Knox County Career Center
Administrative Guidelines
 

9150 - VISITORS

In order to protect the educational programs and students from undue disturbance, each director shall establish rules and procedures for visitors which shall include the following:

 A.Persons wishing to visit the Career Center are asked to make arrangements through the office.
 B.Every visitor must register at the Career Center office. Sign-in lists showing name, time, person visiting, and time departing shall be maintained by the office. Any person who does not register with the office is on District property illegally and should be asked to identify himself/herself properly or to leave the grounds. If the visitor refuses to leave the grounds or creates any disturbance, the Director should request aid from the Mt. Vernon Police.
 C.No visitor may see a student at the Career Center unless it is with the specific approval of the administration. If an emergency situation requires that a student be called to the office to meet with a visitor, a member of the administrative staff must be present during the conference. A student is never to be permitted to leave with anyone who is not clearly identified as his/her parent or an appropriately authorized person.
 D.Students may not bring guests to the Career Center unless permission to do so has been granted by the administration.
 E.Parents, other than those who have been asked by a teacher to be in the classroom, who wish to observe learning activities taking place in their child's classroom are to confer, in advance, with the administration and the teacher and state the purpose of the visitation.
 

It is important that each parent understands that because classroom visitations can be distractive to the students, the following guidelines have been established:
  1.Visitations will not be allowed during examinations.
  2.Parents are to be silent observers and are not to create any type of disturbance or disruption to the learning process.
  3.Copies of instructional materials being used by the students or teacher may not always be immediately available during the visitation.
  4.Any comments made by individual students are to be maintained in confidence by the visitor to the activity.
  5.No visitor shall be allowed to videotape students in the classroom as it violates the privacy rights of students unrelated to the visitor. Recording of other school activities will be in accord with AG 9160 - Attendance at Public Events.
  6.If the nature and instructional purpose of any activity calls for students to be segregated by gender, only visitors of the appropriate gender may observe those groups.
  7.Any comments or concerns are to be discussed with the teacher before or after the school day when students are not present.
 

A copy of these guidelines is to be given to and signed by each visitor to a classroom as an indication that s/he understands the reason for each guideline.
 
 

Visitors are to be encouraged to meet with the Director or designee and teacher during noninstructional hours to discuss the observation and to obtain answers to their questions. If a parent has a concern about what may be transpiring in his/her child's classroom, s/he should follow the Board's Policy 9130 which states that the parent is to address the matter first with the teacher and, if not rectified, to then meet with the principal.
 F.No staff member is to transact business with a visitor who does not have visitor's pass and/or has not duly registered at the office and received authorization to be present for the purpose of conducting business.

If a disabled person should visit a school and request accommodation, in advance, the director should ask the person to allow the school adequate time to arrange for the accommodation, providing such accommodation is reasonable (see AG 9160A).