Policies

Communication

Dave Phillips
email: dphillips1@wcpss.net
website: www.accordingtophillips.com
office hours: 2:30-3:30 PM Mondays and Fridays

Expectations

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Be kind. Act interested. Follow directions.
Sit only in your assigned seat.
Polite, civil behavior is expected! This includes but is not limited to:
- Using respectful language. Profanity, racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, nativist, or other offensive comments will not be tolerated. Public education is open to all members of the public, and everyone is welcome.
- Using formal academic English language when writing, including proper capitalization, punctuation, and spelling to ensure your message is communicated effectively.
- Truth and Justice are American values. Use Politifact, Snopes, FactCheck.org, OpenSecrets.org, or other reliable websites to verify facts and form your opinions on reality.
Food and drinks are not permitted.
Only one individual may use the restroom at a time. Students must sign-out as they exit and sign-in as they return.
Electronic devices must be put away when instructed to do so.
- Earbuds and headphones are not permitted. I need to know you can hear me when I speak.
- Electronics are to be used for academic purposes only.
- Electronics will be confiscated if a student is playing games, watching videos, or otherwise using a device for any purpose other than schoolwork.
Your participation is essential to success! This means:
- Read everything thoroughly for detail!
- Log into Canvas daily and follow the latest directions in the classroom stream.
- Check WCPSS email daily. Answer messages within 24 hours or less.
- Adhere to the semester schedule without falling behind or working ahead. Keep up with readings and assignments, study vocabulary, and watch assigned videos.
- Submit work only to Canvas. Assignments that are emailed, shared only on Google Drive, or sent through another app will not be accepted.

Grading

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Grading scale:

A: 100-90%
B: 89-80%
C: 79-70%
D: 69-60%
F: 59-0%

Honors percentages:

Test/Project - 50%
Quiz - 25%
Classwork - 25%

Academic percentages:

Test/Project - 40%
Quiz - 30%
Classwork - 30%

Course Grade:

40% = Quarter 1
40% = Quarter 2
20% = FINAL EXAM

Assignment submissions are time-stamped digitally. All work is due by 11:59 PM on the assignment due date. Work submitted past midnight is late.

Academic students:

Late assignments will be accepted for a maximum of 70% of the grade they would have received if turned in on time.

Missing assignments final deadlines for Academic students:
work due 08/28/23-09/22/23 will only be accepted for late credit until September 22, 2023
work due 09/25/23-10/24/23 will only be accepted for late credit until October 24, 2023
work due 11/02/23-12/01/23 will only be accepted for late credit until December 1, 2023
work due 12/04/23-01/15/24 will only be accepted for late credit until January 15, 2024

Honors students:

Late assignments will be accepted for a maximum of 60% of the grade they would have received if turned in on time.

Missing assignments will only be accepted until two (2) days after each unit assessment.
All assignments are labelled on both the course schedule and the classroom whiteboard as Academic Classwork or Honors Classwork.

While some assignments are for both Academic and Honors students, other assignments are only for Academic students or only for Honors students. Read the schedule and/or whiteboard carefully to make sure you are completing the correct work and are meeting deadlines.

Academic students are exempted from assignments that are only for honors students. However, if an academic student opts to complete an honors assignment, it will be graded and factored into the students' classwork/homework average.
Students with a score of 79% or below on a test may retest one time for a maximum test score of 80%.
Extra credit will not be offered.

Prohibited Behaviors

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Cheating: Cheating is an academic deception where a student intends in some way to receive or attempt to receive credit for work not originated by the student, to give or receive unauthorized assistance, or to give or receive an unfair advantage on any form of academic work.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism is using passages, materials, words, ideas, and/or thoughts of someone or something else and representing them as one's own original work without properly crediting the source.
Falsification or Deceit: Intentional acts of falsification or serious deceitful misconduct that threaten the health, safety, or welfare of others, or that cause a substantial detrimental impact on school operations or other individuals are prohibited.

WCPSS Honor Code

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WCPSS Honor Code Policy (4310) states: “Academic honesty is essential to excellence in education and is directly related to the Board's educational objectives for students to promote integrity and self-discipline in students. As all schoolwork is a measure of student performance, academic honesty facilitates an accurate measurement of student learning.

Each student, parent, family and staff member has a responsibility to promote a culture that respects and fosters integrity and honesty. Academic integrity and honesty requires that all stakeholders share responsibility in the fulfillment of this policy.
In fulfilling these responsibilities:

students will collaborate with their peers to foster a culture of academic integrity; refrain from participating, either directly or indirectly, in any form of cheating or plagiarism; and adhere to the honor code;
parents and family will actively support the honor code by encouraging their child(ren) to foster and uphold a culture of academic integrity;
staff will establish and annually teach expectations regarding academic integrity and honesty; and promote the honor code.

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