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This book
will save your LIFE—at least your school life anyway. Carry
this book with you; refer to it constantly, and, when you go to bed at night,
keep it under your pillow, so that the process of osmosis may begin. Imagine
how much easier your life would be if you knew all the things that were expected
of you before you began your high school career; Imagine that you had the keys
to academic success right at your finger tips. We want
you to have a productive, exciting, and academically rigorous experience at Discovery
High School, so we are going to let you know a few things: what you can do, what
you should do, and what you should never do. Yours
truly, Principal Rivera The
goal of There is a
significant paradox at the heart of our educational goal: We do not teach students
how to answer the questions that are posed in life; our goal is to teach students
how to question the answers that have been established—to teach students that
education is, paradoxically, about understanding that we don’t understand the
things that we think we understand (about life, those around us, and, especially,
ourselves). Each year at Discovery, students focus on specific themes, particular arts, and academic foci. Here is a brief break-down, year by year: 9th
GRADE: Theme: Discover Myself. Questions include: Who am I? How do I know who I am? Creative and Technical Art Focus: Introduction to Visual Arts/Introduction to Music Appreciation. 10TH
GRADE: Theme: Discover My World. Questions include: How do my peers influence who I am? How does society influence my beliefs and actions? Creative and Technical Art Focus: Art though Technology and Global Arts History. 11TH
GRADE: Theme: Discover My Past. Questions include: How do the events of my past influence my present beliefs and actions? Are my memories a recollection of the events that have happened or are they reinterpretations of those events? Creative and Technical Art Focus: Dramatic Arts: Performance. 12TH
GRADE: Theme: Discover My Future. Who am I becoming? How have I changed from who I was? Who was I and why am I no longer that person? Creative
and Technical Art Focus: Advanced
Creative and Technical Art Electives The
following chart is designed to be helpful in finding where to go and whom to see
if you have questions or need information. Always ask your counselor first. Your counselor is one of your best sources of information.
The School
Rules Were Created to Help You. No large organization is able to function without
basic guidelines and rules. In an attempt
to help our school run more efficiently for the safety and well-being of all,
basic regulations have been formulated. By understanding and complying with these rules,
you will contribute toward making our school a happy community—a community in
which you can develop intellectually and socially in an atmosphere free from confusion
and disorder. Gathered in this section are the
basic rules for attendance, behavior, regulations governing hallway procedures,
classroom and cafeteria and passes. Self-regulation
and self-control is the key to creating a learning atmosphere that is engaging,
enjoyable, and efficacious. You should always
be informed about regulations. If you do not understand the rules, ask your
teacher to explain the reasons for certain regulations. Remember: communication brings understanding. A.
Radios-Ipods-Cell Phones Students may not bring radios, I-Pods, CD players, or tape recorders to school. Students may not carry cell phones in school. This applies to all school sponsored activities as well as the regular school day. Students
found in possession of these devices during the school day will be directed to
the Dean’s office where the item(s) WILL BE CONFISCATED and stored until claimed
by a parent or legal guardian. There are no exceptions to this rule whatsoever. B.
Dress Code Students are not permitted to wear shorts or skirts that are three inches above the knee. Tank tops and cut off shirts that allow the belly button to show are also not permitted. Students will be monitored for appropriate attire before going through scanning. No
headgear including hats, scarves, doo-rags, to be worn while in the building at
any time. C. Room Passes You can NOT be in the hall without a pass when your classes are in session. You can NOT leave the room during the first or last 10 minutes of the period. If you are in the hallway without a pass, you will be brought to the Dean’s office immediately. Bathroom passes are only permitted during odd periods—3,5,7, and 9th. NO STUDENTS ARE ALLOWED IN THE HALLS DURING EVEN PERIODS—2nd/4th/6th/8th.. If you are caught in the hallways without a room pass, you will be sent directly to the Suspension Room. One last thing: create
a calendar for the days in which you plan on going to the bathroom: you can only
go to the bathroom 3 times a semester per class.
Buy a planner so that you can plan your bowel movements accordingly. D.
Elevator Passes 1. Students must bring a doctor’s note indicating need for an elevator pass to the Guidance Counselor. 2.
Student must show Elevator pass upon request—don’t leave home without it. E.
Identification Cards They:
F.
Emergency Medical Procedures If you become ill in school
If you are injured:
G. Cafeteria Code You are required to remain in the cafeteria for your entire lunch period. You are NOT permitted to take food out of the cafeteria. All students are expected to stay in the cafeteria (or library) for lunch. Students are not allowed to take any food, snacks, or drinks out of the cafeteria. There is to be no eating on the second floor hallways. Deans and security will be monitoring all periods. When you have finished lunch, please pick up all papers, dirty dishes and your tray and deposit them in the trash bins provided. Note
the following: THERE IS NO EATING IN CLASSROOMS. There
are no exceptions to this rule H.
Behavior 1. We expect students to act appropriately in all settings. 2. Conflicts must be resolved peacefully. If a problem cannot be resolved, you must see a supervisor, teacher, dean or school counselor immediately to discuss the situation. 3. If you are involved
in fights or assaults while attending Discovery, you will be subject to suspension
and further disciplinary action may be taken. I. Cameras Say
Cheese!! There are hidden cameras throughout
Walton Campus and in J.
Textbooks/Books Do
NOT lose your textbooks. You will have to pay for them. (Some of these textbooks cost fifty to one hundred
dollars each!) Do Not
write in your textbooks or any other books that you are loaned through K.
PUNCTUALITY In order to do good work and
be good citizens, you must attend school each day, arrive on time, be present
in all classes, and follow all school regulations. L. Hallways: M.
Absences: Regular
and punctual attendance is of primary importance to academic success.
Excessive absences can lead to failure.
Absences must be limited to illness and medical care, death in the family,
and religious observances with prior notice from your parent. You
must present a note on the day you return from an absence.
The note must have a contact number and explanation of absence from school;
this is to be shown to all subject teachers. Subject
teachers should sign the note. Then, you
should take it to the Attendance Office, where it will be filed. N.
Lateness You are required to report for each assigned period on your program, including lunch, BEFORE the late bell rings. Before the late bell has rung, you should be seated in your classes, with your notebook open, headings on your paper, and be ready for instruction once the teacher has re-entered the room. Lateness
to class is NOT tolerated in If
you are late three times, you will receive DETENTION after school.
If you don’t show up to detention, you will receive double detention (two
days of detention) from school. O.
Cutting If
you are found outside the building during your regularly scheduled school day,
including lunch, or if you are found in any other assigned area, you will immediately
receive detention after school. Cutting is NOT tolerated in P.
Summer School Have
you ever been stuck inside an oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit? Your face is dripping with sweat, and it runs
down your cheeks; you can taste the salt in your sweat; you feel sticky and icky
all over because your clothes stick on your body and your shirt is wet enough
to ring water from; you can hardly breathe because there is no air in the room
you’re in; and while you have all these miserable experiences, you have to be
in school tortured for hours on end. All
this while your friends are cooling off at the fire hydrant and/or riding Kingdom
Ka at Great Adventure. You will know what these harrowing experiences are like—first
hand—if you fail any classes at Discovery. High School is NOT like Middle School; In M.S., you may have failed your courses in the fall, then, passed them in the spring and moved on up to the next grade. In High School, when you fail the fall semester, you MUST take those classes AGAIN. YOU WILL BE REQUIRED
TO TAKE THESE CLASSES IN SUMMER SCHOOL OR AFTER SCHOOL OR SATURDAYS.
They are not given during school time. Let’s
look at an example to illustrate this point: Imagine:
It’s the end of the Spring semester of your freshman year (Spring ’07).
In the Fall, you failed two classes: E1 and H$1 (English and History). You took E2 and H$2 in the spring right and
passed both classes with a 70. YOU MUST STILL
TAKE E1 and H$2 IN SUMMER OR NIGHT SCHOOL. (Certain
provisions and alternatives—such as annualization—do apply; see your guidance
counselor for more details.) The moral of the story is: PASS ALL YOUR CLASSES THE FIRST TIME AROUND!!! Making
up the classes you failed as a junior and/or senior could be a living nightmare. Q. Weapons/Paraphenalia: Any
student carrying or found in the possession of a weapon of any kind, including
box cutters, will be suspended and possibly subject to arrest (at that moment,
on the spot). No one is allowed to wear
beads, bandanas, or any other gang-related clothing and/or colors of distinction.
Leave home without them! R.
Detention Room The Detention Room is NOT fun. Various infractions will land you in this room. In the detention room, you will do either homework and/or reading. There is ABSOLUTELY no talking in the detention center. Detention is after school. Please Note: Anytime a child has to stay in school for detention, every effort will be made to contact the students’ home. Tell your parents if they are unsure of your whereabouts, they should contact the detention room or the main office to verify if necessary. S.
Suspension Room. The
Suspension Room is even less fun than the detention room.
If you receive a Principal’s Suspension, you will be placed in this room.
In this room, you will spend the entire school day, including your lunch
period. (That’s period 2 through 9 and, perhaps, after school, depending on the
infractions.) You are required to complete school assignments,
which will be sent from various subject classes, and you will also read material
from the classroom libraries in the room. There is absolutely no talking and you cannot
lay your head on the desk and you must be doing work the entire time. Depending on the severity of the infraction,
you could spend anywhere from one to five days in this room. T.
TRIPS Only students who are academically successful will be allowed to go on school trips. To go on a trip, you must have a Trip Consent Form, which each of your teachers will sign. Once you have received all the signatures you need (which includes a parental signature as well), you will submit this form to the teacher in charge of the trip. Note: You must sign in for attendance for that day; being with your teacher is not enough. There is an attendance form for students who are going on a trip; if you don’t sign this form, you are not present for that day. All the rules and regulations for Discovery are
in effect when you are on trip with a teacher.
Inappropriate behavior on a trip could lead to suspension or worse. U.
FIRE DRILLS Discovery
is required by State Law and Chancellor’s Regulations to have both fire and shelter
drills. There must be a minimum of 8 fire drills conducted
before December 1st and a minimum of 12 for the school year.
At least one shelter drill must be conducted during the fall term and at
least two during the spring term. When
the alarm for a fire drill is sounded (along with flashing lights and horns),
you are to walk quickly with your teacher to the exit listed on the sign in the
front of your room. Upon exiting the building, you are to walk away
from the building. The Lehman driveway,
the walkway near For the shelter drill, the procedure is as follows: When the bells sound (5-5-5 bells), you will line up with your teacher in the hallway, outside your classroom and away from any windows, which includes the windows on classroom doors. An announcement will be
made on the P.A. system when you may return to class. V. PORTFOLIOS A portfolio is a collection of
the arts-related work that you have collected from all your classes.
This portfolio is a great thing to show your parents all the great work
that you are doing in class. It will reflect
four years of High School instruction. This
portfolio, which can be used as part of an application process for college, is
not optional; it is a requirement in W.
TOWN HALLS Approximately once a month, there
will be a “Town Hall.” These school-wide or grade-wide student meetings
are a venue for getting important information out to students—the news could be
regarding school events, important notifications, new policies and regulations,
or anything else that may be important for you to know. Town Hall is also an opportunity for the school
to showcase its talents/performances/works in construction. X.
TUTORING Discovery is genuinely dedicated
to the academic success of our students. As
part of our school-wide plan to help students do well, Discovery offers tutoring
for students who need additional help and support in their academic subjects.
For those students who are failing/have failed a particular course, or
for those students who will take an impending Regents exam, tutoring is mandatory,
and considered part of your academic day. Different subjects will have tutoring twice
a week. Y.
HOMEWORK Homework is the out-of-class tasks
that you will be assigned as an extension of your classroom work.
Your teacher will assign homework every night. Don’t even think about handing homework in late;
late homework can and will have an adverse effect on your grade. Your teacher will notify you of the policies
and procedures for homework in his or her classroom. Z. GRADING
POLICY we
feel at Discovery that all students should know in advance what is expected of
them. When you become doctors, lawyers,
and other people of prominent positions, you will know what is required of you
in your job, in the form of a job description, and you will often be evaluated—people
will evaluate how well you are/are not performing your duties.
(That’s why you are reading this handbook, by the way!) In terms of your classroom rules and procedures, your teacher will familiarize you with them. The overall school grading policy (for every single class you have) is as follows: ü Class Work (attendance, participation—verbally, on the board, etc., in-class assignments, notebook check, etc.): 25% ü Homework: 25% ü
Evaluative
Tools :(which includes quizzes, tests, major and minor projects, etc.):50% Consider: As a student, you should be able to approximate your grade before you get your report card. If you are unclear about the policy in any way, feel free to speak to your teacher, your guidance counselor, or an administrator. Your teacher will provide you with a syllabus, which is an indication of what to expect, and what you should be studying. Student
Time (for Regular Course Work): Session
2 8:46 – 3:36* ** REGULAR TIME SCHEDULEWarning
AFTER-SCHOOL TIME SCHEDULE
*Attendance
will be taken every single period **
In some cases, some students may need to come in for a 1st period class
(which begins at 8:00 a.m. sharp!).
Attendance Information for Parents
A. Explaining Absences All
school attendance is recorded as illegal unless the parent provides the attendance
office with an explanation. Parents are
asked to telephone the Attendance Office in the morning to give an explanation
for their child’s absence from school that day.
Telephone calls from students are not accepted. B. Telephone numbers: You
may contact the Attendance Coordinator (Mrs. Pichardo) at 718-733-3872,( x 2544). The office is available to receive calls beginning
at 8:00 in the morning. If you are unable
to speak to anyone, please leave a message indicating your name and a telephone
number where you can be reached. C. Investigation: The
attendance staff will attempt to contact the parents of absentees. Contact will be made by telephone or mail to
the home or the parents’ place of business. In
some instances, a Family Assistant may visit your home. D. Written Excuses: Parents
will have to provide a written explanation for their child’s absence to the attendance
office and to the subject class teachers. The
written excuse should state the child’s full name and official class, the date
of the absence, a number where you can be reached, and the reasons for his or
her absence. E. Early Dismissals: Students
are NOT allowed to leave the building for any appointment without a parent or
guardian to pick him/her up. G. Medical Documentation: Parent
of students who are absent or late because of illness will be asked to provide
the attendance coordinator with documentation from the family physician. H. Conferences: If
a student is frequently absent or late to school, the attendance coordinator and
guidance counselor, as well as other personnel, will meet with the student and
the parent to plan a course of action to improve the child’s attendance at school.
What should I be doing each year at Freshman
and Sophomore Year
Junior
Year
Senior
Year
WHAT SHOULD I KNOW ABOUT COLLEGE?
I. What kinds of colleges are there? A. Two year community colleges B. Four year colleges Two year Technical Colleges Two year Community Colleges C. II. What do I need to get into college? Requirements vary by school. Four year colleges have higher requirements than two year colleges. All colleges ask you to take a challenging academic program which includes English, Social Studies, Math, Science and Foreign Language. III. Can everyone afford to go to college? YES! Financial aid is available to students who cannot afford to pay for college themselves. IV. When should I start thinking about college? Right now. Think of what type of college you might want to go to and do everything you can to leave your options open. Be nice to your teachers; you’re
going to need letters of recommendation from them!
J September
of 2007 Dear Parents/Guardians: We
feel it is very important that you are a part of the instructional and administrative
process at Discovery HS. It is imperative that you read this handbook
with your child and discuss the policies and procedures therein. There is a lot of information and a great deal
of rules and regulations; this has been written and implemented to make your child’s
four years at our school a safe, academically rigorous, and engaging experience. If
you have any questions or concerns, you could send your child with your inquiries,
or you can call us at the main office or speak to your child’s guidance counselor
in room 288. Please
sign below. Your child must return this
document to his or her History teacher to verify that you both have read and understood
this handbook. We look forward
to a productive, creative, and exciting year with your children. Best regards, ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I have received and read the Student Handbook and have discussed the policies and regulations that are contained therein. ________________________________ _____________ Parent’s Signature Date. ___________________________ ___________________________ Student’s Name Student’s Signature
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