Question 1

What is the school schedule?

Question 2

What if my child needs to be picked up from school by someone other than me?

Accepted Answer

Should you ever need to make alternate arrangements for the pick-up of your child, the office will need to know in advance by written email to our Administrative Assistant, Charlie Fleiss ​(charlie.fleiss@treeacademy.org).​ In your written email, please include who will be picking your child up (if it is a ride-share service, please provide the full name of the driver and company for which they work), along with what kind of car they will be driving, and the color of the car. In this way, we hope to keep students safe at TREE.

Question 3

How are birthday celebrations handled?

Accepted Answer

If you would like to celebrate your child’s birthday, you can provide something to be shared with the other students by bringing it to our Admin Office. In preparing any foods for TREE teachers and students, we request that you bring low-sugar birthday treats, such as fruit kabobs, popsicles, small sandwiches, or frozen yogurt. Off-campus birthday party invitations should be mailed unless the entire class is invited. If only a few children are invited to a party, please remind children not to discuss the party at school so as to avoid hurt feelings. Also, please use your best judgment in these cases and do not exclude just a few children from the party.

Question 4

What is the medication policy?

Accepted Answer

Please reference the TREE Academy Prescription and Non-Prescription Medication Administration Policy form which all families received as part of your admissions packet. In short, the school cannot dispense any prescription or over-the-counter medicines including ibuprofen and acetaminophen unless families have:
Completed and submitted a prescription and non-prescription authorization form
Supplied the medication to the school as instructed on the form.
Please review the policy carefully and decide if your child requires medications readily available in the office.

Question 5

What if I need to communicate with one of my child's teachers?

Accepted Answer

TREE Academy encourages communication from families with our faculty. Should you wish to confer with one of our teachers regarding your child, please make an appointment by contacting the teacher directly by email. Our faculty will email you with their contact info at the beginning of the year, or semester.
Communication regarding scholastic progress in a specific class should be directed to the teacher of that course, or our Dean of Students, Ale Chamorro at alejandra.chamorro@treeacademy.org.
In order to encourage increasing independence and self-advocacy, students are encouraged to attend any scheduled family conferences. For other, non-academic concerns regarding the welfare or day-to-day experiences of your child, please contact our Human Development team at ​HumanDevelopment@TreeAcademy.org
Families, please be sensitive to the tempo and fullness of the school days and weeks. Should you wish to schedule an appointment with any of our faculty or staff, please email them directly. Please understand that teachers are busy and will respond at their very earliest convenience. Should your conference with a teacher, School Counselor and/or Human Development Team not meet your needs, you may consult our Dean of Students, Ale Chamorro at ​alejandra.chamorro@treeacademy.org

Question 6

What if my child will be late to school?

Accepted Answer

Students should arrive at school between 8:15 a.m and 8:30 a.m. Students who arrive after 8:50 a.m. need to check in with the office.
Late arrivals to school and classes shall be noted and added cumulatively to a student’s overall attendance record. Students are allotted a passing period of several minutes between classes. A late arrival is disruptive to others, cuts down on the time everyone has for learning, and diminishes the intellectual and engaged culture at school. When a student is late for school, they need to sign in at the front office before moving on to attend class.
It is the family’s responsibility to get students to school on time. Again, please note that 4 tardies will be treated as the equivalent of a 1 day absence.

Question 7

What is your attendance policy? When should I keep my child home sick?

Accepted Answer

Please prevent the spread of illness by keeping ill children home. If a student becomes ill during school hours, the teacher or office administration will determine whether or not to call you to pick up your child in a timely manner.​ ​If we suspect any injury to a student’s head, or if we feel compelled by the student’s condition to call an ambulance, or in any cases of a medical emergency, we will call for an ambulance. The financial responsibility for that ambulance, as well as any attendant care, will be the family’s, and not TREE Academy, its staff, faculty or personnel.
Should your child experience a fever of 100.3 or higher, please do not bring them back to school until they have been fever-free for a minimum of 24 hours. If your child has a rash, eye symptoms, runny nose with yellow or greenish mucus, persistent coughing, earache, vomiting or diarrhea, head lice, or a skin infection, please have them examined by a healthcare professional. When a child is sick, the family should inform the school that the child will not be attending school and the reason. If your child has a communicable illness such as chicken pox, strep throat, mumps or influenza A or B, please let the school know. Extended absences for reasons other than illness should be discussed with individual teachers/the office prior to the intended absence.
A. To keep our records accurate, and to ensure student safety, families should telephone or email the school before 8:30 a.m. the morning of the absence. If an absence is not reported, the school will contact the home. Any absences not reported by families are considered unexcused. Messages may be left during non-business hours by calling the School. Students returning to school after more than one day’s absence must also bring a note from a family member explaining the absence. Students absent more than three days for medical reasons must furnish a note from a medical doctor as to the reason for their absence as per Stateregulations.​ S​tudents who are absent from school should get homework assignments from their teachers via email and/or the Google Classroom.
B. If a student becomes ill during school hours and needs to go home, families will be called. ​Students may not otherwise leave campus without permission​. Please come into the office to sign your child out; ​do not ask your child to wait outside for you as they will not be permitted to do so.
C. Categories of Absences:
i. Excused Absences: Sickness, family deaths, emergency medical or dental appointments, or similar serious matters. Families must provide a doctor’s note or equivalent.
ii. Extended or Unexcused Absences: Any extended absences must be approved by the Director of School. Any unapproved absences are unexcused. Absences that are a result of a violation of another school rule (Days of Reflection), routine medical or dental appointments, or any absence not approved by the school are generally considered unexcused. In the event of any planned absence, families must contact the office as well as teachers via email prior to the absence. As stated above, parent permission is not the same as school permission. Only the school has the authority to excuse a student’s absence.
iii. Cut: An intentional absence about which neither the family nor the school has any prior knowledge will be considered a cut. An intentional cut is a serious matter and will be treated as an absence. Cutting a class also will result in an automatic one-day of reflection.
*** Four (4) tardies or partial day absences will equal one (1) absent day ***
*** Twenty (20) absences will equal NO CREDIT for the academic school year ***
Faculty will assist students who missed work during excused absences, but are not required to assist students with work missed during unexcused absences.

Question 8

Will we receive progress reports?

Accepted Answer

Progress reports are our way of checking in with families and students four times a year. There is a mid-semester check-in report for Fall and Spring semesters that will be succinct summations of a student’s progress mid-term, followed by an end-of-semester report in the fall, and year-end report in June. We always encourage families with questions and concerns to contact our teachers directly. Please also be sure to copy Ale (Alejandra.Chamorro@TreeAcademy.org​), our Dean of Students, on any communications with faculty.