Faith's Law
Quest Academy Professional Code of Conduct – Faith’s Law
All Quest employees are expected to maintain high standards in their school relationships, to demonstrate integrity and honesty, to be considerate and cooperative, and to maintain professional and appropriate relationships with students, parents, staff members and others. In addition, the Code of Ethics for Illinois Educators adopted by the Illinois State Board of Education, is incorporated by reference into these procedures. Any employee or contractor who sexually harasses a student, willfully or negligently fails to report an instance of suspected child abuse or neglect as required by the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act (325 ILCS 5/), engages in grooming as defined in 720 ILCS 5/11-25, engages in grooming behaviors, violates boundaries for appropriate school employee-student conduct, or otherwise violates an employee conduct standard will be subject to discipline up to and including dismissal.
Quest employees are mandated reporters and required to comply with all reporting requirements of the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act (325 ILCS 5/), Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. §1681 et seq.), and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
Employees, students, parents, and any third party can report prohibited behaviors and/or boundary violations to Patricia Wynn, Chief Financial Officer; Dr. Lynette Breedlove, Head of School; or any other Quest Academy administrator or staff member the person feels comfortable reporting to.
Employees are required to participate in mandated training related to reporting child abuse, grooming behaviors, and boundary violations as required by law and policies.
Prohibited Grooming Behaviors
Grooming behaviors include, at a minimum, sexual misconduct. Sexual misconduct is (i) any act, including but not limited to, any verbal, nonverbal, written, or electronic communication or physical activity, (ii) by an employee with direct contact with a student, (iii) that is directed toward or with a student to establish a romantic or sexual relationship with the student. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- A sexual or romantic invitation.
- Dating or soliciting a date.
- Engaging in sexualized or romantic dialog.
- Making sexually suggestive comments that are directed toward or with a student.
- Self-disclosure or physical exposure of a sexual, romantic, or erotic nature.
- A sexual, indecent, romantic, or erotic contact with a student.
Transporting Students
- Quest employees are not permitted to transport students in personal vehicles without the express permission of the Head of School.
- Should unplanned or emergency circumstances arise requiring students to be transported (i.e. transport for non-emergency medical care on an approved field trip), an employee must notify an administrator as soon as practical.
Taking or Possessing Photos/Videos of Students
- All photos and videos taken by an employee must adhere to Quest Academy’s Publicity Release and Waiver, student records, laws, and other related school policies. Any photos or videos of students should be transferred to a Quest storage drive as soon as practical. Photos or videos of students should not be stored on personal devices after transfer to Quest storage drives.
Meeting with Students
- Employees may meet with students within school facilities when there is a school-related reason to do so. An individual employee should not meet with students outside of school or school-related activities nor should employees meet with students outside of the employee’s professional role. When meeting with a student, the classroom door should remain open, and the employee should conduct the meeting in a part of the classroom that is visible from the hallway. Employees with their own offices may meet with students if there is consistent visual access to a person in the office. Any exception to these procedures must be pre-approved by the Head of School.
Appropriate Methods of Communication with Students
- Employees may send messages with a school-related purpose to students through Quest-approved accounts. Employees are strictly prohibited from using any form of communication with students (emails, letters, notes, text messages, phone calls, conversations) that includes any subject matter that would be deemed unprofessional and/or inappropriate between an employee and a student. Employees should not exchange messages with students through any means that cannot be monitored by the School. Any exception to these procedures must be pre-approved by the Head of School.
Please review the Sexual Abuse Response and Prevention Resource Guide, which is a resource for families provided under Faith's Law (105 ILCS 5/22-85.5(d)): https://www.