ESAT’s mission is that each of our students will graduate prepared for college success. Realizing this goal requires consistent academic focus. For this reason, ESAT has always had a strict behavior code. During the first semester of this year, we had various problems with students not following the behavior code so that we need to clarify or change a few of our policies. The policies are identified below and in the attached Matrix. Please review these as a family and contact the school if you have any questions.
Clarifications
Arriving to class late: One of the biggest disruptions to the learning environment is students arriving late to class, at the start of the day and during the day to individual classes. 3 instances of tardiness, to any class, will result in a detention and a loss of free dress on Friday.
Use of cell phones/ electronics on campus: Students cannot use cell phones or electronics (such as iPods) on campus. If they are caught using them, staff will confiscate the phone/ electronics and return them to parents. Students will receive a detention and will lose a day of free dress for each instance. At times, a teacher will give students the opportunity to use electronics when it is necessary for a project, but only with teacher permission is permissible.
Correct use of iPads: iPads are an innovative educational tool, but they are also a big responsibility. Students can only use iPads for school work and only when given permission by their teachers. Between classes, students need to keep iPads in their backpacks.
Uniforms and dress code: Students need to keep their uniforms (and clothing on free dress days) appropriate and well maintained at all times. This includes shirts of appropriate size (covering the stomach and not too big), uniform shirts that are not altered, pants and skirts of appropriate size (pants cannot be too big or too tight, skirts cannot be shorter than 3 inches above the knee in front and in back). Uniform sweaters can only be one solid color, without a design or writing and they need to open in the front. The only exception is that students can wear college sweatshirts that are pullovers.
Changes to the matrix
Public displays of affection: Students cannot show public displays of romantic affection on campus. This includes kissing, hugging or touching each other. This has always been part of the rules at ESAT, but we are making sure that it is now part of the behavior matrix.
Gum on campus: Students cannot chew gum on ESAT campus. We have always had the rule that students cannot chew gum in class and previously we did not allow it on campus. When we reviewed the rules over the summer, we recognized that there was confusion between where students could or could not chew gum. We tried to give students the opportunity to be able to chew gum on campus, outside of the building, but we found problems with this. Students were dropping gum on the floor, putting it on walls or putting in under tables, exactly what we did not want. We also found many students chewing gum inside the building and many of these students expressed confusion as to where they could and could not chew gum. For this reason, we are taking away all confusion and saying that students are not allowed to chew gum on any part of the campus.
We appreciate your help in maintaining our culture of learning by maintaining these behavioral standards and all that are part of our Code of Conduct.