Family Inventories

Materials Policy

All items ordered by the school with state funding are the property of the charter school that purchased those items. Materials are loaned to enrolled students for their educational usage only. The items must be returned to the school via the assigned ES when the student is done using that item, or when the student leaves the school that purchased that item. If an item has been “consumed” by the student—used up and no longer usable by any other student—then it can be “archived” by the ES.

School Property Tracking

The ES is responsible for tracking the educational materials checked out to a family. In order to do this, you will have to rely on your personal records and the accuracy of the records of other ESs. The records which can be found in the database are only items valued at $350 or more so the ES must create a paper trail as items flow from family to family. Every time the item changes hands, the receiving party must sign and date a receipt for the items. The family name must be filled in by the ES when the PO is created. There is a field available for the ES to put in the student name if they want to do so. It is recommended that as much information as possible be included in the purchase order to make tracking the materials easier.

Items are tracked in the database in the name of the ES who orders and receives a purchase order. (Currently, there may be a delay between the receipt of the item and its entry into the materials database). Although the "ordering" family name is included in the database, the items are considered to be the responsibility of the ES, since the ES is the school employee.

Materials follow the student/family

Instructional Funds are managed by the ES for the instructional benefit of the individual student. ESs must not view Instructional Funds as "theirs" or the "parents". It should not matter which ES is assigned to that student. The funds and materials should follow him/her as long as he/she is in the school. Occasionally a transfer or drop takes place and the "losing" ES says, "Those are my materials", removes the items from the family's home before the transfer is complete which then leaves the family without adequate curriculum or, in some instances, without a computer. Such a practice is inappropriate since our school serves the educational needs of each student. The items follow the family, not the ES.

Missing Materials

If a family refuses to return items or if the items are lost or willfully damaged, then the ES must complete the Missing Materials form. (See Tracking Missing Materials for details on this procedure.) This form is then submitted to the school and the family is requested to pay the fine for the materials lost or damaged school property. This is the procedure the ES must follow if a family has ordered materials through the Charter School and now they want to keep the items and refuse to return them. A public school may not sell materials other than at auction. The missing materials fine will be the full price paid by the Charter School to purchase the materials for the student's use. No percentage or scale of the original price will be applied.

Transferring materials from family to family, same ES

The ES has the freedom to reassign materials to another family once a family is done using the item. When materials are returned to the ES s/he can use them with other students assigned to her "class". Occasionally, a family requests that certain educational materials be ordered and for some reason does not use the items. If a second family wants the materials, the ES could deliver the materials to the second family and "charge" the costs to the instructional funds set aside for the second family by using the Transfer of Funds/Materials form.

Materials Delivery Procedure

When the materials are delivered to the family, the family signs the PO or material check out sheet stating that the items were received. The ES then keeps a copy of this paper in the student’s file as proof that the items are now in the possession of and the responsibility of that family. When the family returns the items back to the ES, the ES should give the family a copy of the materials check-out sheet indicating the items were returned to the ES. The ES also puts the date the items were received on his/her own Family Inventory—Materials Checkout. It is important to keep a paper trail as materials change hands within your assigned students.

Database Tracking for Items over $350

If the items cost $350 or more, ESs should mark the transfers in the database for materials transferred from one family to another family (same ES):
-Go to "view"
-Click on "materials"
-To transfer an item to a different family, click on the parent code by the item, and select the correct family.
In this same layout, you can now click on an item # and add comments to the description. You can also click on the item # and choose the location of the item if it is not checked out to the family. (Click on the box and a dropdown of choices will appear: In ESs possession, returned to IEM, dropped off at Manteca learning center, dropped off at Ceres learning center, dropped off at Waterford, stored at City Computer, missing materials form completed). (If any funds need to be transferred due to this transfer of materials, then a transfer of funds form should be filled out.)

Transferring materials from ES to ES

When a family transfers from one ES to a different ES, materials should automatically follow the family in the database.

For items not listed in the database, there are two tracking choices available to the ESs involved in the family transfer: creating a paper trail or asking for a physical inventory at the student’s home.

When a family transfers from one ES to another, included in the paperwork is the list of items checked out to the family. The "losing" ES is required to inventory the items before the transfer is complete, filling out missing materials or fine slips for those items not accounted for. In order for the "gaining" ES to actually take responsibility for the items, he/she would have to sign the inventory. The "gaining" ES would want to take whatever steps needed to verify the materials list, since their signature means that they are responsible for the whereabouts of the materials.

Any item not accounted for after the transfer takes place is still the responsibility of the "losing" ES. With a materials inventory sheet signed by the "gaining" ES, the "losing" ES could prove that he/she is no longer responsible for the items. (Use the Family Inventory—Materials Checkout form for this procedure.)

If there are items costing $350 or more that are on your materials list that need to be transferred to another ES in the database, (if for some reason they didn't transfer with the family), e-mail your Advisor with:
- Parent name and code
- Description of the item as it appears in the database
- IEM number
- Name of the ES and Parent name/code that the item is being transferred to. Please cc all parties concerned (current ES initiates the e-mail and cc's the receiving ES when sending the e-mail to the advisor). The receiving ES should reply to all (current ES and advisor) stating that they agree to receive the materials so that the advisor can complete the transfer in the database. The advisor will not do the transfer until the receiving ES replies that they agree to receive the item(s) described in the e-mail. (If any funds need to be transferred due to this transfer of materials, then a transfer of funds form should be filled out.)