Employee Handbook
Culinary Academy
New Smyrna Beach High School
Purpose of the Employee Handbook
This handbook was designed to clarify and communicate certain policies, procedures and systems in use in the culinary program.
The course supervisor reserves the right to change, modify, add or delete any of the stated policies contained in this handbook at any time without prior notice.
It is extremely important that you immediately read and take notice of the policies and procedures contained in the Employee Handbook. If you have any questions concerning any of them, you should contact your supervisor, Mrs. Parker, without delay for clarification.
Program/Academy Contact Information
Employees are encouraged to save the following contact information into their cell phone and email directories. Throughout the course, employees may need to contact the course supervisor to answer questions and address comments or concerns.
Chef Mallory Parker, Director/Program Instructor of the Academy of Culinary Arts
Courses: Culinary 1, 2, 3, 4
Phone: (386) 424-2555 EXT: 38546
Email:
About the Culinary Program
The objective of New Smyrna’s culinary program is to help students understand the rewards of perseverance, good work ethics, and professionalism. Our goal is to equip students with a skill set that will make them more successful in life after high school.
Currently, New Smyrna Beach High school’s culinary program consists of all grade levels. These students range from elective students with minimal interest, to academy students who plan on pursuing a career in the hospitality industry.
As a “vocational” program, I choose to run the class similar to that of a business. Much of the training is “hands-on”, learning is collaborative, and students are asked to behave like employees on a job site. The goal is to better prepare students for success on the job.
Homework/ Classwork Policy:
Students who are submitting late work (due to absence) have one day, or one day for each day absent (whichever is greater), to submit work unless the teacher determines there are extenuating circumstances which necessitate an extension. It will be a best practice for students to make up tests within a school week of the original assigned date unless the teacher determines there are extenuating circumstances which necessitate an extension.
Intervention and Remediation:
The focus of instruction should be on getting students to achieve their full learning potential.
· When students demonstrate a lack of proficiency on standards they must receive intervention(s), which may lead to assessment retakes or alternative assignments.
· When students demonstrate a lack of mastery on standards they may receive intervention(s) that require them to attend office hours on the 4 designated days each week. Office hours take place during the first thirty minutes of the lunch period on the four assigned days.
· Each 9 week grading period, students shall have the opportunity to retake at least one summative assessment. All retakes require that the student attend office hours for intervention assistance on the 4 designated days in order to retake a test during office hours. Additional retakes shall be determined based upon individual student data.
Grading Practices:
Students and parents need timely and accurate feedback in order to effectively monitor learning progress.
· Best practice: Grade book should be updated weekly (except in the case of extensive assignments or unusual circumstances).
· When a student’s score on a retake is less than the original score, the higher score should be used. Scores should not be averaged.
Letter grades are a reflection of the student’s level of academic achievement on the courses’ performance standards as defined in the high school curriculum guides/maps. The following grade scale shall be used to determine a letter grade and the following quality point system shall be used to determine grade point average and honor roll:
Grade / Grade Range / Quality Points / DescriptionA / 90-100 / 4.0 / Outstanding Progress (Mastery)
B / 80-89 / 3.0 / Above Average Progress
C / 70-79 / 2.0 / Average Progress (Proficiency)
D / 60-69 / 1.0 / Lowest Acceptable Progress
F / 0-59 / 0.0 / Failure
I / 0.0 / In progress toward grade level proficiency
in skills and concepts
Academic Dishonesty:
The Volusia County School Board’s Code of Student Conduct has defined Academic Dishonesty as a level II offense. Academic Dishonesty is defined as “Dishonesty, such as cheating, plagiarism, or knowingly furnishing false information to the school district. Such behavior may result in reduction in grades, classroom discipline as determined by the instructor, suspension or expulsion from school and/or school activities including student organizations”.
Academy of the Culinary Arts
At New Smyrna Beach High our academy students receive the same course curriculum as the students taking our courses as electives. However, there are numerous advantages to joining our academy:
· Industry Field Trips
· Scholarship Opportunities
· Industry Certifications
· Job Placement opportunities
· Volunteer Hours
· Event Catering
· Local and State Competitions
If you are interested in joining our academy team, please speak with your course supervisor. Any student can apply and the main requirement is a positive mental attitude and a desire to take a culinary course each year of your high school career.
Grading and Other Procedures
Students are required to have a 2.5 GPA to be accepted into the Academy. They are expected to maintain a 2.5 GPA to be considered in positive status as an Academy student. Failure to do so will result in the student being placed on probation status. If the GPA continues to remain below the 2.5 minimum after the probation period, the student may be terminated from the Academy program.
There are a number of standards students must master. Some of these standards will be learned through projects and various class assignments. Each of these will be evaluated and scored and posted in the Grade Book. The Grade Book is an interactive system that students and parents can access online. Students are expected to reference these scores and notify the course supervisor during office hours if there are concerns or discrepancies.
The students (employees) are expected to make up any work missed during absences. Employees are expected to consult members of their lab group for all missed work and check the homework board for further information.
Late work will be permitted, up to a certain point, with no point deductions. However, additional work may be added in order to turn in late assignments.
Participation
Students in the Culinary Academy are expected to play an active role in the promotion and development of their Academy. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways, such as:
· Assisting with Academy fundraisers
· Participation in extracurricular related activities
· Participating in Academy service projects
Failure to play an active role will result in the student being placed on probationary status for one grading period. Playing an “an active role” is defined as:
· Participating in minimum of 2 fundraisers each academic year
· Participating in a minimum of 2 community service projects each academic year
· Accumulation of at least 80 community service hours prior to graduation as an “Academy” student. Requirements of Volunteer Hours are pro-rated as follows:
· 20 hours as a Freshman
· 20 hours as a Sophomore
· 20 hours as a Junior
· 20 hours as a Senior
Events and After School Catering
The Academy treats after school events and catering as a job. Just as you would receive consequences for not calling and not showing for work, the same will apply for the Academy events. Should you volunteer for an event and do not attend and do not attempt to contact Mrs. Parker beforehand, you will automatically be put on Academy probation and be required to re-apply for the Academy for the following year. The Academy board will review your application and take into consideration your involvement with the Academy up until that given point, as well as attendance, discipline, and grades. There is no guarantee of re-entry into the Academy.
The Academy will supply white chef coats but your student is responsible for the rest of the uniform. If your student would like to buy their own chef coat, please see Mrs. Parker about purchasing. In order to work an event, your student must be wearing:
· Solid black chef pants
· Solid white under shirt
· Solid black close –toed, non-skid shoes
Cooking Labs
Hands-on cooking labs play a large role in the courses instruction. During cooking labs, students will work in small groups to properly prepare food items. Employees will be evaluated on criteria such as sanitation, cleanliness, organization, teamwork, following instructions, safety, and final product.
Many of these labs will allow employees to taste the food. It is important to note the difference between “tasting” and “eating”. The purpose of cooking lab is to learn about cooking. Tasting is the process of using your palate to analyze flavor, texture, balance, and other characteristics that give a cook more insight into the quality of the food and improvements that can be made.
Employees cannot make up missed cooking labs. Employees are expected to notify the course supervisor prior to missing work through email. Employees who notify the course supervisor prior to the absence will be excused from the missed lab. Additionally, students who miss due to school related field trips or testing will also be excused from missed labs.
If the employee does not come dressed in appropriate kitchen attire (closed toe shoes and something to restrain hair with), he or she will sit out and receive a 0 for the lab grade.
Lab Behavior Consequences
This class works with knives and other tools that can be dangerous if used inappropriately. Student safety is my top priority and I will not tolerate any undesirable behaviors. My students need to abide by the rules and work cautiously to reduce the risk of getting hurt or hurting others. Consequences for not following class rules or lab rules may include sitting out of a cooking lab, call home, referral or removal from class.
Reasons students will sit out of a cooking lab:
· If your student does not complete all their work due to behavior issues they will sit out of cooking labs to work on missing assignments.
· If your student refuses to follow my class or lab rules they will sit out the cooking labs and will have to complete alternate assignment or receive a 0. The students will receive a copy of my lab and class rules.
· If a student hits another student with any object, runs in my classroom, threatens others, or displays any behavior that threatens the safety of other students they will sit out of the lab or be removed from the classroom.
Behavior
Students in the Culinary Academy are held to a high degree of behavior. The student’s performance in all classes should portray the behavior of a well-rounded, polite, courteous, and responsible young adult. Failure to do so, as displayed in more than one discipline referral for misbehavior from any of the student’s teachers or administrators will result in the student being placed on probationary status for an assigned amount of time. If the poor behavior continues after the probationary period, the student will be terminated from the Academy program.
Assessment
I expect each employee to give his/her best effort ever day. Although there will be some traditional assessments done after training is received on new material, most of the assessment and evaluation takes place by observing you performance on a regular basis. In addition, many of the measured skills are learned as a result of repeated practice, not one night of “cramming”. As a result, employees that miss work regularly find it difficult to succeed on assessments and in the course.
Re-assessment
Re-assessment will be offered in a timely manner to employees who miss a shift that was approved by the course supervisor. Re-assessment will not be given until the student completes all required work and the supervisor approves the re-testing. Re-testing must be completed during scheduled office hour.
Course Curriculum
ProStart
The program curriculum is sponsored by the National Restaurant Association Education Foundation (NRAEF). The NRAEF developed ProStart. ProStart is the career-building program for high school student who are interested in culinary arts and restaurant and tourism management. Throughout the program they study in the classroom, participate in mentored work experiences, and test their skills in local and national competitions. There are approximately 80,000 student participants in more than 1,650 schools, across 47 states, territories and districts.
Mandatory Course Fee and Supplies
This course requires consumable supplies for student learning. Volusia County Schools have graciously constructed a state of the art kitchen facility for our students to learn in. However, our program is responsible for funding all food items, paper goods, and cleaning chemicals required in administering our course. Therefore, I cannot run a successful program without your financial help. I am requesting a $15.00 per student lab fee per 9 weeks. This first 9 week fee is due by the end of September. This fee is to cover some of the food and supplies I need to give your student a meaningful culinary experience. Please make checks out to New Smyrna Beach High School. If there is a financial problem please call me to discuss an alternative to the fee. This fee will become an obligation in your students name if they do not pay. A written receipt will be provided for cash and check payments.
In addition to the course fee, Academy students need to purchase an Academy t-shirt for catering events. The shirts are in the process of being designed and will be available shortly.
Cell Phones/hand-held electronics
Employees may not use handheld electronic devices during course time without permission from the supervisor. To guard against theft, employees are permitted to carry them on their person (in a pocket), however, all devices must be powered off prior to the start of class. In the case of emergency calls, the facility has a phone for incoming or outgoing calls.
v Please detach this page, fill out and return to your teacher.