Communication is critical to any relationship. This section discusses the guidelines we follow in interacting and corresponding with the families we serve.

Timeliness. Our staff and teachers usually respond to email within 1-2 business days. During very busy periods responses may take longer. When business travel or vacation will preclude our ability to respond to email, we notify families in advance.

Family Email Address. Our primary method of reaching families is through email. Families are responsible for keeping their email address current in our database (this is done by logging into the family account and updating the email address, not by sending us an email notifying us of a new address) and for checking that email account daily.

Recipients. All of our official correspondence is with parents, not students. For course feedback, our teachers may copy the email to the student upon request from a parent, but we do not send email to students without sending it to parents. We assume that any email we send to the family address in our database is received and read by a parent within 1-2 days of it being sent.

Privacy. All family contact information is maintained in our database that resides only on our computers. Access is protected through a number of proven methods. It is not available to web search engines or data mining processes. We do not under any circumstances provide family contact information to anyone outside of our staff working on behalf of The Potter's School.

References. We encourage our students to request their teachers to fill out college application and scholarship academic references. However, at certain times of the year, these requests can become overwhelming, especially if they are short-notice. Families must give a teacher at least 10 days to complete the routine college reference forms. Students requiring references due during December, February, May, or around finals week of either semester must give the teacher at least fourteen days. Students should use the same reference for both admissions and scholarship applications whenever possible. With each reference request the family must provide the teacher a pre-addressed stamped envelope, any special handling instructions (e.g., if the teacher's name must be signed across the seal), and sufficient funds to cover additional delivery requirements (e.g., FedEx). Unless there is a unique relationship that makes such an assessment possible, our teachers will not provide non-academic references, such as those required for jobs, camp counselor assignments, and other application-based positions.

Dispute Resolution. On rare occasions, a family may be dissatisfied with a teacher's response to a request from them. In those cases we insist that the family contact the teacher, usually by phone vice email, to resolve the problem. If the family remains dissatisfied after discussing the matter with the teacher, they can refer it to the school's director for mediation. Disagreements with the director may be referred to the school's board. Decisions by the board are final.

Trademark. Our name, the cracked pot logo and the slogan "Bringing the classroom to the world" uniquely identify us. We are in the process of legalizing our ownership of these items, and we ask that families obtain our permissio