SHARP School Eagles

SHARP School is a day school alternative program for students with Emotional Disabilities (ED), Mild or Moderate Mental Disabilities (MIMD, MOMD) or Autism. SHARP School is a highly structured, self-contained campus serving Special Education students who have been referred to the program from a comprehensive school in the Mesa Public School District due to significant behavior problems. In addition, the SHARP campus provides programs to address the needs of students returning to a public school setting from a Residential Treatment Center (RTC) or from prolonged hospitalization. This program is a more restrictive placement for Special Education students designed to facilitate changes in behaviors and family dynamics necessary for a successful transition back to a comprehensive campus. SHARP School utilizes an individualized 24 hour day plan for meeting each student's educational needs. SHARP School also houses the Transition Campus, consisting of the Vocational Exploration Program (VEP), the Sheltered Employment Training Program (SET), and the Home Education Learning Program (HELP). These classes are designed to provide vocational training and experience to Special Education students engaged in functional programming from the six comprehensive high school campuses in Mesa Schools.

Dress Code

The dress code at SHARP School conforms with the Mesa Public Schools' Governing Board Policy JFCA regarding student dress and grooming standards. Student dress and grooming standards are established to promote the general health, safety and welfare of all students and staff and directly contribute to the accomplishment of the district's educational objectives. These objectives include:

School administrators and teachers have the professional responsibility and authority to require students to change their dress or grooming to comply with the district and school dress and grooming standards.

General Standards

Personal appearance and dress are the responsibility of the student and the student's parent or guardian. Students will not dress or groom themselves in a manner that, in the judgment of the school administrator, presents a risk to the health, safety or general welfare of the student, other students or staff, or that is counterproductive to the district's educational objectives. Students will refrain from displaying tattoos or wearing clothing, jewelry or other accessories that communicate, whether through language, images, symbols, artwork, color schemes or clothing styles:

A message that advocates or promotes violence or terror;

A message that is sexually suggestive, vulgar, obscene or plainly offensive;

A message that would cause a reasonable person, as a student or a staff member, to feel insulted, demeaned, threatened, intimidated or harassed because of the person's race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation; or

A message expressing gang membership, affiliation or support.

Dress Standards

Students at SHARP School must comply with the following dress standards at school and school events:

Skintight outer clothing, such as spandex, is probibited unless it is worn for a school-sponsored extracurricular activity.

Tube tops and halter tops are prohibited. Tank tops and other sleeveless tops are permitted only if the straps are wider than one and one-half inches and the armholes are no lower than two inches from the armpit.

Shorts must have at least a two inch inseam and extend to the tip of the student's fingers.

Dresses and skirts must extend at least one inch beyond the tip of the student's fingers.

Clothing or attire by which an adolescent female student does not wear a bra or underwear, wears a bra or garments as outerwear, or wears clothing in a manner such that underwear is visible through outerwear is prohibited.

Clothing or attire by which an adolescent male student does not wear underwear, wears underwear as outerwear, or wears trousers or shorts so that underwear is visible is prohibited.

Pajamas and other sleepwear are prohibited.

Bandanas, hairnets and do-rags are prohibited.

Jewelry and accessories with studs, spikes, sharp objects or heavy chains are prohibited. In addition, jewelry depicting weapons (ie. brass knuckles), illegal drugs, offensive symbols or sexually suggestive material is prohibited.

Sunglasses may only be worn outside unless a medical condition exists that is confirmed by a physician.

Hats or other head apparel may not be worn inside school buildings unless for religious, medical or safety purposes. Students will not be prohibited or discouraged from wearing hats or other clothing designed to reduce sun exposure while outdoors.

Trench coats and other oversized clothing that can conceal contraband are prohibited.

Footwear must be worn at all times. Shoes, such as "wheels in the heels," that pose safety hazards and shoes, such as cleats, that may damage flooring are prohibited.

Grooming Standards

SHARP Students must comply with the following grooming standards at school and school events:

Compliance with Standards

SHARP School students who violate the dress and grooming standards must correct the violation immediately. Appropriate remedies may include, but not be limited to:

The SHARP Principal reserves the right to confiscate contraband clothing items, accessories or jewelry to be held until such time as the offending student's parent schedules a meeting with the Principal to retrieve the item. Students who refuse or are unable to correct the violation will spend the remainder of the school day in the Alternative Learning Center. Subsequent violations will be addressed in accordance with the district's Information & Guidelines for student behavior.

The SHARP School Day

The SHARP School day begins each morning at 7:30 AM. Students are greeted off the buses and directed to their classrooms. Attendance and other clerical duties are completed and students are escorted to breakfast. At 8:00 AM, daily announcements are made over the public address system, including the Pledge of Allegiance, announcment of student(s) of the day and other important information. Immediately following announcements, academic instruction begins. In addition to classroom instruction, students receive Physical Education, Creative Arts and Media Center at various times during the week. SHARP School has three different lunch periods that are grouped based on age group. Lunches begin at 11:00 AM and continue through 12:30 PM. Dismissal time on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday is 1:45 PM. Wednesday is early release day for professional development activities and dismissal time on Wednesday is 1:15 PM.

Attendance and Absences

Consistent attendance at school is vital for the student to receive educational benefit. To that end, SHARP School is committed to assisting parents in ensuring that each student is at school working to enhance and improve their academic and behavioral skills. Arizona Revised Statutes require parents to notify the school in advance of or the time of a student's absence. In addition, MPS transportation should be called so that the student's school bus will not make an unnecessary trip.

The SHARP School Attendance line is 480-472-8960. If a student is absent from school and the school has not been notified, a follow up call will be made, either to the home or the parent's place of work, to determine the reason for the absence. In the event that no one can be contacted, the absence will be recorded as unexcused. A meeting with the parents, school administration and staff may occur if a student is recording excessive absences. School Board policy requires that absences from school be for "necessary and important reasons, including, but not limited to, illness, bereavement, other family emergencies and observance of major religious holidays fo the family's faith." Please make every attempt to see that your child is in school!

Discipline Plans

All privileges at SHARP School are earned through good behavior, including outdoor recess time, indoor free time, computer time, etc. Students earn points during each classroom segment for being prepared to work, completing their work and "being a student". Being a student is defined as sitting quietly in his/her seat; raising a hand for permission to leave his/her seat, to speak, or receive help; not disturbing others; paying attention; following directions; and being courteous. SHARP teachers are recording all instances and types of out of compliance behavior on a data sheet during each time segment.

Students receive feedback from the teacher after each time segment, providing the student with frequent cues throughout the day regarding their behavior. At the conclusion of the day, behavior point totals are tallied and recorded in the students' "Behavior Bank Account". Students enter their point totals into a checkbook ledger to track their accounts. At the end of the week, the student can write a check against their behavior account in the SHARP School Store toward the purchase of various items of value, such as CD's, frisbees, table games, basketballs, toiletries, etc. Students have the option of spending their behavior points on any given week or they can bank their points to save up for an item of greater value. In this way, students not only learn that positive behavior is rewarded, they develop concepts such as saving and spending.

Each student receives a daily student behavior report that is brought home, indicating how the student behaved at school and on the bus each day. A section of the behavior report is reserved for the parent to report back to the school on the student's behavior at home. The student will earn bonus points for returning the behavior report back to his/her teacher the following morning. The report will indicate that the student earned either a Plan A or a Plan B. These plans are based on the total number of behavior points that the student earns each day. For example, an elementary student who earns between 135 and 150 points per day has an excellent and earns a Plan A. A student who earns between 134 and 120 points has a good day and earns a Plan A. A student who earns between 119 and 106 has an average day and earns a Plan A. A student who earns 105 points or less in a day has had a poor day and earns a Plan B. A Plan B is an indication to the parent that the student has not earned extra privileges at home, such as watching TV, playing video games, etc.

Students whose behavior is disruptive of the educational setting, shall be removed to a time out area within the classroom. The student is given a designated amount of time to de-escalate and return to the classroom setting. If the student exhibits behavior that poses a threat to the welfare of themselves or others, damages property or does not de-escalate while in time-out, the student will be immediately moved to the Alternative Learning Center (ALC) on campus. ALC is designed to provide each student with a quiet, isolated area in which the student can calm themselves. A student must earn his/her way out of ALC through positive behavior and completing work assignments before they can return to the classroom setting. If a student does not earn a determined amount of points in ALC before the conclusion of the school day, the student will have earned another day in ALC.

The focus of all of the behavior plans at SHARP School is working closely with the parents/guardians to develop a consistent program that promotes and rewards the positive behaviors that will assist the student in making a successful transition back to a comprehensive campus.

Phasing Procedure

One of the primary goals of the SHARP School program is to assist students in developing appropriate behavioral skills that will enable the student to slowly phase back to a comprehensive campus. This process will continue until such time as each student is a full time participant in the regular school community, complying with rules and deriving benefits from classroom instruction.

When the teacher of a SHARP Student determines that a student has met the criteria to be considered for phasing, the teacher will complete the Functional Programming Skills Checklist or the ED Programming Skills Checklist, depending on the student's program. When the appropriate checklist has been completed, the SHARP teacher will initiate contact with the Phase Liaison, whose responsibility it is to oversee the successful transition of all students from SHARP back to the comprehensive campus.

The Phase Liaison will review the documentation with the program Demonstration Teacher to determine the appropriateness of the phase proposal and identify a potential receiving school for the student. The Demonstration Teacher is tasked with contacting the Regional Director who facilitates the placement by finalizing the selection of the phasing school site and teacher with the appropriate principal and teacher. The Demonstration Teacher will then contact the Phase Liaison, verifying the name of the receiving school and teacher.

It is at this point that the Phase Liaison, SHARP School teacher and receiving school teacher take over the process. The SHARP School teacher will follow all necessary procedures and safeguards to arrange a case conference with all appropriate IEP Team members. Informal discussions can occur with the parents, the receiving school and SHARP staff prior to the case conference. In the case conference, participants will discuss the student's academics and behavioral strategies; the amount of time for the initial phase; a potential timeline for the phase; a communication format to relay progress information to parents, receiving school and SHARP School; duplication of records; and transportation issues.

The receiving teacher will receive the skills checklist, IEP, data sheets and any other information necessary to insure the success of the phase. While the phase is in progress, SHARP School will remain the school of record so, in the event of problems, the student can immediately return to SHARP full-time. During the phasing process, the Phase Liaison will monitor the performance of the student, conferring with both the receiving teacher and the SHARP School teacher. It is the responsibility of the Phase Liaison, in consult with the other teachers, to recommend alterations in the phasing program for a child, either increasing or decreasing the phase time.

If the phasing process has been successful and the transition has been considered appropriate, the Phase Liaison will coordinate the scheduling of a meeting of the IEP team. All IEP Team Members will meet at the receiving school to change the student's Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) designation from Private Day School to Self-Contained Classroom on a regular campus. It is at this point that the student officially becomes a student on the comprehensive campus!

From the School Nurse

Is your Child Sick? Should he/she be sent to school?

Fever A fever is a warning that all is not right with the body. The best way to check for fever is with a thermometer. No child with a temperature over 100 degrees should be sent to school. Do not let your child return to school until there has been no fever for 24 hours.

Head Lice A child with head lice must remain at home until the child's hair has been treated with lice shampoo and the nits have all been removed from the child's hair. The entire household needs to be cleaned, including all clothing, sheets, bedspreads, pillow cases and towels. Please call the school nurse and report whenever a child has head lice so the nurse can check the child's classmates and those of his brothers or sisters.

Stomachache, Vomiting, Diarrhea Consult your doctor if your child has a stomachache which does not seem to go away and is severe enough to limit activities. If repeated vomiting occurs, keep your child home until food can be kept down. A child with repeated diarrhea should be kept home. Call your doctor if the child does not appear to improving over time.

Headache, Earache A child whose only complaint is a headache does not need to be kept home. However, if the headache is accompanied by other symptoms, such as stomachache or vomiting, it would be wise to consult your doctor. If the child complains of an earache for more than 24 hours, consult your doctor right away.

Eye Infections Reddened, irritated eyes with drainage may be conjunctivitis or pink eye and must be treated by a doctor. A child with pink eye must be on medication for at least 24 hours before returning to school.

Colds, Sore Throat, Cough The common cold is the most frequent problem for parents to deal with. A child with a "mild" cold but otherwise feeling well may be sent to school. A child with a "heavy" cold, one characterized by sinus drainage and a deep, hacking cough, should be kept home. Consult your family doctor if there is no improvement over a 24 hour period. If your child complains only of a sore throat with no other symptoms, the child may be sent to school. However, if white spots can be observed in the back of the child's throat or the sore throat is accompanied by a fever, keep the child home and call the family doctor. If your child is being treated for Strep Throat, the child should stay home until there is no fever for 24 hours and antibiotics have been in use for at least 24 hours.

Transition Campus

A part of SHARP School is the Transition Campus which consists of the Vocational Exploration Program (VEP); the Sheltered Employment Training Program (SET); and the Home Education Learning Program (HELP). Each of these programs is designed to address the issue of preparing our Special Education students for the transition to adult living. Students involved in functional programming at each of Mesa Public Schools' six comprehensive high schools have the opportunity to participate in one of the three programs for 1/2 of their academic day. Students are either bussed from their home to the Transition Campus for the morning session and then return to their home school or students are bussed from their home school to the afternoon session and returned home at the end of the day. The HELP Program is designed to provide functional students with skills of daily living such as cooking, cleaning, laundering, etc. The SET Program is designed to expose functional students to a Sheltered Workshop setting, including the skills of sorting, collating, packaging, etc. The VEP Program is designed to provide functional students with exposure to community based employment opportunities.

Principal

School Secretary

Office Assistant

School Psychologist

School Nurse

Counselor

Room 0 - Secondary Autistic Program

Room 1 - Alternative Learning Center

Room 3 - Elementary ED Program

Room 4 - Elementary ED Program

Room 5 - Elementary MI/MO Program

Room 6 - Elementary MI/MO Program

Room 7 - Junior High MI/MO Program

Room 8 - Elementary Autistic Program

Room 9 - Secondary ED Program

Room 10 - Secondary ED Program

Room 11 - Secondary ED Program

Room 12 - Secondary ED Program

Room 13 - Secondary MI/MO Program

Room 14 - Secondary MI/MO Program

Room 15 - Secondary ED Program

Room 16- Speech Therapist

Room 17- Media Center

Room 18- Elementary ED Program

Room 20 - Physical Education Program

Room 22 - Help Program

Room 24 - VEP Program

Room 26 - SET Program

Mission Statement

Program Description