that the child is picked up may be assessed.

3. Students are expected to be in the study hall room if not attending class. Students may not be outside the building unless they are going directly to their vehicle and leaving HOPE property. 

4. In study hall and between classes, students are expected to be respectfully quiet to avoid disrupting classes in session. Students who are continually too loud will lose the privilege of being in study hall or at HOPE at all before or after classes.

5. As a courtesy, a study hall is provided for a $15 monthly fee for each hour attended. (Monthly fee example: 1 study hall, Monday and Wednesday (total of 2 study halls hours) would be $30 per month).  Study halls may be utilized between classes or while siblings are in class only.

6. 5th hour study hall is reserved for students of teachers and administrators or students with siblings in a 5th hour class; all other students should be picked up after their last class of the day.

7. Students may not watch streamed videos/Youtube during study hall.

Visitor Policy

1. Guests (adults and children) are welcome to visit by appointment when evaluating HOPE as a support for their homeschool. 

2. Visiting children must be of the age appropriate for the class.

3. Visitors must check in at the Admin desk before visiting a class to obtain a visitor pass.

4. All guest speakers/visiting instructors must have prior Admin approval and consent to a background check.

Tardiness/Attendance Policies

1. If you are going to be absent, you must notify your student’s teachers as soon as possible the day of the absence. Absence notifications received after 3pm the day of the absence may result in a zero for the day's assignments and warrant an unexcused absence.

2. HOPE Admin and Teachers reserve the right to drop  any student that fails to attend classes consistently from the class roster(s) with or without penalty.

3. Students may be dismissed from a class due to repeat tardies.

   1. 2 tardies = 1 absence.   

   2. 3 unexcused absences = dismissal from that class.*

      1. *Exception:  The family may request a conference with HOPE Prep Administration for the student’s records to be reviewed.

4. Students who are tardy to a registered study hall 3 times per semester will be removed from that hour of study hall.

5. We do not allow students to “audit” our classes.

Academics and Grading

1. All students need to be prepared and bring the requested supplies for every class meeting.

2. Cheating, including plagiarism, will be grounds for immediate dismissal from the class and perhaps grounds for withdrawal of a student from HOPE. The situations will be handled on a case-by-case basis, but, in order to maintain the integrity of our program we will not allow it to be compromised by cheating.

3. Students must turn in all homework assignments to the appropriate teacher on time.  If a student does not consistently turn in homework assignments, they may be dismissed from the class.

4. HOPE’s teachers reserve the right to have homework signed by each parent before accepting the homework from a student, especially those who continually turn in sloppy or incomplete work.

5. Assignments will be graded and reported via HOPE’s current online platform, and students will receive a final grade of the class via HOPE’s current online platform. Do not join HOPE if unless both students and parent(s) plan to join and regularly login to this important online tool.

6. HOPE's online platform is available 24 hours a day for parents to follow up on grades, tardies, absences, and discipline notices.

7. It is the parent's responsibility to help their student keep up with their homework and to ensure that their student receives proper help with any areas of individual difficulty.  With a few exceptions, HOPE teachers are not available to privately tutor students unless teachers are paid for their assistance. If a student’s grades are unsatisfactory, HOPE will follow the procedure outlined in the Academic Probation & Suspension Policy.  

8. Communication between HOPE Admin, Teachers, parents, and students will be through HOPE's current online platform, although occasionally communication will be made by phone call, text, email, or Facebook page directly to the parent.

9. HOPE Board supports a Teacher's right to refusal of a student to their class based on established Academic and Behavioral Criteria.

10. See “HOPE Prep Probation & Suspension policy” for additional academic guidelines.

Class Fee Policy

HOPE Prep Teachers function as private tutors in a classroom setting.  All tuition payments, for the class duration (year-long or semester), are to be turned into HOPE administration at fall orientation (tuition for spring only semester classes is due by the last day of the fall semester). Tuition checks are payable to the teacher. Families must pay the teachers for the full month of tuition for each month HOPE is in session even if the student only attends one class during the month.  Students may not attend any class where tuition or a fee is past due.  

• A non-refundable supply fee for each class is due at the designated date given each year by HOPE Admin.
• There will be ONE non-refundable registration fee of $285 per family due at Fall registration time.
• Checks which are returned for insufficient funds will be charged a $30 NSF fee to help cover our bank’s fees.

Class Add/Drop Policy and Procedure