Purpose

All students should recognize that they play an important role in the Pathfinders community. They should expect respectful and honest feedback about their behavior when they are demonstrating the highest values of our community and when their behaviors have negative impacts on those around them. All students should also expect to be treated fairly, equally, and consistently. Therefore, this policy establishes expected behaviors and the consequences for undesired behaviors.

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Admission & Withdrawal Policy

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Admission to Programs

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Potential clients will have the ability to register for programs by completing an online or hardcopy form obtained from Pathfinders. Applications will be made available first to current program enrollees, at least 14 days before applications are opened to the general public. Applications will be made available to the general public at least 14 days before the first date of programming.

Admission will be granted to clients in the order that applications are received. Any applicants for admission in excess of the number of available program openings will be placed on a waitlist in the order of their received applications.

The number of available program openings is determined by state license.

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Withdrawal from Programs

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There are three ways in which a client may be withdrawn from the program.

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First, a parent or legal guardian may notify Pathfinders of Muskegon in writing that they wish to withdraw their child.

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Second, in accordance with the Discipline Policy, a client may be removed from the program from the remainder of the session or permanently as a result of violations of rules or dangerous behavior.

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Third, a client may be withdrawn from the program due to excessive absences. Program attendance is taken each day. If a client is absent from the program, Pathfinders staff will attempt to contact the client’s parent or legal guardian to determine if the absence will be recorded as excused or unexcused. Excused absences will be recorded for circumstances including but not limited to: client illness or injury, medical appointments, religious holidays, family emergencies, funeral or death in the family, or mandated court appearances. Unexcused absences will be recorded if staff are unable to reach the parent or legal guardian of the student or if the absence does not fall within a category of excused absence. A client with more than 4 consecutive unexcused absences or 8 total unexcused absences will be withdrawn from the program.

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Admission from Wait List

If a client is withdrawn from the program for any reason, the first client on the waitlist will be contacted and offered the available program opening. The client will have 3 days to formally enroll in the program before the opening is offered to the next client on the waitlist.

Parent or Legal Guardian Notification of Admission or Withdrawal

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Upon being admitted to a program, the parent or legal guardian of the client will be sent a confirmation of admittance via email and sent a copy of the Client Information Packet, and will be expected to return a signed form acknowledging receipt of the Client Information Packet.

Upon withdrawal from the program, the parent or legal guardian of the client will be notified via phone call and in writing via email. A mailed notice will be sent if email is unavailable.

When a program opening is made available to a client on the waitlist, the client’s parent or legal guardian will be notified via phone call, via text message, and in writing via email. They must respond to indicate that they are accepting the opening within three business days.

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Fee Policy

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Pathfinders Does Not Charge for Services

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Pathfinders of Muskegon provides all services free of charge to the community.

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Program Philosophy

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Pathfinders Program Standards

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Pathfinders of Muskegon focuses its interventions on developing social and emotional skills. We firmly believe that educational achievement is intrinsically tied to helping children build the skills that allow them self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making. Our approach of social emotional learning has been proven to lead to higher academic achievement, improve positive social behaviors, reduce emotional distress, and reduce risky behaviors in youth, particularly young people who have experienced traumas.

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While there are many approaches to build social and emotional skills, Pathfinders of Muskegon prioritizes building skills in the following ways:

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Mindfulness: Program participants are taught mindfulness skills with a goal of helping participants healthily express negative thoughts or emotions, deal with conflict, and ease anxiety.

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Healthy Movement: Program participants are encouraged to find healthy and joyful movement in their lives. This is encouraged through organized sports, free play both indoors and outdoors, and exposure to various forms of exercise.

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Artistic Expression: Program participants are taught that artistic expression is an important way to communicate emotion, process experiences, and express individuality. Participants are exposed to a variety of forms of artistic expression including visual arts, poetry – both written and performed, music, dance, crafts, and audio-visual tools for expression.

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Communication Skills: Program participants are given regular opportunities to practice communication skills, including literacy, speaking in front of a group, practicing active listening, disagreeing respectfully, and including all voices in a conversation. These skills are expected to be practiced by program participants, and consistently modeled by program staff and volunteers.

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Community Building Skills: All program participants are expected to be active and accountable members of the Pathfinders community. Participants are encouraged to help create group agreements around behavioral expectations. Additionally, participants are required to abide by the group agreements set out by their peers and fellow members of the community.

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Schedule of Operations

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After School Programming

 is offered Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Programming begins at approximately 3:00 p.m. or when the students arrive after school. Students are dismissed at 6:00 p.m. with supervised pick-up until 6:30 p.m.

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Summer Programming 

 is offered on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Programming begins at 10:00 a.m. Students are dismissed at 4:00 p.m.

Programming is not typically provided on federally recognized holidays or on half-school-days following the calendar of Muskegon Heights Public Schools.

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Typical Daily Routine

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After School Programming follows the general routine of:

3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

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Arrival, Homework & Reading Time

4:30 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.

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Meal Served

5:15 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

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Guided Activity

6:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. 

 

Student Dismissal & Pick Up

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Summer Programming follows the general routine of:

10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

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Arrival & Breakfast Served

11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

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Guest Presentations or Guided Activity

1:00 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.

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Lunch Served

1:45 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

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Guided Outdoor Activity

3:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

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Guided Cool-Down Activity

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Exclusion for Child Illness Policy

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Fever

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If staff, volunteers, or clients have a temperature of 100 F (37.8 C) or higher, they will be excluded from programming until they are fever-free for 24 hours without the use of medication.

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Flu-Like Symptoms

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If staff, volunteers, or clients experience flu-like symptoms including diarrhea or vomiting, they will be excluded from programming until they have been symptom-free for at least 24 hours.

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Cough or Cold Symptoms

If staff, volunteers, or clients show symptoms including a cough, sneezing, or a running nose, they will be asked to wear a mask during programming or be excluded from participation.

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If symptoms are related to seasonal allergies and the individual would like to forgo wearing a mask, Pathfinders of Muskegon reserves the right to request a doctor’s note indicating that the individual has a diagnosis of seasonal allergies. 

 

Covid-19

If staff, volunteers, or clients show symptoms of COVID-19, they will be required to stay home until they are symptom-free and fever-free for at least 24 hours, without the use of medication.

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Other Infectious Conditions

If staff, volunteers, or clients show symptoms of other infectious conditions including but not limited to: chicken pox, measles, conjunctivitis (pink eye), or lice; they will be excluded from participation unless they are able to show a doctor’s note indicating their condition is not infectious.

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Developing Symptoms While At Pathfinders

If staff, volunteers, or clients develop any of the listed symptoms while participating in a Pathfinders of Muskegon program, they will be expected to leave programming as soon as possible. Minor clients who need to be picked up by a parent or legal guardian will be asked to remain in an isolated location and potentially wear a mask to avoid passing along any germs while they wait to be picked up.

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We understand that there may be delays in pick-up of clients by parents or legal guardians in the event of unexpected illness, but ask that parents and guardians prioritize picking up their student as soon as possible after they have been notified of the illness.

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Discipline Policy

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Student Code of Conduct

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General Expectations: Students are expected to treat each other, staff, volunteers, their surroundings, and themselves with respect at all times. This means that students are expected to use appropriate language, engagement and follow expectations.

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Community Expectations: At the beginning of each program session, students are asked to collaborate to create a list of community expectations. Students are expected to abide by these community agreements for the entirety of the program session.

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Prohibited Items or Behaviors: Students are prohibited from fighting, carrying weapons of any kind, having drugs or drug paraphernalia, and any threats.

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Documentation of Incidents & Behaviors

Incidents and behaviors subject to corrective action or disciplinary procedures must be documented by the member of staff or an authorized volunteer who directly witnessed the incident or behavior, either in person or via security footage, or was informed by a complainant who was directly harmed by the incident or behavior. In order to document the incident, the staff member or authorized volunteer must file a Short Form Incident Report that will be added to the permanent files of the involved students.

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Investigation of Incidents & Behaviors​

If the events of a reported incident are in question, the Program Director is authorized to investigate the reported incident, including interviewing students or witnesses and reviewing surveillance video before an intervention is made with any or all students involved.

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Determination of Appropriate Intervention

Depending on the seriousness of the incident or behavior at issue, there are five levels of intervention that can be considered. Intervention may begin at any level, and further interventions will either repeat at the same level or escalate as needed.

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Level 1: Verbal Warning: The staff member or authorized volunteer provides a clear and respectful review of the behavior or incident and clarifies future expectations as quickly as possible after the incident or behavior was witnessed or reported. The incident and verbal warning should be documented in the student file.

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Level 2: Call Home: The staff member or authorized volunteer will document the behavior or incident using the Short Form Incident Report and then call the parent or legal guardian of the student to inform them of the behavior or incident and the potential future consequences if the behavior is repeated. The staff member or authorized volunteer will indicate on the Incident Report that a call was made to parents or legal guardians, including who they spoke to about the incident.

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Level 3: Meeting with Parents or Legal Guardians: The staff member or authorized volunteer will document the behavior or incident using the Short Form Incident Report and then call the parent or legal guardian of the student to request a meeting with the Program Director to discuss the behavior or incident and the potential future consequences if the behavior is repeated. The student will not be eligible to return to programming until after this meeting has taken place. The staff member or authorized volunteer will indicate on the Incident Report when the meeting was held, who attended, document the steps necessary to correct the behavior, and the consequences of a continuation of that behavior. After the meeting, the incident report that contains these details should be signed by the parent or legal guardian of the student as well as by the Program Director. 

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Level 4: Suspension: The staff member or authorized volunteer will document the behavior or incident using the Short Form Incident Report and then call the parent or legal guardian of the student to request a meeting with the Program Director to discuss the behavior or incident. The student will not be eligible to return to programming until after this meeting has taken place. In the context of this meeting, the Program Director has the authority to suspend at student’s participation in programming for one to five days. The parent or legal guardian will be notified of this decision during the in-person meeting of this consequence. After the meeting, the incident report that contains these details should be signed by the parent or legal guardian of the student as well as by the Program Director.

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Level 5: Dismissal from the Session: In the case of repetitive, very serious, or dangerous behaviors, students may be dismissed from the current session of programming. If a student is dismissed from more than 2 sessions, they will not be eligible to reapply to attend the program in the future.

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Prohibited Corrective Action or Disciplinary Strategies​

Pathfinders staff or volunteers are never authorized to use physical interventions to manage student behavior or to use any language with students that hurts, shames, belittles, threatens, or intimidates a child. Food or play time cannot be used as a form or reward or punishment. Students cannot be placed in locked or dark spaces. Students will not be left alone, unattended or without supervision.

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Appeal Rights of Students and Families​

If the student or legal guardian feels that the intervention determined by the Program Director is inappropriate to the incident or behavior, they may file a complaint with the board of directors. This complaint will be reviewed at the next regularly schedule board of directors meeting, with a follow up to the student or legal guardian after the review. 

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Food Service Policy

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Pathfinders Provides Packaged or Commercially Prepared Food

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Pathfinders of Muskegon provides snacks and dinner during the Lights on After School program. During the Safe Summer program, Pathfinders serves breakfast and lunch.

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Hot food is only served to program participants if it was prepared in a licensed commercial kitchen before being transported to the program site. Additional meals or snacks must be individually portioned in sealed packages in order to be served to students.

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All food allergies and intolerances are accommodated during every meal with proper documentation. All storage, sanitation and food safety regulations will be followed in accordance with the state of Michigan and Muskegon County food safety standards.

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Medication Policy

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Pathfinders Staff Do Not Administer Medication

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Under no circumstances will a member of the Pathfinders of Muskegon staff or a volunteer administer medication to clients under their care.

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Emergency Response

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Pathfinders of Muskegon staff are trained in First Aid and CPR and are expected to response promptly in the event of a medical emergency involving a client, including allergic reactions that could involve the use of an epi-pen or similar device.

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Parent Notification Plan

In any circumstance that a parent or legal guardian needs to be contacted by Pathfinders of Muskegon Staff, including but not limited to disciplinary action or illness; the parent or legal guardian can expect:

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1. A Phone Call, with a Voicemail if the call is unanswered

2. A Second Phone Call, if the parent or legal guardian has not responded within 20 minutes of the initial notification.

3. If the parent or legal guardian does not answer the calls or respond within 30 minutes of the initial notification, the staff will make a phone call to the listed Emergency Contact.

4. At the conclusion of the programming day, if the parent or legal guardian has not been reached, the staff will follow up with an email to detail the reason for the call and the next steps expected of the parent or legal guardian in order for the client to return to programming.