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Policies & Procedures

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Cooking in our class, Knife Safety Rules, & Classroom Expectations

• Students will practice knife safety and cutting techniques using  6-8 inch sharp chef knives.
• Under teacher supervision, students will occasionally have the opportunity to help stir our class pot. 
• We will provide vegetarian option upon request at registration.
• We cannot provide gluten free or dairy free substitutions.
• Students are responsible for making and completing their own meal. If a student falls ill or choose to stop participating they will not leave with a completed meal.
• Students are expected to maintain the same behavioral standard that they would during the formal school day.
• On the first day of class, student go home with a copy of our Knife Safety Rules & Classroom Expectations.​ We’re asking all parents to review these expectations with their child before the second week of class. 
• If a child is consistently disruptive and prevents the instructor from conducting class, the instructor reserves the right to ask the child to drop the class. Parents will be given a formal warning before these measures are taken.

Food safety and cooking your meals at home

• All meals must be refrigerated or cooked within 30-minutes of the class ending.  (going to other activities, running errands, or leaving the food at room temperature past the 30-minutes run the risk of getting a foodborne illness.)
• All meals should be consumed within 24 hours or frozen.
• All cooked meals should be cooked thoroughly and reach the internal temperature of at least 165 °F

Food allergies and restrictions

If your child has any food/substance allergies, please note them during registration and on our waiver. Programs staff will follow up with families on a case-by-case basis. Parents/guardians are responsible for providing any necessary medical supplies (e.g., EpiPen). Program Instructors have current First Aid/CPR certification.

Nuts: Our recipes are peanut and common tree nut free.

• We do NOT adhere to a “nut-free” policy at School. However, we make every effort to minimize risk to vulnerable students. For students who bring snacks, our staff enforces a strict, “no trading and no sharing” policy. In addition, instructors are informed of any student who has allergies.

Other Allergies: We’re unable to provide gluten free or dairy free classes. 
Students work together to make one large pot of class sauce that is divided among the students therefore substitutions are not an option. 

Vegetarians: We provide vegetarian options upon request at registration.

• Families that don’t eat certain types of meat should register as vegetarian. ​

Missing the first cooking class

Our cooking classes are designed for students to build on their skill level over time. On our first day of class we cover all our Knife Safety Rules & Classroom Expectations.​

If your child needs to misses the first class please email us and we will provide you with the rules and recipe so you can go through the lesson at home.

Tuition refunds and scholarships

Class cancellation due to Low Enrollment - Full Refund
Refund Policy,  student tuition is refundable as follows:

• All school fees are collected separately, please contact your school directly regarding school fee refunds.

• Two weeks prior to class start date- Full refund (minus registration, taxes, and school fees)
• Two weeks through one week prior to class start date- 50% refund (minus registration, taxes, and school fees)
• Cancellations made one week or sooner to the first day of will not receive a refund.  
• ​There are no refunds or make days for student absents. Due to our linear approach to cooking a friend or sibling cannot replace an absent student.

School Mandated Closures:

• We will work with schools on finding available make-up days
• If make-up days are not possible, we will off discounted rates for the next session.

Scholarships

• Many schools offer enrichment scholarships and applicants must go through the school or PTA.

If your school does not manage scholarships, the following will be adhered to:

• RDDC provides 1 full or 2 half scholarships per class session.
• Qualifying students must be enrolled in reduced or free lunch in the year they are registering. 
• It's issued on a first come first served basis and only one scholarship per family, per school year.

Late & early pick-up policy

Early pick-up: Students getting picked up early are not guaranteed a completed meal.

Late  pick-up:

• If you’re running late, please call or text with student’s name, school, and ETA. We will provide a 10 minute grace period.
• Parents arriving over 10 minutes late will be charged $20 for late pickup. If parents are repeatedly late, we may suspend enrollment without refund.

Walk Home Authorization

If your child is able to walk home by themselves, we need that authorization in writing. Please indicate this through an email.

**Please note that many of our meals can be heavy to carry! If walking is your plan, it would be a good idea to bring a bag that will fit our half sheet foil pan.

Inclement Weather Policy

If your school as an Inclement Weather Policy that also covers refunds, RDDC will follow that policy.

If your school does not have a policy, the following will be adhered to:

• If the school cancels enrichment programs for weather conditions, we work with the school to schedule a make-up-class. If that is not possible, we will not issue refunds. 
• However, if the school is running enrichment programs but RDDC needs to cancel due to weather conditions, and a make-up day is not able to be scheduled, refunds will be issued.

For a full list of our policies please read our google waiver.