Pedro Menendez High School
International Baccalaureate Student Agreement
Membership in the International Baccalaureate Programme (IB) is a privilege. Due to the rigor of the program, academic and behavioral standards are necessary. In order to complete the full IB Diploma Programme, students must complete all assessments required by the IB Organization for diploma candidacy, i.e. Internal Assessments, Theory of Knowledge requirements, External Assessments, the Extended Essay, and the Community, Activity, Service (CAS) component.
Academic Guidelines: “Academic alerts” will be issued for students in the Diploma Programme whose GPAs fall below a 2.0 and/or have D’s or F’s in academic classes at the end of each 9-week marking period. The student’s teacher and/or program counselor/coordinator will notify parents via email or phone. If GPA/grades do not improve following the semester grade, a parent conference will be scheduled and the student’s placement in the IB Diploma Programme will be re-evaluated. A final grade of an F in any class will be considered a disqualifying condition and the student will be placed on academic probation with possible removal from the IB Diploma Programme.
Academic Honesty: Honesty and integrity form the cornerstone of the IB Honor Code at Pedro Menendez High School and as such are central to the high standards to which all students should strive. While the administration, faculty, and staff of PMHS take the necessary precautions to educate students on academic honesty, proper citation format and styles, and the use of plagiarism detection resources such as Turnitin.com, it is the student and parents’ responsibility to ensure that students cite their sources so readers can find them and fully list their sources in a standard reference format and citation page. Students must make clear which words, ideas, images, and works are not their own, give credit for copied, adapted, and paraphrased material, and cite all sources appropriately in the text and reference page.
Violations of the PMHS Academic Honesty policy and the Academic Honesty Policy of the IB consist of cheating, plagiarism, collusion, misconduct, communication about the content of an examination (within 24 hours), or duplication of work. Cheating includes the actual giving or receiving of any unauthorized aid or assistance on any form of any academic work, while plagiarism/duplication of work includes the copying of or representation of another’s work as one’s own. Additionally, collusion is defined as supporting academic misconduct by another student, and misconduct includes taking unauthorized material into an examination room or disruptive behavior during an exam including communicating with others during an examination. Students who violate the IB Academic Honesty policy may face removal from the program. On the first offense, the student will meet in a conference with the teacher, parents, and coordinator and will receive a verbal reprimand. On the second offense, the student in violation will receive a written reprimand which will be included in a report to colleges or universities to which the student has applied. On the third offense, the student will be dismissed from the IB program. Additionally, students’ work is screened through Turnitin.com to prevent misconduct offenses occurring in IB submitted work. If the IB detects plagiarism or academic misconduct during exams or in submitted coursework, the student’s work or exam may receive a grade of “N” or no grade, and the student may not receive credit for the course and ultimately be unable to meet the requirements of the IB Diploma. Please see appendix 2 of the attached document “Academic Integrity” (linked below) for more information about the infringements and the IB’s levels of penalties. Penalties at the IB level vary from a warning letter to the issuance of “no grade” for a subject depending on the severity of the infraction.
For questions or more information about the IBO’s Academic Honesty Policy please visit the following resources:
- Academic Honesty in the Diploma Programme
- Academic Honesty in the IB (All Programs)
- Academic Integrity in the IB Diploma Programme
- Academic Honesty in the DP (research conducted by IBO)
Attendance Guidelines: Due to the rigor and high expectations of the program, students need to be in class on a regular basis. Extenuating circumstances may cause a student to be temporarily absent from the program for an extended period. An agreement upon the conditions and acceptable length of absence will be facilitated by the program coordinator. Failure to comply with the agreement will result in removal from the program. Without an extenuating circumstance, any student with more than five unexcused absences in a semester will forfeit their participation in the IB Programme. Attendance at the May Exam session is mandatory as there are no make-up exams. Students who are absent for an IB exam forfeit their ability to earn the IB Diploma unless a serious medical condition or other extenuating circumstance is documented by a medical professional and the Programme Coordinator is notified immediately.
Behavioral Guidelines: Students in the IB Programme are expected to abide by the St. Johns County School District Student Code of Conduct (http://www.stjohns.k12.fl.us/schoolservices/conduct/). Since enrollment in the IB Programme is a privilege, IB students are held to a higher disciplinary standard. Repeated misconduct (or a single egregious infraction) may result in the student’s removal from the program. As a result of the hourly seat requirement as per IB Diploma Programme guidelines, students who are suspended from school on more than two separate occasions (regardless of the length of days), or who are reassigned to a district discipline program or face expulsion will result in immediate removal from the IB Programme, as the requirements of the program can no longer be met.
IB Policy and Procedures Agreement (Academic Honesty, Attendance, Behavior)