The Jean Garvin School
Student and Parent Handbook
90 Harvest Lane
Williston, VT 05495
Phone: (802) 488-6767
Fax: (802) 488-6768
Index
- Jean Garvin School Mission and Core Values ………..…………………..Page 2
- The Circle of Courage …………………………………………………….Page 2
- The important role of Parents, Guardians and Family Members ……..…..Page 4
- The Daily Schedule ……………………………………………………….Page 6
- Response to Behavior ……………………………………………………. Page 6
- Performance Standards and the Level System ….……………………...... Page 7
- Outcomes to Behaviors ...………………………………………………….Page 10
- Health and Safety Policies ………………………………………………...Page 13
- Student Policies …………………………………………………………....Page 18
- General School Information …………………………………………….…Page 22
I. Jean Garvin School Mission and Core Values
Responding to the need for increased options both therapeutically and academically for youth ages 12-16 in Chittenden County; the Jean Garvin School was created and opened for services in July 1997. The school is a consortium model founded through the collaboration between six area school districts and the HowardCenter’s Children, Youth and Family Services. Through this collaboration students and their families are able to participate in a broad continuum of services.
The mission of the Jean Garvin School was recently revised to reflect the current program values and practices, as well as the population of students served. The mission is to provide an educational program offering unique therapeutic learning opportunities to inspire personal change and well-being. Along with this mission, the staff in the program adheres to a strong set of core values as they strive to provide a safe, nurturing and well-balanced learning environment. The core values are:
· With a structured and flexible environment, we offer acceptance of individuality while providing academic differentiation and the promotion of healthy relationships;
· The Jean Garvin School nourishes a safe and respectful educational environment in which students are supported to develop mastery, generosity, belonging and independence;
· The Jean Garvin School staff strives for continuous evolution through reflective professional development, while honoring the creativity within each of us.
II. The Circle of Courage
GENEROSITY
INDEPENDENCE BELONGING
MASTERY
The Circle of Courage, pictured above, visually depicts what we believe to be fundamental, universal human needs. Often, students enter the Jean Garvin School having some of these needs gone unmet. The staff members at the Jean Garvin School are committed to nurturing feelings of belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity. Listed below are some of the ways in which teachers at the Jean Garvin School attempt to meet each student’s needs.
Belonging
Relationships, between teachers and students as well as between students and their peers, are valued and nurtured. We believe that these relationships form the foundation upon which all learning will occur.
Crisis is viewed as an opportunity for growth. Staff at the Jean Garvin School is trained in managing crises with a sensitivity that strengthens relationship bonds, rather than widening the gap.
Life Space Crisis Intervention is a therapeutic tool used by all teachers and support staff at the Jean Garvin School. This is a straightforward, practical approach to communication and problem solving which helps students to work on the behaviors that set them apart from others.
The values-based curriculum, supported at the Jean Garvin School, emphasizes respect rather than obedience and coercion. Once again, our goal is to create a climate in which individuals are respected and helped to make healthy decisions, rather than one in which adults demand obedience from students.
Finally, the Jean Garvin School extends frequent “invitations to belong.” Kick-off and culminating events, which correspond to our thematic units, foster a great sense of group and belonging. Open houses, gatherings, student recognition days, Friday clubs, etc. are all thoughtfully planned in such a way as to make students feel a part of this community.
Mastery
Staff and teachers at the Jean Garvin School recognize that many of their students have spent years feeling uncertain, discouraged, and intimidated in the classroom setting. As such, they strive to make learning non-threatening.
Active participation is emphasized as students are invited to take part in a variety of engaging, hands-on projects. Traditional lecture-type formats, which place students in the role of passive recipient, are kept to a minimum.
Teachers at the Jean Garvin School view learning as a social activity. Therefore, individualism and competition are emphasized far less than cooperative education. The cooperative group learning that is structured in our school is designed to increase students’ self-esteem, foster positive attitudes toward others, and develop higher levels of social skills.
Success and mastery are generously acknowledged at the Jean Garvin School. Students’ achievements are recognized through a rich web of private and public celebrations.
Independence
The Jean Garvin School is structured to foster a sense of autonomy in students, while balancing that with continuing social controls. Staff provide students with opportunities to have influence over their own lives and encourage the development of self-discipline. Our values-based curriculum is an excellent example of how students are helped to internalize a set of values, which will enable them to make thoughtful and healthy behavioral choices.
Generosity
Students at the Jean Garvin School are taught to value and demonstrate empathy toward others. As they are ready, students in our school are viewed upon as being ready to contribute to others and are therefore given responsibilities to experience the satisfaction of giving. This can be seen when students are asked to tutor a peer, run an errand, and perform a job for the classroom or to carry out a service for the community as a way of saying “thanks.”
While we believe the Circle of Courage to be the foundation of our program values and philosophy, we as a staff continue to seek professional development opportunities to build on our foundation. In this vain, we have added several frameworks to our set of core beliefs. These include: Bridges Out of Poverty, by Ruby Paine, Co-Occurring Disorders theory and practice, the Neuro-sequential Model of Treatment for Trauma developed by Bruce Perry, Attachment, Self-Regulation and Competencies developed by Margaret Blaustein, and the theory of Social Thinking by Michelle Garcia Winner. The addition of these frameworks in our practice has helped to strengthen our program and provides increased opportunities for students and families to gain skills and confidence.
III. Parent & Guardian Involvement is Critical for Student Success
Each student at the Jean Garvin School is connected to a treatment team that, together, will craft Individual Treatment Goals and offer ongoing supports to the student. Members of a treatment team include a potentially large range of support persons who have an investment in the student’s success. Teams typically include the student, parents/guardians, other family members, special education liaisons and sending school representatives, the Jean Garvin School social worker, Jean Garvin School teachers, clinicians and administrators, therapists, other adult supports/mentors, and many other potential supports. The partnership that is built within the treatment team provides the framework for growth for the duration of the experience at the Jean Garvin School.
From the beginning of the referral process, it is important for the students to have an active role in goal planning and decision making. Sometimes there are circumstances where this is not possible, but any meaningful involvement that the student can be engaged in will increase the potential for early and ongoing successes.
There are a number of specific ways that parents/guardians and families can actively be involved in supporting students in achieving individual goals:
· Participating in scheduled meetings for your student. Team, IEP, Response and other meetings are all vital to ongoing review, evaluation, and opportunities to change the treatment plan as needed. Please come to these meetings with updates, questions, observations of growth, and any other valuable information. Also, students often show more active participation in meetings when receiving encouragement from family members both before and during the scheduled meeting time.
· Maintaining open and consistent communication with your Jean Garvin School social worker and other school staff. Regularly sharing pertinent information is essential to moving treatment plans forward. Communicating with the designated staff from the sending school to arrange transportation services to and from the Jean Garvin School. Involve your student as much as possible with the responsibilities for arranging rides.
· Set aside the time to participate in special events that are put on throughout the school year by students and staff. Traditional events include; the Transition Ceremony (mid June), Open House (TBA), Family Meetings (TBA), Treatment Team Meetings (TBA), and more new traditions to be announced.
· Weekly Jean Garvin School Datasheets are available and sent home for review each week. Many families connect the datasheet scores and/or levels with privilege systems at home.
· Continue to provide ongoing encouragement. There are times when the group work will be difficult and your student may lose their focus on why they are being asked to do this work. The dialog you create with your student can help them stay connected to the opportunities they can achieve by successfully completing their treatment goals.
IV. Jean Garvin School Daily Schedule
Monday/Wednesday / Tuesday/Thursday / Friday8:40 – 9:00
Home Room/Silent Reading / 8:40 – 9:00
Home Room/Silent Reading / 8:40 – 9:00
Home Room/Silent Reading
9:00 – 9:45
Academic 1 / 9:00 – 10:00
Academic 1 / 9:00 – 10:00
Study Hall
9:45 – 10:30
Academic 2 / 10:00 – 11:00
Academic 2 / 10:00 – 10:30
Community Mtg.
10: 30 – 11:00
Self-Regulation/Movement / 11:00 – 11:30
Self-Regulation/Movement / 10:30 – 12:30
PE/Electives
11:00 – 12:00
Health 1, 2, 3, 4 / 11:30 – 12:30
Lunch/Break/ Study Hall
12:00 – 1:00
Lunch/Break/Study Hall / 12:30 – 1:30
Academic 3
1:00 – 1:45
Academic 3 / 1:30 – 2:30
Academic 4
1:45 – 2:30
Academic 4
V. Response to Behavior
The Jean Garvin School employs a Three-Level System when responding to student behaviors and recognizes that consistent adult responses to low-level challenging behaviors produces a positive school climate in which more serious infractions will be minimized. The Three-Level System table describes a range of student behaviors followed by the appropriate staff responses, with discretion based on the type of behavior or impact on the learning environment.
Level One Behaviors: Primary Responsibility – Teacher or Supervising Adult
Student Behaviors / Staff Behaviors / Outcomes· Off task behaviors
· Minor to moderate disruption
· Disrespectful communication
· Non-responsive to staff directions
· Not accessing self-management strategies
· Inattention to classroom work
· Refusing to satisfactorily complete assignments or accept help / · Providing hurdle help
· Cueing, redirection
· Planned ignoring
· Use of humor
· Using “I” statements
· Reflective/empathic listening
· Script:
1. What are you doing?
2. What are you supposed to be doing?
3. What do you choose to do? (give choices)
· Move from supportive behaviors to directive behaviors at appropriate time / · In-class time away from group
· Loss of behavioral data
· Work completion during free time
· Failure of lesson
· Loss of privileges
· Restitution
· Parent notification/ involvement
· Positive reinforcement for task completion and class cooperation
· Opportunities for recognition and achievement
Level Two Behaviors: Primary Responsibility – Teachers and Behavior Support Staff
Student Behaviors / Staff Behaviors / Outcomes· Includes all Level One behaviors in which student remains non-compliant and disruptive to his/her or others learning or responsibilities
· Behavior continues after staff have intervened / · Script (see above)
· Direct student to out of classroom spaces or the Counseling Space
· Life Space Crisis Intervention
· Consideration for Functional Behavior Assessment and Behavior Intervention Plan
· Offer sensory-motor strategies for self-regulation / · Loss of Privileges
· Loss of behavioral data
· Work completion during free time
· Engage in problem-solving process (LSCI)
· Completing class away from group
· Restitution
· Class failure
· Participation in Behavior Intervention Plan for chronic behaviors
· Parent notification
Level Three Behaviors: Primary Responsibility – Behavior Support Staff and School Administration
Student Behaviors / Staff Behaviors / Outcomes· Significant disruption to the learning environment
· Engaging in a Zero Tolerance Behavior including: Harassment, Threatening/ Aggression, or Property Destruction
· Weapons possession, threat to use, or actual use
· Drugs, alcohol or tobacco possession or use
· Leaving school grounds without permission
· Significant disruption in the community
· Chronic violation of school or class rules
· Stealing
· Chronic truancy / · Seek help from behavior support staff or administration
· Provide work for in-school suspension
· Participate in parent conferences and re-entry meetings
· Document incident
· Ensure the safety of the other students
· Referral for Functional Behavioral Assessment and Behavior Intervention Plan / · Leave Plan
· Short-term suspension (in or out of school)
· Restitution
· School failure
· Re-entry meeting with parent
· Report made to police
· Referral to Williston Reparative Board
· First Call involvement if mental health crisis
· Level suspension
· Treatment Team meeting
· Interagency referral and planning
· IEP meeting for Manifestation Determination
VI. Behavior Management Program
Upon referral, sending school districts have identified one or more areas of behavior that has/have interfered with a student’s success in the public school. The Jean Garvin School has a system in place for monitoring, responding to, and reporting on those student behaviors to highlight continued areas of concern as well as progress towards re-integrating into a less restrictive environment. Data is recorded on a daily basis in several key behavioral areas, and translated into percentages on a weekly basis. These percentages form the basis of our level system, and are directly related to the earning of student privileges. Each of the following behaviors is tracked on a per period or activity basis:
Performance Standards
Respectful Communication: Using appropriate verbal and non-verbal communication that refrains from the use of: derogatory comments, swearing, inappropriate tone of voice, obscene gestures, sarcasm, sexualized comments or innuendo/words with implied meaning, or any verbalizations or gestures that disrupt the environment or are overtly disrespectful to others.