General Guidelines
In order to facilitate proper, professional relationships, the following guidelines are understood to be representative of the practices and philosophies of GRACE:
- All communication guidelines outlined in the GRACE Parent/Student Handbook should be observed.
- Faculty/staff members are to refrain from any physical contact and verbal interchanges with each other and with students that could provide even the appearance of impropriety.
- Flirtation, sexual innuendo, casual disrespect toward authority which includes telling students you will not enforce school policies, excessive familiarity, etc., are examples of unprofessional and inappropriate behavior that is unacceptable.
- If it is necessary for a faculty/staff member to spend time alone with a student or staff member, they should be easily visible to the public (e.g., open door, windowed room, etc.)
- Teachers should establish a behavior management plan for their classrooms. Part of the plan should involve communication with parents. All teachers should coordinate plans individually and within grade level/department teams to provide consistency in discipline.
- Teachers are responsible for administering the school’s Discipline Policy. The policy should be discussed with students during the first few days of school and reviewed with parents at orientation. Students and parents are required to sign the Conduct Commitment Form and submit it online. These forms will be kept on file in Blackbaud.
- Discipline should always be viewed as an opportunity for discipling a student and, therefore, a process of leading a student to spiritual maturity.
- Faculty/Staff should remain aware that they represent the school in communication with all parents and with the outside community.
- Teachers should keep electronic copies of all correspondence to and from parents and students. Email should be saved as a record.
Faculty and Parents/Students
Open, honest, biblically-based communication is strongly encouraged. Prompt response to questions and comments is common courtesy. All faculty-to-parent communication should be professional, respectful, and in the spirit of cooperation. In addition to class and group emails, teachers are strongly encouraged to proactively contact parents with encouragement, questions or concerns about their child. When seeking to communicate on a particular subject, please begin that communication at the appropriate level as follows:
- It is extremely important that teachers initiate good communication with parents early in the year and continue throughout the year. In the event of a troubling or difficult communication, faculty should notify their respective principal. Difficult emails should be checked by the department head or principal prior to sending. Teachers are encouraged to use the behavior report templates for write-ups. Link
- 5th-12th Faculty is required to post homework assignments for the upcoming week by Monday 8:00 am on Blackbaud.
- Faculty must post student grades within one week. An additional week may be allowed for large writing assignments.
- Email may be used to communicate with parents and students on a daily basis.
- Elementary teachers should send a class newsletter to parents weekly.
- All formal, written communications to class parents must be read/approved by the principal or staff member (accountability partner) assigned by the principal (TK-6) or the department head (7-12) prior to dissemination.
- Faculty should respond to parent telephone calls, emails or messages within 36 hours.
- You will be assigned a GRACE email address. Encourage parents to contact you in this way; avoid text messaging if at all possible.
- Faculty and student communications via text messaging should be avoided. If unavoidable, a second staff member or the parent should be involved in the text conversation.
- During the first quarter of the school year, a formal parent-teacher conference is required for TK-4th grade is required, 5th and 6th are suggested (handled like 7-12), and suggested 7th-12th grade students. Progress will be reviewed at that time. Informal conferences should be arranged as needed.
- A conference will be held during the third quarter for any student with the possibility of retention and/or who is experiencing academic and behavioral difficulties.
- Teachers should communicate with parents if a student’s grades are dropping or concerns arise.
- It is the responsibility of custodial parents to provide all official school communication and any other requested information to non-custodial parents in a timely fashion except if directed otherwise by the custody agreement. Teachers should be familiar with current custody agreements for students in their classrooms. See cumulative records.
- Students should not refer to GRACE employees by their first name.
Staff to Administration
- Teachers should communicate with the principals if students’ grades are dropping or concerns arise.
- If there is a concern about retention the student in question should be referred to the Student Support Team no later than the beginning of the second semester.
- All concerns about the standards of the school must be presented to the respective administrator first. A respectful demeanor is required at all times.
- If the problem is not resolved, the staff member may appeal the decision, in writing, to the Head of School, followed by a meeting to discuss the matter.
Blackbaud will be our primary tool for sharing school-wide and whole-class information with students and parents this year to replace Talon and FACTS-RenWeb. We recommend all parents make it a habit to check Blackbaud every day to know what’s happening on campus and in each of their children’s classrooms. We created a Blackbaud Parent Walkthrough Tutorial Video to show parents how to use the site. Teachers should direct parents to use this resource and set up their preferences as soon as possible.
Quick Reference Guide
| Blackbaud TK-12th Grade |
GRACE Gmail TK-12th Grade |
Class Dojo TK-3rd Grade Only |
| -Schoolwide Communications -Class/Grade Communications -Class Assignments -Class ResourcesNewsletters |
-Teacher to Individual Parent Communication -Teacher to Individual Student Communication -Staff to Staff Communication -Sharing of Docs between Staff |
-Teacher to Individual Parent Communication -Sharing individual pictures with parents |
School-Wide Information:
Whole school announcements and information about school events will be posted in Blackbaud News. The weekly Amazing GRACE newsletter will continue to be sent via email and will also be posted in Blackbaud News. Individual campus information will be posted in the Lower Campus Parents and Upper Campus Parents groups.
Whole Class Information:
Within Blackbaud, each teacher will post to their Bulletin Board class policies and procedures, syllabi, course resources, and any other information that doesn’t change often. They will also post regular one-way communication, such as weekly newsletters, announcements and reminders here. We recommend that parents select to be notified when new information is posted, as we will no longer be sending this information out via email.
TK – 3rd Grade Parents:
Teachers of students in grades TK-3 will continue to use Class Dojo for informal messages to individual parents. Staff Gmail will be utilized for formal correspondence, and all newsletters and announcements will be posted in Blackbaud.
Individual Communication with Parents:
Correspondence with individual parents will continue to take place through email and not the Blackbaud message feature.
Parent to Teacher Communication:
Parents should correspond with teachers through the individual staff member’s GRACE Gmail address.
Internal Communication:
Internal communication will continue to be conducted with Gmail since Blackbaud does not have the established email distribution groups or the ability to create message folders. PDFs can not be attached to Blackbaud messages.
