Appropriate Interactions

Contents Safety & Quality Guide

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Appropriate Interactions include essential safety procedures for interacting students, guardians, and other staff.

Staff to Student Interactions

Any claim (even one that is eventually disproved) can still cause irreparable damage. Protect yourself and students from any remote possibility of mistaken intentions.

Remember Never, ever be alone with a student. Always have them bring a Truddy. A Truddy is a group of three people.

All staff must immediately report any concerns about inappropriate staff and student interactions to their Coordinator. If you are in doubt about whether your concern is valid, bring it to your Coordinator no matter what. Investigations will be fair and prompt for the safety and well-being of everyone involved.

It is also important to consider what accidental exposure can lead to. Some examples include walking through an unlocked bathroom door without knocking, accidentally visiting the wrong website, or saying something that could be misinterpreted. We all go to the bathroom while out in the woods, yet urinating in public has been prosecuted as a sex crime in many states. If illegal activity is suspected, it is reported to the authorities.

Remember Pay Attention and be aware.

Physical Contact

Physical contact is a human need. However, as a youth teacher you must be a role model and respect our societal norms for professional, appropriate distance.

Appropriate Physical Contact

Appropriate physical contact includes, but is not necessarily limited to:

• High fives and handshakes.
• Side hugs are ONLY when student-initiated. Instead of a hug, you can invent a cool team knuckle knock.
• Controlled sparring in clear martial arts or training contexts.

Inappropriate Physical Contact

Inappropriate physical contact includes, but is not necessarily limited to:

• Full body hugs.
• Kissing.
• Pat on buttock.
• “Creeper fingers.” When in contact with a child, your fingers and hands shouldn’t move.
• Pat on head (offensive in many cultures).
• Piggyback rides or picking up students.
• Sitting on laps.
• Tickling.
• Wrestling, roughhousing, or play fighting, unless during controlled martial arts or training exercises like boffering (foam swordplay).
• Spitting or contact of bodily fluids.
• Anything else that could be misinterpreted by a student, parent, or staff.

Language & Tone

Appropriate language and tone builds trust in an educational environment. Camp can have a theatrical “flair,” however, all stories and other language must remain age appropriate.

For All Ages

Any remarks, actions, or language that are racist, bigoted, sexist, or otherwise bigoted will not be tolerated. Additionally, unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature will constitute sexual harassment and will not be tolerated. These behaviors are grounds for immediate dismissal.

With Youth

Always use age appropriate language. If you have to think about it, it’s probably not appropriate! If you think you’re being subtle and it will go over their heads, remember that young students hear, understand, and remember far more than we think.

• No profanity!
• No sexual innuendo or content.
• No graphically violent content.
• No jokes about physical harm to a student.
• Scary stories and campfire tales are only okay if they are age appropriate. In doubt, ask your Coordinator.
• No conversation or stories that advocate or glamorize illegal drugs or activities.
• No personal stories or anecdotes that could reflect poorly upon your program.
• Never joke about or threaten physical harm to a student.

If you have a story that doesn’t go “quite as expected,” if you accidentally use profanity in front of a student, or if a student in your group exposes others to inappropriate language, report it to your Coordinator immediately. If they deem it necessary, your Coordinator may choose to debrief that group’s Guardians.

With Adults

Avoid profanity and sexual innuendo when working with adults. Also avoid contentious issues like politics and religion if they are not applicable to them curriculum. Many adult students are parents of children in our camp or other youth programs. Consider the impression you give them of who is working with their children.

Connecting with Students Outside the Program

With Youth

If you did not know the family prior to your work with the program, filter all contact (including babysitting requests) through your Coordinator.

• DO NOT initiate connection with a youth or teen student outside our programs. If you encounter them accidentally at the park or store, maintain a friendly but professional demeanor.
• DO NOT exchange any contact or online information with students, including youth leaders-in-training.
• DO NOT accept Facebook and other social media Friend requests from students, including youth leaders-in-training. Never connect online with a minor-age student. Ever.
• For professional purposes, you may need to retain contact information for official program staff who are minors (under 18). Only use this information in conjunction with your work in the program. In email and written correspondence, always make sure a legal guardian is copied.

If you knew the family prior to your work at the program, you may maintain the same personal relationship. Ensure an understanding that your role as a teacher and representative of the program is now added to the mix. Keep all proprietary information confidential.

With Adults

Guides may not date students currently enrolled in their class unless the relationship existed prior to the program. Social contact with adult students must adhere to our Non-Solicitation Policy.

Staff to Guardian Interactions

Guardians can be our greatest allies. It is important in all of our interactions to let parents know that their child’s safety and well-being is our priority.

Contact with Guardians Within a Program

Your contact with parents should stay positive and include a smile. Check-in and Check-out are the only times parents see you—this is their only impression of you. Make sure it’s a good one.

• When introducing yourself, make eye contact and shake hands.
• Make sure you know the parents by name.
• If possible, ask what their child is looking forward to, or, if it’s later in the week, what they’ve enjoyed most so far.
• During Check-in and Check-out, make sure your students are well-organized and on their best behavior.
• Make sure your area is neat and clean. Keeping gear in a Gear Line reduces scrambling for left behind or scattered items at Check-out. See Check-In & Check-Out Procedures

Remember Show you care.

Any information you give to parents about a child’s day should be positive or neutral/factual. In the following circumstances, immediately bring in a Coordinator:

• If a parent asks questions you do not feel comfortable answering or don’t know the answer to, respond with, “Our Coordinator has that information, let me connect you with them.” Don’t say things like, “I have no idea. They never tell me anything!”
• Any time someone picking up becomes difficult or confrontational.
• If a parent asks questions about registration, payments, money, etc.
• Whenever any safety concerns come up that you cannot immediately give the correct answer for. Don’t answer unless you know the answer.
• If you have anything less than positive to communicate about challenges or behaviors. You should tell your Coordinator about this before Check-Out!

Whenever something out-of-the-ordinary occurs at camp, we always want to give an adult perspective to the person picking up before they hear the story from the (occasionally exaggerated) perspective of a child. Your Coordinator must help you frame these conversations. Follow these guidelines:

• For behavior concerns, your Coordinator will walk you and the parent through an improvement strategy.
• For safety concerns, your Coordinator will outline actions of prevention and care.
• Never make promises you’re unsure you and your program can keep.

Contact With Parents Outside A Program

Never give out personal contact information to a parent, unless you are a Coordinator. Instead, give out your program’s main phone number. This is for your protection. If a parent does contact you directly, refer them to your Coordinator and end the call. Additionally, do not accept Facebook or social media requests from parents or children.

Your Coordinator should approve all contact with parents in advance, including babysitting requests. We strongly discourage babysitting relationships with families because it can create confusion for children at camp. It can even lead to unintentional, but still damaging, preferential treatment. Likewise, the program should never give your contact information to a student or parent and should ask them to contact staff only through the office phone or email address.

Non-Solicitation

Contact with parents is also subject to the Non-Solicitation Policy.

Staff to Staff Interactions

Working in education programs can often be a chance to find and care for community. Do not let possible social relationships have a negative outcome in the workplace.

Social Interaction

We cannot (and would not want to) control social connections between coworkers. However, social life should not interfere with performing your job well. If it appears that any type of workplace relationship is interfering with work performance, we will address it immediately. If, after conversation and investigation, we arrive at the conclusion that a workplace relationship is interfering with optimal work outcome, we reserve the right to set boundaries with all parties to alleviate the interference. See our Harassment policy regarding appropriate social interaction with fellow employees.

The Village

We believe outdoor education is comprised of hard-working individuals who deserve respect and care. We insist on a community free from hurtful gossip. Conversations should be centered on helping every team member be their best. If you go have beers after camp or hang out with folks socially, be generous and try to direct your colleagues towards positive solutions if conversation drifts towards complaining. Don’t form cliques— be inclusive. Don’t vilify—be understanding.

Being generous is what professional, community-minded adults do. They relay their experiences and listen to others in a thoughtful way. They make more interesting and successful relationships out of challenge that arise, helping everyone to succeed. Unproductive complaining about peers and colleagues is a detriment to the workplace and our ability to offer great programs.

Maturity also means not taking things too personally. Professional behavior means welcoming tempered disagreement as an opportunity to learn more about another person’s perspective. Try to see everyone’s perspective, with the goal of not simply getting what you want, but improving the relationship.

Non-Solicitation

Contact with fellow staff before and after employment must adhere to our Non-Solicitation Policy.

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