(Excerpt from the 2025-2026 Employee Handbook)

As Mayfield Junior School employees, we are entrusted to educate students, provide a supportive  learning environment, promote student growth and success, and model the values of the School at  all times. While employees are encouraged to develop positive, friendly, and supportive  relationships with students and/or minor alumni, there is an innate power imbalance in the  relationship between an employee and student, which must not be abused.

Mayfield Junior School  employees are required to maintain appropriate professional boundaries with students at all times,  whether on campus or away from campus. For purposes of this Policy, the term “employee” also  includes volunteers. In maintaining professional boundaries, employees must consider how their  actions and words may be perceived by others, and must take care to avoid intimidation, abuse of  authority, excessive attention, and any other conduct that is not an appropriate employee/student  interaction or could be perceived as such. 

Below are rules employees must follow regarding maintaining appropriate and professional  boundaries with students. These rules are not an exhaustive list of all prohibited employee conduct,  but rather a general framework for describing inappropriate and appropriate employee/student  interactions. The School may discipline employees for any conduct that the School determines is not  in keeping with the School’s expectations for professional employee/student interactions.

General Requirements: 

• Any interaction with a student must be something that would be appropriate for an  employee to say or do in front of that student’s parents, the Head of School, and the employee’s  supervisor.
• Employees must avoid creating excessive emotional attachments beyond a  healthy employee/student relationship and must not lean on students for  emotional support.
• Employees must use sound judgment as to how much information they share with  students about their own personal life and must, in turn, refrain from asking students  about overly personal information, unless it is an essential responsibility of the  employee's role (e.g. school psychologist, administrator). Employees must not share  any information about romantic and sexual experiences, personal problems, or other  types of private or sensitive information that is inappropriate to share.
• Employees must consult their supervisor promptly if a student is or seems to be pushing  the employee’s or another employee’s personal boundaries, or attempting to establish an inappropriate relationship. 

Favoritism or Special Treatment: 

• Employees must avoid any special treatment, favoritism, or excessive attention towards  particular students.
• Employees may not buy or give personal gifts to individual students. 

Communications: 

• Employees are generally prohibited from using personal, rather than School technology  devices and email accounts, to contact a student.
• Employee communications with students/alumni (e.g., notes, email, or other electronic  exchanges, or phone calls) must be for School-related reasons and through school  provided platforms only and must be professional in all respects. Examples of employee  conduct that may violate this Policy, depending on the circumstances, include  communication with students during late hours or on non-school days, and communication about inappropriate personal or non- school related subjects.
• Employees are prohibited from making jokes, using slang, or suggestive comments or  innuendo of a sexual or discriminatory nature in communicating with students (or at  any other time at work).
• Employees are prohibited from liking or otherwise commenting on social media posts  made by students/alumni.
• If a student shares confidential information that could pose a threat to the student or  others, employees have an obligation to, and must, notify his/her supervisor or a  School counselor, and make a report of suspected child abuse or neglect in keeping with the School’s child abuse reporting policy and mandated reporting laws. 

Meetings with Students: 

• If meeting with a student one-on-one, employees must balance potential privacy  concerns with appropriate professionalism and must meet in a location that is visible  and accessible to others (doors and window shades must be open).
• Employees are prohibited from meeting with students off campus unless it is a pre approved School activity. The employee must first obtain the permission of the School  administration and the student’s parent or guardian. 

Physical Contact: 

• In general, employees must respect students’ personal space at all times.  Employees should generally maintain an appropriate physical distance when  interacting with students.
• Any physical contact with a student should be limited. Examples of acceptable physical  contact may include giving a student a high five or a handshake. A brief hug or other  casual contact may be acceptable in some situations. 

Employees have an obligation to model, through both language and behavior, the values and  expectations of the School, and to strictly comply with this Policy. Disagreeing with the wording  or intent of this Policy does not alleviate employees from strictly complying with this Policy and  will be considered irrelevant for disciplinary purposes. If an employee finds him or herself in a  difficult situation related to boundaries, or has questions related to these protocols and  requirements, he or she should consult the Head of School or his or her supervisor. If any  employee becomes aware of another employee failing to adhere to this Policy, the employee must  immediately report the matter to the Head of School or their supervisor. The School has the right  to investigate compliance with this Policy even if no report has been made.