Student Agreement Information

revised 6/20/07

A student will be considered officially enrolled once the parent and student have met with an Education Specialist in person and discussed the Independent Study Policy and discussed and signed the Student Agreement and school charter.  The purpose of the Student Agreement is for the parent, student and ES to completely discuss the many resources available to the student through GVCS.  The ES is responsible to make sure the parent understands all information before they sign the Student Agreement and initial and sign the charter.  The parent and student must sign a new Student Agreement each school semester.  The original copy of each Student Agreement is submitted to the school office, where it is kept on file.  The ES also retains a copy of the Student Agreement in the student’s file.

• The signed Student Agreements must be sent to: Golden Valley Charter School, 2421 Portola Rd., Suite C, Ventura, CA 93003.

• Make a photocopy of the signed agreement for your records, prior to sending the original documents to the office.

Top Portion of the Agreement

·         Semester – Circle the appropriate semester.  The first semester of the school year is the fall semester and the second is the spring semester.  A new Student Agreement must be signed each semester.

·         Student Name – Use the student’s full, legal name.

·         Student # – For new students, the student number will be left blank.

·         Grade – Enter the grade level for the semester for which this agreement applies.  Students always remain in the same grade level from fall to spring semester of the same school year.

·         Parent(s) Name – The parent(s) or legal guardian(s) listed on the Student Agreement are the only people authorized to sign the Attendance Rollsheet.  If both parents want to be able to sign, then both should be listed.

·         Contract Begins – This is the first possible day of attendance for that student, that semester.  This will be the same as the first day of enrollment, and will match the signature date on the student agreement, if enrolling after the first day of the semester.

·         Contract Ends – This is the last day of the semester.  (Refer to school calendar; this date is the same for all students regardless of date of enrollment)

·         Duration – This is the # of school days the student will attend in the semester.  This number will need to be calculated, dependent upon the date the contract begins.

·         Time and Place

o        A formal time and place to do assessment of the student's work is required (the learning record meeting).  This information may change throughout the course of the semester; the ES should record the most common time/place assessment will most likely occur.

o        Time – Day and clock time, e.g. Tuesday, 10:00 AM.

o        Place – Where the meetings will usually take place. Example: Library, public restaurant, student’s home, etc.

Student Cumulative File Contents

·         Report cards for all students are required.  Please make sure that parents of K-8 students realize that if they do not want the report card placed in their child's cum file, they must request it be withheld, in writing.

·         STAR test results will be added to the student's cum file unless the parent requests they be withheld, in writing.  If a parent requests the scores to be withheld, GVCS will not have a record of the scores, and will not be able to provide them to the parent at a later date.

Distribution of Educational Responsibilities

·         Refer to the Independent Study Policy for a detailed description of the roles of each the Education Specialist, the parent, and the student.

Coursework for 9-12 Students

·         The ES must list the subject and number of credits to be earned during the contract period.  This is an opportunity to begin the discussion of the school’s graduation requirements and begin planning the semester’s courses, as well as a long-term course of study.

·         Courses are for the current semester only.  Do not list yearlong courses as such; list only what will be pursued in the semester to which this agreement applies.

·         List a minimum of 25 credits.

·         This list is not set in stone.  The final courses are determined through the course selection process.

·         For K-8 students, leave this section blank.

Student Educational Objectives

·         At the learning record meetings, the ES evaluates the work product of the student to determine if adequate and appropriate progress towards the student standards has been made during that assignment period.

·         The assignment period is defined as the period of time between learning record meetings.

·         The activities, which support the attainment of the student standards (objectives), must be reported on the learning record.

·         The learning records must also include descriptions of the major objectives of the course of study covered by the agreement.

Methods of Evaluating Student Work

·         Parent and student must initial to indicate their understanding of the fact that the school requires pre- and post- assessments (an assessment administered approximately every 6 months, once at the beginning of each school year or upon enrollment and once in the early spring), as well as an annual assessment of the student’s academic progress,.  If the parent/student does not participate in the state-mandated assessment, then the student will be required to participate in a different test, of the school’s choosing, on a date of the school’s choosing.

Student/Parent understands the following:

·         No more than 20 school days may elapse between face-to-face meetings.

·         The number of missed assignments (meetings) that will be allowed before an evaluation is conducted to determine whether it is in the best interests of the student to remain in independent study shall be one (1)

·         If a meeting is missed or if the student does not make adequate progress in meeting student standards for one learning period, the appropriateness of the student’s placement in independent study will be evaluated, and disenrollment may occur.

·         This student may not be enrolled as a student in any other private or public school while he/she is enrolled in GVCS.  A law took effect on Jan 1, 1999, which states that no student can be concurrently enrolled in a tuition charging school and a charter school.  A GVCS student may be concurrently enrolled in supplemental educational activities paid for by their parent, as long as those courses are clearly supplemental in nature.  If there is any question of whether a student's participation in supplementary instruction could also be interpreted as enrollment in a private school, the issue shall be brought to the school's administration for a ruling.  If a parent wishes to contest the school administration's decision, they may appeal their case to the school's governing committee for a formal decision, which shall be final.

Signatures

·         The Student Agreement must be signed by the student, parent, and ES and dated, prior to submitting to the school office.  The date of the signatures will be the official first date of attendance, if it falls on a school day, on or after the first day of school.  Otherwise, the Contract Begins date will be the student’s first date of enrollment and attendance.

·         Parent signature indicates that the parent:

o        Has read and understands this Master Agreement;

o        Has read and understands the Independent Study Policy;

o        Has read and initialed the school Charter;

o        Understands the school's outcomes, philosophy, program, and requirements;

o        Agrees to abide by the school policies;

o        Accepts full responsibility for their child's education;

o        Understands that the charter school’s approach to education may not be appropriate for all children.

·         Special Ed. Service Provider signature will be obtained by the GVCS office, after the Student Agreement is received at the office.