Big Springs Charter School

EMPLOYEE MANUAL Big Springs Charter Revision 1.1 7/12/06

1 INTRODUCTION TO BIG SPRINGS CHARTER SCHOOL

1.1 Philosophical Foundation

The Big Springs Charter System has many principles and guidelines that have been used to design the philosophical foundation for how we educate and treat our high risk student population. The charter for the school was approved by the Texas Education Agency with a specific focus on the at risk foster children who reside at the Big Springs Ranch for Children and Hill Country Youth Ranch. These homes, for youth that have experienced varying degrees of physical, emotional and sexual child abuse, are primary partners with the school in preparing the youth for successful entry into adulthood and independent living.

1.2 History and Founding Information Big Springs Charter School was granted in 2001 to Hill Country Youth Ranch, a nonprofit organization founded in 1977 for the care and treatment of abused-neglected children. The school provides an education program for students in first through twelfth grade. The school campuses are located at the Big Springs Ranch for Children in Real County, Texas and the Hill Country Youth Ranch in Kerr County. The charter school was created to serve children living in the Real County-Leakey ISD area and the Kerr County-Ingram ISD area. The program is designed to serve primarily at-risk students, but also average, special education and gifted-talented children with equal success. Personalized continuous progress programs and inclusive special education programs will help all students achieve success.

1.3 Mission Statement The mission of Big Springs Charter School is to educate and prepare all students for success in family, employment and community.

1.4 Vision

As you enter Brune School and Cailloux School, the level of pride and accomplishment is evident. The schools are well maintained and have a safe environment, with technology appropriate to a wide range of learning activities. The learning atmosphere is exciting, stimulating, and success oriented.

Students have a wide spectrum of learning experiences. The school climate encourages respect; adults are compassionate, competent, committed, consistent, considerate, and enabled.

Students accept responsibility for learning and possess positive attitudes. Their communication is open, friendly, and caring; not only between students, but also with staff. This exists because of respect among students and the adults in their lives. The students are self-motivated and excited about learning. They have a sense of direction and possess a high sense of responsibility. Through their sense of good values, positive behavior, and high moral conscience; they hold themselves accountable for their actions. They accept the consequences of the choices they make.

Open communication exists between students and adults through mentoring; mastering all levels of communication, including oral and written; and the fostering of positive relationships.

Students come to school prepared, eager to participate, and devoted to their learning. They complete learning projects and assignments without hesitation and are successful because they believe in who they are.

All students work to become productive adults and contributing members of society. They aspire to be lifelong learners as they prepare and plan for the future.

The community embraces involvement in the educational development of all students. Ranch staff, parents, and other members of the community demonstrate respect for education through their availability to and support for all members of the school population. Ranch staff and parents take an active role in their child’s education by providing basic needs so their child is ready to learn. By learning values and good ethics at home, the students are prepared to succeed at school. Mutually respectful and cooperative in school, ranch and community; ranch staff, parents, and school staff work together with the vision of helping students become productive members of the school and society. Administrators are visible and accessible to the students.

Failure is Not an Option

1.5 Objectives and Goals The objectives of Big Springs Charter School are:  Parents, residential staff, children, and volunteer-mentors will be full partners with school staff in the education of the children.  Students will be encouraged to meet their full educational potential.  Students will remain in school until they obtain a high school diploma.  An appropriate curriculum will be provided to all students.  Qualified and effective school staff will be recruited, developed and retained.  The school will maintain a safe and disciplined environment conducive to learning.

 Educators will use creative and innovative techniques in instruction.

It is the goal of the Big Springs Charter School to educate students, using personalized continuous progress, to demonstrate gains of 1.5 years during the school year in Reading, Math and English-Language Arts. It is also a goal of our charter school to educate students to demonstrate exemplary performance in Science and Social Studies. Students will also attain physical fitness, develop proficiency in two recreation sports and develop proficiency in at least one occupational skill.

1.6 Hill Country Youth Ranch Board of Directors – School Committee L. Brent Bates Dr. Phillip Hamman Wes Dorman Kim Vogel Wilma Teague

1.7 School Management Board Judy Taylor Dr. Phillip Hamman Bella Rubio Garry Merritt Debbie Blalock

1.8 Charter and Bylaws Big Springs Charter School operates as an open-enrollment charter school under a charter granted by the State Board of Education as a nonprofit corporation exempt from taxation under Section 50i(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

The following are the charter and bylaws for the school:

The Board of Directors of the Hill Country Youth Ranch is the governing body for the Big Springs Charter School.

 The officers of the HCYR Board shall be elected by the board members and shall consist of a President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer.  Each officer shall hold office for one (1) year until his/her successor shall have been duly elected and have qualified. (Bylaws V.5.01)  Any officer elected or appointed by the Board of Directors may be removed by the Board of Directors whenever in its judgment the best interest of the corporation would be served; thereby, but such removal

shall be without prejudice to the contract rights, if any, of the officer removed. If the officer is a Director, he/she may not vote therein. (5.02)  At the regular April meeting of each year, the Board of Directors will appoint a Nominating Committee for the purpose of nominating directors to replace those whose term is expiring. The Nominating Committee shall make its report to the Board of Directors at the ensuing meeting. Any member of the Board of Directors may make additional nominations.  An election of the new Directors shall be held at the May meeting.  All directors shall take office at the regular June meeting of the Board of Directors. (2.01).  Members are eligible to serve a full three year term. The terms are staggered.

The School Management Board helps the school Superintendent develop and monitor school policies, procedures, budget and personnel. Its members are appointed by the HCYR Management Board.

 The officers of School Management Board shall consist of a Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Secretary.  Officers are selected by vote of the members of the School Management Board at the regular July meeting each year.  They are removed from office if the School Management Board determines that they have missed three consecutive meetings without an adequate excuse.  The members of the school Management Board are selected to serve a term of three years. At the end of each term the HCYR Board will appoint a replacement and the outgoing member is eligible to be re- selected.  At the first appointment only, one member will be appointed to serve one year, one member will serve for two years, and two members will serve for three years.  Members of the School Management Board may be removed from office if the HCYR Board determines that they are no longer interested in the school and fail to meet regularly, or if the member acts in a way that the HCYR Board believes will damage the conduct or reputation of the school.  If a member resigns or otherwise leaves the School Management Board, he/she is replaced by the HCYR Board to serve the remaining term.  Term of the members of the School Management Board will be three years except the first year described above. The terms will be staggered.

1.9 Charter Amendments Amendments to the Big Springs School Charter shall be submitted to the State Board of Education for Approval.

1.10 Address and Telephone Big Springs Charter School Ed Brune School P.O. Box 399 10664 North US Hwy 83 Leakey, Texas 78873 830-232-7101

Cailloux School P O Box 609 3484 Hwy 27 West 1 mile Ingram, TX 78025 830-367-2611

1.11 Abbreviations BSCS Big Springs Charter School HCYR Hill Country Youth Ranch SA School Administrator (Brune School: SA is the Assistant Superintendent; Cailloux school: SA is the School Director) AS Assistant Superintendent SD School Director