Introduction
Youth exchanges provide foreign exchange students with an American experience, giving them a more balanced understanding of our country. They encourage new perspectives that open the minds of the students of the school to the entire world. More importantly, these “connections” help students on both sides of the exchanges grow and gain maturity. These cross-cultural experiences offer unique opportunities for American schools to help their students and communities:
- Learn first-hand about other cultures and customs;
- Create life-long friendships across cultures;
- Gain new perspectives on our country and the world;
- Begin to understand how tightly connected the peoples and countries of the world are to each other;
- Open young minds to the importance of understanding other languages and other cultures, particularly with respect to career and personal opportunities.
At the same time, schools have a right to expect that international exchange students and student exchange programs adhere to guidelines that will minimize problems and make success more likely. The critical element is the ongoing relationship between the exchange program and the school, as well as the responsiveness of the exchange program.
The local school district will control the number of foreign exchange students enrolled in the school system and will limit enrollment to the high school only. District finances, appropriate host family support, and appropriate course offerings for the student are among the factors that will be considered when reviewing the admission of foreign exchange students.
Timing of the Placement Process
The Red Oak Community School District requires that organizations contact the school each year to indicate an interest in placing exchange students. Exchange organizations are to provide the school with advance notice of their intent to place students. The school is to be notified as soon as the student and host family match-ups are confirmed. Recognizing the timing of school staffing and resourcing, exchange organizations should submit student and host family applications as early as possible, or up to two weeks prior to the start of the school year. Acknowledging the difficulty of securing host family commitments, the school will try to accept applications until school starts.
Selecting Student Exchange Programs
The Red Oak Community School District reserves the right to work with exchange organizations that have proven their commitment and responsiveness. The school also will be open to new organizations that demonstrate a serious commitment to the school and community.
School Expectations of Student Exchange Program
The Red Oak Community School District reserves the right of final approval on all student placements. Additionally, the district requires that each individual foreign exchange program must:
- Be listed in the most current Council on Standards for International Educational Travel (CSIET) Advisory List;
- Maintain a network of qualified and trained local representatives living in or near the community, with responsibility for each student; the representatives will provide orientation and ongoing support for both the host family and the student;
- Provide continuing hands-on monitoring and responsiveness, from local representative to national headquarters, including student selection and preparation, selection and screening of host families, ongoing contact with the host family and the student, and communication with the school and responsiveness to school needs;
- Receive school enrollment authorization for placements each year prior to contracting potential host families and follow school policy on timing and requirements;
- Screen and prepare exchange students while monitoring their progress during the school year, responding to issues or problems as they develop;
- Arrange host family placements before exchange students leave their home country, with the expectation that exchange students are to be in their host family and school placements by the first day of classes;
- Personally interview and screen all potential host families, matching student and family interests and personalities;
- Not knowingly place exchange students based on their athletic abilities;
- In the event that tutoring/ESL help is needed, the organization will make arrangements and ensure that the student accepts financial responsibility for it;
- Provide the school with a complete student application that includes the following:
- Personal letter from the student;
- Detailed information on the student and the student’s natural family;
- Proof that the student has sufficient language ability to function in an American classroom;
- Original transcript of the student’s high school grades, with English translation (and this must meet school requirements);
- Necessary medical history, including proof of immunization as required by the State of Iowa, any medical/physical restrictions, and a recent physical exam.
School Expectations for Students on J-1 Visa Sponsorships
The Red Oak Community School District has the following expectations of foreign exchange students:
- Each exchange student must be qualified to participate in regular classes and maintain a typical schedule. This means an acceptable level of proficiency in the English language, a commitment to treat coursework as important, and the social skills to enjoy participation in social and extracurricular activities.
- Foreign exchange students must be aware that participating in interscholastic athletic teams means they must comply with district and state athletic eligibility regulations.
- The school appreciates the difficulty of a student’s move into a different language, culture, and institution, but exchange students are expected to attain passing grades by the end of their first semester.
- The enrollment eligibility of exchange students will be for one year only, and exchange students and their host families are expected to know and must follow all school policies and rules.
- Exchange students must have medical and accident insurance that meets or exceeds U. S. Department of State guidelines.
- Exchange students must understand that they are not guaranteed the ability to graduate or to be granted a diploma.
School Responsibilities
In accepting foreign exchange students, the Red Oak Community School District assumes the following responsibilities:
- Students on U. S. Department-sponsored programs (j-1 Visas) generally pay no tuition, but they are expected to pay all normal expenses, such as meals.
- Foreign exchange students have all rights and privileges accorded to all enrolled students, along with the accompanying responsibilities, except the right to a diploma.
- The school will make every effort to integrate foreign exchange students into the social fabric of the school. In turn, the school encourages foreign exchange students to participate in school activities, to make friends, to make a personal contribution to the school, and to help spread the word about their country and themselves, informally and by making presentations in classes and to community groups and by talking with the media when requested to do so.
