Gifted & Talented Program

A Gifted and Talented Program will be made available to students within grades Pre-K through 12 who meet the qualifications to be considered for placement. This is an optional program and will not negatively affect a student’s education if the family decides to opt-out of the program. Parental permission will be required for any individual administration of a nationally standardized test of intellectual ability for those who are found eligible for program consideration. Parents will also be provided notification of program options that best fit student’s academic needs. Please contact the office for additional information.

Awards and Honors

Epic Charter Schools has two awards, these include: Epic Principal Honor Roll Certificate is awarded to students yearly who earn a 3.50-3.99 grade point average. Epic Superintendent Honor Roll Certificate is awarded to students yearly with a 4.0 grade point average or higher. Weighted courses are included in the average.

Clubs and Field Trips

A list of student clubs and organizations can be found on the Epic Charter Schools website. To be in an extracurricular activity or to attend a field trip, Epic students must adhere to the following:

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1. Be in good standing with Epic Charter Schools, which means not on a disciplinary plan.

2. Passing all courses.

Academic Honesty Policy

It is the student’s responsibility to understand the Epic Academic Honesty Policy. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to plagiarism, copying, and cheating. The most common form of academic dishonesty is plagiarism. Plagiarism is defined as: taking another person’s work and passing it off as your own. “Another person” can refer to any source other than you. Any work that is not your own, unless cited, may be considered plagiarism. Ask the Epic Charter Schools staff for direction when in doubt.

Policy on Academic Honesty

If a student is suspected of plagiarism, the teacher assigned to the student will meet with the parent/guardian and the student to assess the situation and allow the student to give an explanation. If a satisfactory explanation is given, the situation is resolved. If a satisfactory explanation is not given, the Teacher will advise the School Head and further action may be warranted. If another act of academic dishonesty occurs, the student may receive academic probation and/or withdrawal from school.

Student Conduct and Discipline

Epic Charter Schools sets its goal to help every student fulfill their intellectual, social, physical and emotional potential. Everything in and about the school has been designed to create an orderly and distraction-free environment. The Epic Charter Schools administrators and teachers work towards not allowing misbehavior during school, on school property, or at or during any school-sponsored activities. Serious violations, including incidents subject to the Weapons-Free School laws, may be subject to the Epic Charter Schools Suspension Policy.  A student suspended from their typical education setting will be provided remote education services during the term of their suspension.  

School Day

The school day for an online learner varies during the day. The teacher will consistently monitor the student’s performance in an effort to help the student meet their course requirements.

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Epic Charter School ensures that students within the district are given the opportunity to observe approximately one minute of silence each day for the purpose of allowing each student, in the exercise of his or her individual choice, to reflect, meditate, pray, or engage in any other silent activity that does not interfere with, distract, or impede other students in the exercise of their individual choices.

Attendance

Whether a school is virtual or brick and mortar, attendance and participation are most important for any student to consistently succeed. Promoting and fostering consistent student attendance requires a commitment from administrators, teachers, parents, and students. 

Administrative Office Visitation

For safety and security purposes, all visitors to the Epic offices including teachers, students, and family members will need to check in at the front upon entering the building. Visitors will also be required to stay in the lobby area until they are escorted into the back office area.

Smoking, distribution, and use of tobacco products in any form, as well as the use of simulated tobacco products are prohibited during visitation.

Student Contact Policy

Only through communication that is positive, two-way, and continuous can students be successful in an online course. It is essential that the student, instructor, and parent maintain contact on a regular basis to discuss student performance. 

Epic Truancy and Withdrawal Policy

The first date of attendance and membership at Epic shall be the first date the student completes an instructional activity.

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For the purposes of this policy "instructional activities" shall include instructional meetings with a teacher, completed assignments that are used to record a grade for a student that is factored into the student's grade for the semester during which the assignment is completed, testing, and school-sanctioned field trips, and orientation.

Epic shall offer a student orientation, notify the parent or legal guardian and each student who enrolls in that school of the requirement to participate in the student orientation, and require all students enrolled to complete the student orientation prior to completing any other instructional activity.

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Any student that is behind pace and does not complete an instructional activity for a fifteen-school-day-period shall be withdrawn for truancy.

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PLEASE NOTE THIS NEW PROVISION OF LAW: Beginning November 1, 2023, any student that does not complete an instructional activity for a fifteen (15) calendar day period shall be withdrawn for truancy.

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Epic shall submit a notification to the parent or legal guardian of a student who has been withdrawn for truancy or is approaching truancy.

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A student who is reported for truancy two times in the same school year by Epic shall be withdrawn and prohibited from enrolling in Epic for the remainder of the school year.

If a student consistently fails to attend school and complete instructional activities after receiving a notification and reasonable intervention strategies have been implemented, the student shall be subject to certain consequences including withdrawal from the school for truancy.

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If Epic withdraws a student for truancy, Epic shall immediately notify the student's resident district in writing of the student's disenrollment.

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If a student is withdrawn for truancy and is eligible to re-enter the school during the same school year, the student will be placed on a plan of academic improvement agreed upon by the parent, teacher, and student, and the learning fund will be frozen for all non-academically essential services until the teacher and the teacher’s principal unfreeze the learning fund.

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Students who have been withdrawn from the school for truancy will be contacted for asset retrieval within two weeks of the withdrawal date. Any students withdrawn for truancy should return assets immediately unless they re-enroll within 30 days of withdrawal.

Quarterly Attendance

For students attending Epic for less than the full quarter, the attendance shall be a proportional amount of the required attendance policy provisions based upon the date of enrollment of the student.

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A student shall be considered in attendance for a quarter if the student:

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1. completes instructional activities on no less than ninety percent (90%) of the days within the quarter,

2. is on pace for on-time completion of the course as defined by the board, or

3. completes no less than seventy-two instructional activities within the quarter of the academic year.

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For a student who does not meet any of the criteria set forth above, the amount of attendance recorded shall be the greater of:

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1. the number of school days during which the student completed the instructional activities during the quarter,

2. the number of school days proportional to the percentage of the course that has been completed, or

3. the number of school days proportional to the percentage of the required minimum number of completed instructional activities during the quarter.

Pace

Teachers create individualized learning plans for their students and will determine pace and incremental pace pursuant to each individualized plan and the course completion date. The School Board will determine the course completion date when they approve calendar dates.

Epic Student Transfer Policy

Beginning January 1, 2022, an Oklahoma public school student who seeks to enroll in Epic Charter School (Epic) shall be considered a transfer student from their resident school district. A transfer may be requested at any time in the school year, and will be approved if there is a grade and school site with capacity to permit the transfer and there are no disciplinary reasons or a history of absences which would cause the transfer to be denied.

Epic shall not accept or deny a transfer based on ethnicity, national origin, gender, income level, disabling condition, proficiency in the English language, measure of achievement, aptitude or athletic ability.

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If the student capacity of a grade level for each school site is insufficient to enroll all eligible students, Epic shall enroll transfer students in the order in which the district received the student transfer applications.

Capacity

By the first day of January, April, July and October, the Epic board of education shall establish the number of transfer students Epic has the capacity to accept in each grade level for each school site within Epic and shall publish that capacity in a prominent place on the Epic website and shall report to the State Department of Education the number of transfer students for each grade level for each school site within Epic the district has the capacity to accept.

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Epic shall pre-enroll any public school student whose parent expresses intent to enroll in the district. Upon pre-enrollment, the State Department of Education shall initiate a transfer on a form to be completed by the receiving virtual charter school. Upon approval of Epic and completion of student orientation, the student may begin instructional activities.

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A student shall have a grace period of fifteen (15) school days from the first day of enrollment in a statewide virtual charter school to withdraw without academic penalty and shall continue to have the option of one virtual charter school transfer without the concurrence of both districts during that same school year.

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If accepted, a student transfer is granted for only the existing school year; however, the transfer may be renewed for the following year(s). The district will not require parents to resubmit a new application each school year and will advance the previous application of an enrolled student, amending only the grade placement of the student, as long as there continues to be capacity in subsequent consecutive grade levels and there is no disciplinary reason or history of absences reason for Epic to deny continued transfer for the student.

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Upon notice that a public school student has transferred to Epic, the resident school district shall transmit the student's records within three (3) school days. Upon cancellation of a transfer Epic shall transmit the student's records to the student's new school district within three (3) school days.

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A public school student may transfer to one statewide virtual charter school at any time during a school year, from July 1 through June 30.

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After one statewide virtual charter school transfer during a school year, no public school student shall be permitted to transfer to any other statewide virtual charter school without the concurrence of both the resident school district and the receiving virtual charter school.

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A statewide virtual charter school student that has utilized the allowable one transfer per school year shall not be permitted to transfer to another district or other statewide virtual charter school without first notifying their resident district and initiating a new transfer.

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Any student enrolled in Epic in 2021 or before, shall not be required to submit a transfer form in order to remain enrolled. Students who have enrolled in Epic shall not be required to submit a virtual charter transfer for consecutive years of enrollment.

Admission by Lottery

If demand from eligible applicants exceeds the student capacity set by the Epic Board of Education, a lottery selection process will be implemented. In the event that a lottery is implemented the School District shall follow all provisions of the Charter school contract and any applicable statutes or regulations under Oklahoma law.

Acceptance and Denial Circumstances

It is the policy of the Epic board of education that any legally transferring student shall be accepted under the following circumstances:

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1. If the district has the capacity to accept the student at the appropriate grade level at the appropriate district school site;

2. And if the transferring student has not been disciplined previously for any reason outlined in 70 O.S. § 24-101.3.

3. And if the transferring student does not have a history of absences. “History Of Absences” means ten or more absences in one semester that are not excused due to illness or for the reasons regarding neglect or refusal to compel a child to attend schools as provided in 70 O.S. § 10-105.

Appeal Process

If a transfer request is denied by Epic, the parent of the student may appeal the denial within ten (10) days of notification of the denial to the Epic board of education. The Epic board of education shall consider the appeal at its next regularly scheduled board meeting if notice is provided prior to the statutory deadline for posting the agenda for the meeting. The parent will be informed of the right to submit a written statement of the parent's basis for the appeal, which will be provided to the board of education.

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This will be a paper appeal and will only include the written documentation utilized by the school district as well as a written response from the parent or legal guardian which explains why the parent believes the policy was not followed. The appeal form will be available at the Epic district offices.

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During the appeal, the board will review the action of the administration to make sure that the district policy was followed with regard to the denial of the transfer. The board of education will meet in an executive session to review the educational records of the student. If the board determines policy was not followed to an extent that the transfer should have been granted, the board of education shall vote to overturn the denial and the transfer will be granted.

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If the Epic board of education votes to uphold the denial of the transfer, the parent or legal guardian of the student may appeal the denial within ten (10) days of notification of the appeal denial to the State Board of Education.

The parent or legal guardian shall submit to the State Board of Education and the superintendent of the receiving school a notice of appeal on a form prescribed by the State Board of Education. The appeal shall be considered by the State Board of Education at its next regularly scheduled meeting, where the parent and a representative from the receiving school district may address the Board.

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The Epic board of education shall submit to the State Department of Education the number of student transfers approved and denied and whether each denial was based on capacity, disciplinary reasons, or a history of absences.

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By the first day of January, April, July and October, the Epic superintendent shall file with the State Board of Education and each resident district a statement showing the names of the students granted transfers to the school district, the resident school district of the transferred students and their respective grade level.

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State law limits the ability of a student to transfer no more than two (2) times per school year to one or more school districts in which the student does not reside. Exceptions to this limit will exist for students in foster care. Students are legally entitled to reenroll at any time in their school district of residence. If the grade a student is entitled to pursue is not offered in the district where the student resides, the transfer shall be automatically approved.

Pursuant to state statute 70 O.S. § 8-113, a student shall be allowed to transfer to a district in which the parent or legal guardian of the student is employed as certified personnel without regard to other elements of this policy and remain in the district for as long as the employee is under contract with Epic.

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Any sibling of a student who transfers may attend the school district to which the student transferred as long as the school district has capacity and the brother or sister of the transferred student does not meet a basis for denial due to disciplinary reasons or a history of absences. A separate application must be filed for each student in a family so that the district can consider requests for each sibling’s required grade level and in the order applications are received for that grade level.

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Students who are the dependent children of a member of the active uniformed military services of the United States on full-time active-duty status and students who are the dependent children of the military reserve on active duty orders shall be eligible for admission to the school district regardless of capacity of the district. Students shall be eligible for military transfer if:

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1. At least one parent of the student has a Department of Defense issued identification card; and

2. At least one parent can provide evidence that they will be on active-duty status or active-duty orders, meaning the parent will be temporarily transferred incompliance with official orders to another location in support of combat, contingency operation or a national disaster requiring the use of orders for more than thirty (30) consecutive days.

IMMUNIZATIONS

Per Oklahoma Senate Bill 658 as of July 1, 2021: “For school enrollment, a parent or guardian shall provide one of the following:

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1. Current, up-to-date immunization records; or

2. A completed and signed exemption form.”

A. Specific Immunization Requirements:The guide to Oklahoma’s current immunization requirements may be found at; https://oklahoma.gov/content/dam/ok/en/health/health2/aem-documents/vital-records/forms/Guide%20To%20Immunization%20Requirements_71423.pdf
B. Evidence of Adequate Immunization:Acceptable evidence of adequate immunization is a record provided by a licensed physician or public health authority that clearly indicates which immunizations have been received, the dates they were administered, and the signature or stamp of the physician or public health clinic that administered the immunization or interpreted the child's immunization history. The official immunization record card (ODH 218B) is provided by physicians and public health clinics to parents and guardians as a record of their child's immunization history. Other documents can also be accepted by the school. These include immunization records provided by a licensed physician that indicate the specific immunizations and the dates they were received and which are appropriately signed or stamped; military records; or school health records from previous schools attended.
C. Lost Records Lost or otherwise unobtainable records are not grounds for exemption:Parents and guardians who cannot obtain their child's health records should visit their family doctor or local health department clinic. The doctor or nurse can review the child's immunization history, provide any needed immunizations, and create a record for the parent.
D. New Students: Any student enrolling with Epic Charter School for the first time must present acceptable evidence of immunization or proper exemption at the time of enrollment.
E. Returning Students: Any students returning to Epic Charter School for their Kindergarten or Seventh (7th) grade year must present updated immunization or proper exemption at the time of enrollment. F. Exemption Procedures Certification of Exemption forms (ODH 216A) are available from the Immunization Program of the Oklahoma State Department of Health at: https://oklahoma.gov/content/dam/ok/en/health/health2/aem-documents/prevention-and-preparedness/immunizations/updated%20certificate-of-exemption%202023.pdf It is the parent's or guardian's responsibility to obtain the signature of the family physician or religious leader and to complete the form. School officials must review the form to ensure that it has been properly completed and signed. This form is to be kept on file with the student's school records. The school shall send a copy of all exemption certificates to the Oklahoma State Department of Health Immunization Service for approval. In the meantime, the child will be admitted to school. All exemptions are reviewed and approved or disapproved by the Immunization Service. If the School receives notification that an exemption has not been approved, the school will notify the parent. The parent must complete and submit another exemption certificate or present an immunization record in order for the child to continue to attend school.

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Student Capacity

By the first day of January, April, July, and October, the Epic board of education shall establish the number of transfer students Epic has the capacity to accept in each grade level for each school site within Epic and shall publish that capacity in a prominent place on the Epic website and shall report to the State Department of Education the number of transfer students for each grade level for each school site within Epic the district has the capacity to accept.