Union Christian Academy // General Policies

K3 and K4 – all day	8:00 am – 2:45 pm
K5 – all day	8:00 am – 3:00 pm
1^st – 6^th grades	8:00 am – 3:15 pm
7^th – 12^th grades	8:00 am – 3:15 pm

Students are to arrive no earlier than 7:00 a.m. and are to be picked up no later than fifteen minutes after school is dismissed. Any kindergarten or elementary student staying late will be sent to extended care, and parents will be charged for after-school care. Please do not assume it is acceptable for your child to stay anywhere on school grounds unsupervised outside of the normal school hours.

Before and After School Care

An after school program is provided. The hours are 2:45 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. The cost is 442.50 per hour up to ten hours per week; beyond ten h ours the cost is $25 per week. If your child is still at school after 3:15 p.m. they will be placed in after school care and you will be charged a minimum of $2.50. If it is after 6:00 p.m. when your child is picked up you will be charged $1 per minute after that. Time will be determined by the school clock.

Transportation of Students

UCA currently operates two bus routes. Parents/guardians of students pay a monthly fee of $80 for a single child and $100 for family for this service.

Bus Routes:

Western Union Parish (Spearsville/Lillie/Junction City/Bernice)

The route begins in Farmerville, and travels up LA 15 with stops at Bridges Grocery (intersection of LA 15 and LA 550), Mount Union Baptist Church (intersection of LA 15 and LA 558), Lillie (near the intersection of LA 15 and US Hwy 167), Bernice First Baptist Church parking lot, and back to Farmerville via LA 2, with stops at the intersection of LA 2 and LA 550, and Shiloh Baptist Church.

Eastern Union Parish (Marion/Linville/Haile)

The route begins at First Baptist Church Marion and travels directly to the school

Parents/guardians of Union Christian Academy students may also provide their own transportation for their children to and from school. All parents and staff must adhere to designated traffic patterns.

High school students with proper licenses may drive to and from school. They must park in designated areas upon arrival, return to their vehicles only with permission, and leave school grounds immediately following dismissal. Driving on campus privileges may be suspended for unsafe driving or violation of driving rules.

· Copy of Valid Drivers License and Insurance card must be in student file.

· Non-related students must have written permission from Driving and Passenger Parents to be allowed to commute with Driving Student.

Driving Regulations

All motorized vehicles on the campus of UCA must be operated by licensed drivers with liability insurance coverage. Any student violating this policy will be barred from driving on campus.

Once a student arrives on campus, they must immediately go to the classroom and may not return to the parking lot for any reason (without permission) until school is dismissed for the day.

All local and state traffic laws must be observed. In addition, the following regulations apply to driving on and around campus, as well as athletic events (home and away).

Drive slowly at all times.
Spinning of wheels, squealing tires, or other forms of reckless driving will not be tolerated.
Horns are not to be used to attract attention nor in a careless manner.
Car sound systems must be kept at a reasonable volume (not heard outside the car).
No passengers are allowed in truck beds.
Stickers, emblems, decals, buttons, etc. identified with groups, movements, advertisements, or slogans contrary to Christian biblical standards are not to be displayed on autos.
Vehicles need to remain locked at all times.
Students may not “shoe polish”, paint, or otherwise tamper with vehicles not belonging to the student at school.

Violations of the aforementioned regulations may result in loss of driving privileges.

“Closed Campus” Rule

Union Christian Academy is a closed campus. This means no unauthorized person is allowed in or around the school during normal school hours unless the school administration has granted prior approval. Additionally, this means that no student is allowed to leave the campus during school hours without the expressed written permission to do so by a guardian, and is approved by the administration.

Visitors

Parents or other authorized visitors are welcome and encouraged to visit the school. Authorized guests can include friends of students with the appropriate teacher’s and administration approval and one day’s advanced notice. Visitors must adhere to the same standard of behavior expected of the students and faculty of Union Christian Academy. Visitors are required to check in with the school office as soon as they arrive so their whereabouts will be known should they need to be contacted.

If you have items to be delivered to a student, bring them to the office, and they will be delivered at the appropriate time.

Inclement Weather

UCA’s policy will be to follow the lead of the Union Parish School Board in determining whether schools are closed due to inclement weather. Whenever Union Parish Schools are closed, UCA will be closed as well. On bad weather days when students are in school, closures will be announced on the following local television and radio stations:

Local TV: Channel 10 KTVE

Fox 14 KARD

Channel 8 KNOE

Radio: FM100.9 – The Hill

88.7 – The Cross

If school is open, your child is expected to attend. If bad weather occurs during the school day, the radio and television stations will announce any school closings, and parents will be notified.

Change of Address or Phone Number

As cases of sickness and emergencies involving school children often arise, it is extremely important that the school have a viable home, work and mobile telephone number for each parent. If any of these numbers are changed during the year, please notify the office immediately. The office should also be notified in the event of a change of address.

Check-in / Check-out Policy

After 8:00 a.m. students must be checked in at the front office. This policy also applies if the student is returning to campus from a doctor’s appointment, for example. When checking a student out, the parent must come to the main office, not the classroom. If someone other than the parent will be checking out the child, the parent or guardian must call ahead or write a note giving permission to allow the student to leave in the company of someone other than their legal guardian.

Flowers, Gifts, Invitations

No flowers or any other gifts are to be delivered to the students during school hours. Party invitations may only be distributed if all students of that classroom are invited, for instance: all girls, all boys, or all boys and girls.

Lost and Found

Please mark all items belonging to our child with his/her name. Lost items will be returned to students to students if they can be identified. If you are looking for an item, please check with the school office. Any item not claimed from “Lost and Found” by the end of the year will be donated to the rummage sale or Christian ministries.

Telephone Use

The telephone is reserved for official school business and emergencies only. If a student is sick or an emergency arises, the teacher will give the student a note to be given to the school secretary stating the situation. The secretary will make the phone call for the student and documentation of the call will e made in the call log. Student must make all plans with their parents before school hours. This includes plans for after-school pick up.

Calls to parents for forgotten progress reports, homework, assignments, practice clothes / uniforms (athletics) will only be allowed during lunch or before school.

Cellular Phones

The use of cellular phones and portable electronic devices are strictly prohibited for UCA students while school is in session. Possession of such devices will result in their immediate confiscation and subsequent disciplinary action for the student. Cellular phones must be turned-in to the office each day. Please place the student’s name on the cell phone.

Parent Conferences

If you wish to have a conference with your child’s teacher, please call the school office or write the teacher a note asking for an appointment. Parent/teacher conferences will be announced at a later date. Information regarding these conferences will be sent home with the students prior to the conference dates.

Absentee Policy

Note: If your child (K5 through high school) is absent, please call the school office by 8:30 a.m. (368-8890).

Attendance at school provides a student with necessary classroom experience. This experience is composed of participation in class activities and direct instruction conducted by the classroom teacher. The instructional program designed by each teacher is a progressive and sequential experience. It is generally impossible for that experience to be “made up.” For this reason, willing failure of a student to attend class will be seen as a serious problem and will not be allowed.

Failure of a student to attend school will be considered an absence. Each absence will be considered either excused or unexcused.

An excused absence is an absence due to a personal illness, serious illness in the family, death in the family, school-approved trips, medical or dental appointments, court appearances, prearranged (three days notice) family trips, or absences due to providential hindrance. When a student will be out of school for another reason and the time of the absence is known ahead of time, it is the responsibility of the parents to contact the principal and teachers and secure the class assignments for that period of time. All previously assigned course work and homework assignments are due on the day the student returns to class. The teacher must schedule any make-up exams within three school days after the student returns. Failure to meet this requirement will result in an unexcused absence for the days missed. A reasonable amount of time for make-up work due to an excused absence will be one day for each day of school missed plus one more day. (The authority for determining the legitimacy of an absence rests with the school administration.) For instance, a student who is out sick for three school days will be allowed four school days to make-up work missed. If a student misses class the day of a major exam, he may be required to take an alternate exam. Should a student consistently miss the day of major tests, a parent/teacher conference may be in order. Students are responsible for getting their missed assignments when they return after an excused absence.

Work missed because of an unexcused absence will be recorded as a zero. Also, upon returning to school, the student will need to bring a note signed by the parent giving specific explanation of the absence. This note should be brought to the school office BEFORE school begins.

If a student is absent because of a school function (such as a field trip or athletic event) they must get their homework before they leave. If they will miss a test because of this absence, they must meet with the teachers and prearrange a time to take the test. If they fail to do so, the student will take the test the day they get back.

Excessive absences may result in expulsion. No refunds of tuition are made because of absences. K5 – 8^th grade students who miss a total of 15 days per school year will fail for the year. High school students who miss a total of 7½ school days per class, per semester will not receive credit for that class for that semester. Any appeal of this policy must be made in writing to the Board of Directors.

Tardiness

Students arriving after the late bell but before the attendance slip has been filed are to be marked tardy by the teacher on the attendance slip. Those who arrive after the slip has been sent must report to the office so the slip can be corrected. Tardy students must have a note from the office in order to be admitted to class.

Cumulative Record

The school shall keep records, which will provide for the registration and attendance of students and shall maintain an up-to-date permanent cumulative record of individual students showing personal data and progress through school, including academic achievement, health information, and test results. These records will be kept on each student and will be available in the main office for certified staff. No individual may request the records of a student without the written permission of that student’s parents. Parents may request to review their child’s cumulative records and Union Christian Academy will, upon reasonable time, review the cumulative records with the parents. Subjective information (such as discipline information) shall be removed from the cumulative file each year.

Items not allowed at school

Students are not allowed to bring radios, tape players, disc players, toys, tapes, CDs, laser pointers, beepers, electronic games (Game Boy), any type of knife or gun, or any other articles which promote or advertise non-Christian principles. If they are brought to school, they will be taken away and put in the office until a parent picks them up. If a student wishes to bring toys or a Game Boy for after-school care, he may do so if the toys remain in his backpack until after school.

Respect for Property

Emphasis is placed upon the respect for the property of others and the right of each individual to the free use of his own possessions. Borrowing and lending are practices that will be discouraged. “Borrowing” without consent of the owner is considered theft by the school. Damaging property, whether it is personal or school property, is a violation of the rights of others.

It is expected that all damage, even though it be accidental, will be acknowledged by the person involved and restitution made insofar possible. The offender will be expected to make an immediate report to the office. Proper care of all school property is the responsibility of everyone. Any student known to deface or destroy property will be assessed the full cost of repairs and be subject to disciplinary action.

Cheating

Cheating is a serious offense. It involves taking information from another source and presenting it as your own information. This source of information can be from published works to information cut and pasted from the Internet. Thus, it involves both the components of stealing and lying. Adults are prosecuted and sent to prison for these kinds of crimes. Therefore, students must come to understand the seriousness of an act of cheating. Teachers are required to take precautions in terms of test security and the structure of the classroom-testing environment in order to protect students from temptation. The teacher should always remind classes of the consequences of cheating. Cheating is defined as copying homework, handing in another’s work, plagiarism in research papers and compositions, and unauthorized assistance on tests or quizzes.

If it is determined that a student has indeed cheated, the following actions will be taken:

The student will receive a zero on the test or assignment.
The principal will be notified.
The student will confer with the principal.
The parents will be called.
A second offense will cause the student to automatically fail nine weeks (4^th – 12^th grades) in the class in which the offense occurred. A conference with the parents, student, teacher, and principal will be held.
A third offense will result in the permanent expulsion of the student from Union Christian Academy.

Library

The Union Christian Academy Media Library has been established to support the Philosophy and Mission Statement of Union Christian Academy.

Purpose:

The purpose of the Media Library is to support the administration, teachers and support staff by providing media that will supplement, enhance and enrich the curricula that is being used. The library is also used to encourage students by providing a central area that houses information, introduce and familiarize students with the skills needed to locate and use various sources of information in a library, spark an interest in learning, and promote lifelong reading. The library provides reference material that can be researched by students to complete homework assignments.

Book selection:

In support of the Philosophy and Mission Statement of Union Christian Academy, the library includes books that:

model positive character traits
will show conclusive results of actions whether positive or negative
will clearly draw the line between good and evil
will not contain blatant and frequent objectionable language
may include humanistic influence in parts of the book when the major trust emulates wholesome values

Books are selected for the library to fulfill the purpose of the library. Parents should be aware that not all books selected for the library shall be Christian or acceptable to every family. Because it is the school’s desire to teach students to critically evaluate what they read, some non-Christian materials will be included in the library collection. It is important for parents to know that they should be actively involved in helping their children evaluate what they read and further censor where they feel it is necessary.

Donations are gladly accepted. A monetary donation is our first choice. This allows for purchases that will meet specific staff and student needs. Gift books are accepted if they meet the selection criteria and if shelf space permits housing these books.

Computer Use

Computers are supplied by the school for academic use and are not to be used inappropriately. “Inappropriate Use” may be defined as but not limited to the following:

Accessing Internet sites containing controversial material, sexually explicit material, destructive information, material inconsistent with the purpose of Union Christian Academy, or material determined to be illegal.
Downloading music, software, shareware, movies or any other copyrighted material.
Game playing is not allowed on school computers, except as a formal component of an academic subject or through a school sponsored event.
Any use that is not considered academic use.

Parents and students should be advised that any Internet access will be filtered but no filter is 100% effective. If a student unintentionally accesses an inappropriate site, they MUST “back out” immediately or turn off the monitor and notify the teacher/school personnel without drawing other student’s attention to the screen.

UCA reserves the right to access and monitor e-mail, web sites, server logs, and electronic files and any computer or electronic device connected to the school’s network including personally owned equipment, should it be determined that there is a reason to do so. Reasons would include, but not limited to, suspected or reported breaches of this Acceptable use Policy, policies of the Board of Directors, or federal/state and local law.