When a boy enrolls at PDS, his family becomes part of the PDS community, and it is the strong, cohesive, and supportive nature of our community that helps make PDS the special school that it is. We are blessed to have a school in which parents and guardians are actively engaged in positive and constructive partnership with the school. As a school, we seek to build close bonds with our families; to be accessible, open, and user-friendly; and to assure that our relationships and dialogue with parents and guardians enable us to serve our boys as well as possible.

PDS needs and expects the positive and sustained cooperation and support of its parents and guardians if we are to be successful in serving our boys and achieving our mission. Parents and guardians must understand and embrace our mission and core values and support fully all teachers, administrators, and staff, as well as the entirety of the school’s curriculum, policies, and decisions. When united in shared purposes and beliefs, the parents and school form a powerful team with the profound ability to serve powerfully and positively individual boys and the whole school community. In short, there must be a positive and constructive relationship between parent(s)/guardian(s) and the school. Absent this partnership, a boy cannot be properly served, and damage may be done to him and/or the school community, and therefore such a boy and the school would be better served by his enrollment at another school for which there is a better fit.

We reserve the right to dismiss from the school a boy whose parent(s) or guardian(s) are unable, unwilling or incapable of understanding, embracing and supporting our mission, values, employees, curriculum, decisions or policies; whose actions undermine our ability or credibility to teach a boy(s); who model behavior and relationships that undermine the sort of behavior, relationships and values we are seeking to build in the boys of PDS; whose actions damage the school community; who do not address concerns, questions and problems in a constructive and respectful manner; or who demonstrate a lack of respect, trust, kindness and civility toward the school or for any employee of the school, or who violate any term of the enrollment contract or other rules, including in this handbook. Such a dismissal may be immediate and is at the sole discretion of the school administration.

Just as there are rules and expectations for boys, we hold them for parents and guardians also. In addition to the items listed earlier, parents and guardians should assure that their boy(s) arrives at school on time and that they have completed any work at home required by a teacher. Parents and guardians should attend conference days and special class events. They should familiarize themselves with the mission, philosophy, programs and policies of the school. They should follow all parental procedures.