Keeping children safe comes before everything else we do. This policy says exactly how every free check and session runs, wherever we meet. A school or host is welcome to keep a copy on file. Breaking this policy is grounds for removing a staff member from work with children.
1. Supervision
- Never alone. No staff member is ever alone with a child behind a closed door. At our office, a parent or guardian stays in the building for every session and in the room or just outside the open door for free checks. At schools, sessions happen during the school day with school staff in the building and a named school contact we can reach right away.
- Open and visible. Sessions happen in a room with the door open or a window in it.
- No private homes and no rides. We never tutor a child in a private home and never drive or ride with a child.
- Hand-off. At the end, we hand your child to you or to an adult named on the Emergency Information and Pickup form, after checking ID when it isn’t you. At schools, students return by the school’s own pass or escort system.
- Bathroom breaks. At our office, the parent goes with the child. At schools, the school’s procedure applies.
2. Conduct with children
- Touch stays simple and public: a high five or a handshake that the child starts. No lap-sitting, tickling, wrestling or physical restraint, and no hugs beyond a brief side-hug in a parent’s view. Staff never use physical punishment, shaming or threats.
- Stop for safety. Any staff member can stop a session for safety at any time, and must when a child or anyone else is at risk. The owner (or the Office Director, once we have one) is told the same day.
- Praise, points and the routines built into our programs are the only behavior tools. A child who is upset may take a break; a parent (or the school contact) is called if the child can’t continue.
- Rewards are small and the same for every child: a sticker, the chart, a certificate when a skill meets its aim. No gifts to individual children and no gifts from staff.
- Staff never give a child food without the parent’s OK, never give individual gifts, never share personal information, never transport a child, and never meet a child or family outside Segnatura Learning’s work.
3. Messages, photos and social media
- We write to parents, never directly to children, and only through Segnatura Learning’s own channels: the app, our business email and our business phone.
- No social media contact between staff and students, ever: staff never use personal numbers, personal email, texts from a personal phone or social media with a family or child, and never friend or follow a student.
- No photos or video of a child without the parent’s written permission under our Media and Photo Release, and never a child’s face in anything public. Images stay only on company devices and accounts.
4. Staff screening and training
- Before working with children, every staff member clears a Missouri Family Care Safety Registry screening and an FBI fingerprint background check, plus any check a school or the state of Kansas requires. Screenings are repeated every 3 years and whenever a school requires it.
- Every staff member completes our child safety and privacy training and checkout, including mandated-reporter training, before their first session, and a safety refresher every year.
- Staff use only company devices for student records and never keep student information on a personal phone or account.
5. Reporting abuse or neglect
- Our duty. Missouri law requires people with responsibility for the care of children to report immediately when they have reasonable cause to suspect a child has been or may be abused or neglected (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 210.115), and Kansas law names mandated reporters in K.S.A. 38-2223. Segnatura Learning requires every staff member to report, whether or not the law names their role.
- How. The staff member with the concern reports immediately, by phone, before the end of their shift, from a private place, then tells the owner. They do not need proof, do not investigate and do not question the child further.
- Missouri Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline: 1-800-392-3738
- Kansas Protection Report Center: 1-800-922-5330
- If a child is in immediate danger: 911
- At schools, the staff member also follows the school’s own reporting procedure and tells the school’s designated contact, unless the concern involves that person.
- Telling families. We do not tell a family before we report, and we may not be able to tell them afterward. We never promise a child to keep a secret.
- Records. After the call, the staff member completes our Incident Report the same day, with the facts in order, the child’s exact words, the time of the call and the hotline worker’s name and report number, and gives it only to the owner. These records are kept confidential and separate from tutoring records.
- No retaliation against anyone who reports in good faith.
6. Incidents, injuries and emergencies
- In an emergency we call 911 first, then the parent, then the emergency contacts.
- Every incident gets an Incident Report the same day: any injury, allegation, safety stop, behavior that put someone at risk, lost or misdirected data, or near miss. If abuse or neglect is suspected, the hotline call comes first and the report second.
- The parent (and, at schools, the school contact) is told the same day, except where section 5 applies. Our insurer is notified of any injury or allegation, and the family or school gets written notice of what happened and what we changed.
- An allegation against a staff member means that person is removed from work with children while it is reviewed, and the matter is reported as the law requires.
- The owner reviews every report, records any change to our rules or training, and closes it in writing. We keep incident records for at least 7 years.
7. Health
- Please keep a sick child home and tell us as early as you can; we make up sick days.
- Tell us about allergies or medical needs before the first session. We do not give any medicine.
- No food in sessions unless the parent brings it.
8. Concerns
Write or call any time: timothy@segnaturalearning.com · 817-694-6878, or write to us at 710 Central St, Suite 319, Kansas City, MO 64105. A safety concern comes before everything else on our list, and we answer it the same day. If your concern is about the owner, you may also contact the hotlines above or the police.