Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
EDL 634
The school that I work at is a full inclusive center base program for students who have
severe special needs. Our school services the whole county and all the local districts. Our student
we service are from 3-26 years old and come from all different backgrounds. Just about all of our
older students have been at our school since they were three years old. Parents really love our
school and feel comfortable having their children with such special needs attend.
This year at our school the administration put a new policy into affect for the safety of
our school and students. In the previous years leading up to this new policy, a parent/guardian
could just walk in the building and take their child to class. This was also the case with county
workers, case managers, group home staff, and community living support specialist workers
(CLS workers). The range of people that were aloud to enter our school and walk back to
classrooms had a big impact on our classrooms. Not that any classroom doesnt welcome visitors
or volunteers. This has always been a key issue for the last couple years that as a teacher and
classroom staff we would like to have a plan or policy in place regulating the operation of
visitors to our school and classrooms. This is a concern of all staff that works in the classroom.
Our building administration saw a need to visit this idea and put a policy into affect. But it had
been the culture of our school for so long. Teachers, administration and other staff had to look at
this closely when dealing with the effects on the parents and visitors.
Our school operates just like the locals, but with less security. We have the main office
located in the front of the building. From the office is an open corridor that leads to each hall that
goes through our building. There is no security guard or hall monitor on duty. Doors are not
locked and anyone has free access to our halls and classrooms. Each classroom has a door
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leading to the outside that is locked and numbered. But the main concern is our office entry and
other doors leading into the building. Because of the range of people that enter our school on
any given day and time we need to make sure we are secure and have a policy in place that we
can reference and look to in time where clarification is needed. As a school the process of
creating a school visitor policy was a task. In order to find a common ground and a policy that
works for the whole school and district two communities are put into place. One called school
and safety from and for our school and the other was district wide with representation from all
schools involved. This is not just our school problem but a district problem as well. The district
wants all policies to be the same no matter what school youre at and also if students transfer
building. Everyone is following the same steps and looking at the same regulations and
procedure. The committees met twice a month and covered ideas, thoughts, strategies and
concerns from all sides and points of view. The main focus (THE WHY we are dong this) was
the safety of our student around the school and in the classrooms. The first order of business for
our school safety committee was to email out a survey to staff about school and safety. They got
the results and then broke them down into strategies and concerns to take to the district wide
the organization, then climate represents that organizations attitude. It is much easier to change
an organizations attitude (climate) than it is to change its personality (culture) (p.58). This lead
the committee to the attitude of the staff and giving them a chance to buy in, which in turn will
help them to better support the new policy and help change the culture over time.
After a month or two there was a policy in place and all staff was notified via email and
staff meeting. The new policy is to take affect. How you should react to certain situations giving
the information about the customs will give you a sense of about the culture (Gruenert, 2008). As
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a principal in this situation, utilizing staff is key. Training all staff so they are up to date on the
policy is the biggest way to effectively put this policy in place. All staff is going know that
parents need to stop at the office, give their drivers license to the secretaries, sign in and wear a
visitors pass. Secondly, parents cannot leave the office, the secretaries will page the classroom
staff to come down or some one (administration, psychologist, social worker, nurse, office aid)
will escort them back to the classroom. For any county visitor that comes to a classroom they
have to make an appointment via teacher and social worker/psychologist. The county workers
visit will have purpose and they will be escorted by the social worker in the building until they
leave. This helps promote less time distracting the classroom or taking the teacher away,
breaking any HIPA laws and making sure that the meeting stays focused. The use of technology
in this case will help clarify the policy. A memo is sent out to all agencies and the county work
program detailing our new policy and procedures. The information is also up on our website and
the district website as well for those who have access. A letter is going will all students along
with the policy. The office will have copies and post the new policy for parents coming in.
It is very imperative that we as a staff come together making no exceptions to the rules
and policies. There is an area next to the office where parents, county workers and visitors can
wait. This area will be monitored by office staff and lunch aids. Hallway doors will be shut right
after morning bus duty to help close off the halls to the school. All doors leading outside will be
locked after morning bus duty and will remain locked until afternoon bus duty. This will be the
responsibility of our custodial staff. When all doors are locked all staff must enter and exit the
building through the front doors. Locked doors are not to be propped open, used for staff
convenience or let someone in. Signs will be placed on all doors asking visitors to enter at the
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main doors and check in at the office. At no time is a building employee to open any locked door
As teachers, administration and building staff everyone needs to be on the same page and
support one another. As the principal I will have an open door policy when it come to staff and
families that may have an issue. This policy and the procedures where put into place to protect
and keep our students staff in school. Many parents where taking advantage of the lack of policy
and staying to long in classrooms, showing up with their child at all times of the day, and
evading the privacy of other students. All classrooms like to have parent involvement but it
All schools have a visitors policy. Which can differ from ours, they could be stricter or
more secure that all depends on situational circumstances. As a school and as a district we decide
that for right now, the policy in place works for our school and its needs. I understand that it
wont always be correct and may need some changes as time, technology, and our county
changes. Our school and its population is a vulnerable one. They need to protected and
advocated for. We have procedures dealing with threats, lock downs, severe weather and
Data shows that there was an increase in classroom productivity and time management.
Since the policy has been in affect, the school has had a reduction on meeting with county
workers, CLS workers and group home staff. Now, because our school has a clear policy, most
of the interactions with all visitors are meaningful and attentive. County workers gave the school
positive feedback for having planned meetings and supervised. It keeps everyone focused.
Teachers can plan instruction around a meeting when they know about it. Also, teachers feel
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more prepared. In certain classrooms teachers have surveyed since the policy, instruction time
has increase 30-40 minutes a day and 4-5 hours a month. This is very substantial considering the
time that was lost. Staff is also committed to making this work through weekly/monthly
reminders to parents and reminded them to sign their students in and out. Other ways are to stop
some one who is not wearing a visitors sticker and redirecting parents and visitors who have
bypassed the office to go back so they can be accompanied. The heart of improvement and
growth in any building is positive school culture (Habegger, 2008). The positive supports of the
staff will directly have a positive impact for parents, county workers and any visitor to our
References
Gruenert, S. (2008). School Culture, They are not the same thing. Principal, 56-59.