The Bookstore
The campus bookstore sells textbooks, snacks, and personal,
school, and art supplies.
Student I.D. Cards
All students are issued an I.D. card which must be presented
at various times for student identification.
Mail
Students are able to send outgoing mail from the school,
and mail is delivered to their individual mailboxes Monday
through Saturday. Postage stamps may be purchased at the
campus bookstore.
All student mail should be addressed to:
(Student's Name)
Dormitory name and room number
Idyllwild Arts Academy
P.O. Box 1758
Idyllwild, CA 92549
United Parcel Service and Federal Express packages should
be sent to:
(Student's Name)
Dormitory name and room number
Idyllwild Arts Academy
52500 Temecula Drive
Idyllwild, CA 92549
UPS and Fed Ex pick up and deliver packages daily. If
students need to ship belongings, they may do so in the
mail center across the street from Nelson Dining Hall.
Health Services
A certified medical professional is available for student
care 24 hours a day. A Health Center is staffed on campus
with daily operating hours from 6:00 AM to 5:00 PM Monday
through Friday and on Saturdays until 1:00 PM. The Health
Center is equipped with beds for students to use during
open hours. After 5:00 PM, students return to their dormitories
where they are looked after by their dorm parents. If
a student needs medical attention overnight, he or she
will stay in the Health Center with a full-time registered
nurse or relief nurse. The "on call" nurse will
respond to all emergencies.
A private medical clinic in Idyllwild is minutes away
from the school campus. Students will be taken to the
clinic by health center personnel if they need to see
a physician or nurse practitioner. Appointments can also
be arranged for students for specialist care. Please contact
the Health Center at extension 2275 to make arrangements
if specialized care is required. If an appointment is
missed by a student, the parents may be held financially
responsible, depending on the practitioner’s missed
appointment policy.
Hospital and Emergency Services
The closest emergency care is available in Hemet, but
students may be taken to other emergency care facilities,
depending on the situation. Ambulance and paramedic services
are available locally. Parents will be notified by Health
Center staff or Student Services staff whenever an emergency
situation arises. In the event of hospitalization, a parent
or guardian is required at bedside as soon as possible
to assist with student care.
Student Illness Procedure
Any student who is ill must report to a nurse in the Health
Center prior to the beginning of his or her first class
in order to be excused. Students must report in person
to have an absence excused, or by phone if they are unable
to walk to the Health Center. Medical absences for day
students must be reported before noon on the day of the
absence.
Students who are excused from class for illness may not
participate in school activities until they have received
permission from the school nurse. Every effort is made
by the nursing staff to work with the student’s
arts and academic schedules in order to minimize the amount
of time a student is out of class and rehearsal.
Counseling
The Counseling Coordinator is the link between students
and professional counselors. Students who seek counseling
or who want to maintain ongoing counseling should contact
the Counseling Coordinator at extension 2285. The counseling
center is located in the Health Center, and the Counseling
Coordinator may establish regular meetings with a student
or refer him/her to one of several local counselors. Office
hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
A Peer Counseling program is also available. Students
interested in participating should sign up with the Counseling
Coordinator.
Health Track
Any student who admits to using or having used illegal
drugs or alcohol and who wishes to stop, may go to any
of the following people in order to be placed on the Health
Track: a nurse, a counselor, any administrator on call,
the Dean of Students, the Associate Dean of Students,
or the Director of Residential Life. The course of action
on the Health Track replaces any disciplinary action towards
the student for behavior prior to the time he or she came
forward, and it is meant to promote an atmosphere of honesty
and trust within our community. The Health Track may also
be utilized by students, or by friends of students, in
cases of tobacco use or other health-related issues. A
student placed on Health Track will assume full personal
responsibility for all future behaviors. Parents will
be notified. The student will be evaluated by a health
care professional who will make a recommendation to the
Dean of Students regarding the most appropriate medical
and administrative support system for the student, as
well as specific conditions by which the student will
be expected to abide. A contract will be drawn up and
agreed upon by all parties to reflect the necessary process.
The Health Track is a collaborative effort between the
Health Center, Student Services, and the student and his
or her parents and advisor. If a student is caught using
drugs or alcohol, or if a student’s possible use
of drugs or alcohol is being investigated by the Dean
of Student’s office prior to a student’s request
to be placed on the Health Track, he or she will not be
able to take advantage of the Health Track.
Transportation
The Transportation Department ensures that students are
transported safely to and from medical, dental and other
appointments, music lessons, performances and activities.
A fleet of well-maintained vans is available for this
purpose. Parents may also request a school van to transport
students home and to nearby airports on the weekends and
during vacations. To make a van request, please contact
the Transportation Manager at extension 2351. Transportation
to and from regular religious services in Idyllwild is
provided by the school each week. On vacation days, transportation
to and from LAX is provided for a fee of $140.00 per person
and to and from the Ontario and Palm Springs airports
for a fee of $95.00 per person. At all other times, transportation
to and from any other destination is provided at $.85
per mile. If there are extenuating circumstances (unavailable
drivers or vans, unavoidable scheduling difficulties or
conflicts) the Arts Academy reserves the right to use
public transportation (taxi cab or airport shuttle) and
the student will be billed at the taxi or shuttle company’s
rate. All student transportation not required by the school,
including to/from medical and dental appointments, is
billed to student accounts. We do not provide transportation
for non-essential trips off campus.
Away Permission
In order for a student to leave school for any reason,
parents must communicate their permission and the reason
for the absence to the Associate Dean of Students. If
the student will be missing class, an Away Permission
Form will be issued. This form must be completed with
teachers’ signatures prior to leaving.
An Away Permission Form will excuse a student for medical,
religious or family emergency reasons and for school approved
audition travel during the academic week. The student
will have the opportunity to make up homework missed,
although it may be impossible to make up work that was
done in class. It is the student’s responsibility
to consult the instructor regarding work that was missed.
Additionally, a student may be denied away permission
if he or she has not met all academic, arts, dormitory
and disciplinary commitments.
The following are considered unexcused absences:
• absences due to early departure for school vacations
• absences due to late return from school vacations
• classes missed when students leave at their parents’
request for a non-medical, non-religious, or non-family
emergency, i.e. “non-essential” away permission
Weekend Away
The academic week begins on Sunday at 7:30 P.M. and runs
through the end of 6th period on Saturday morning. The
weekend begins on Saturday after the conclusion of 6th
period, or when any required arts class, rehearsal or
performance is completed on Saturday afternoon or evening,
and ends on Sunday at 7:30 P.M.
Parents must contact the Associate Dean of Students by
noon Friday in order to request away permission for their
child for the weekend. The school always reserves the
right to deny permission if it feels that the safety and
well-being of a student is in jeopardy (e.g. spending
the night in a hotel in an unchaperoned situation or spending
the weekend at a home in which the parents are not present.)
Student Activities
Most boarders remain at school on the weekends and participate
in a variety of activities, all of which are also open
to day students. Activities are planned by the Director
of Residential Life in conjunction with other faculty
members and student leaders. Activities on campus include
dances, open-mike coffee houses, movie screenings, pool
parties, games and competitions, and open houses in dorm
parent apartments. Activities off the hill include trips
to museums, concerts, theatre productions, amusement parks,
beaches, ski areas, skating rinks, shopping malls, movie
theatres, sporting events, and many other cultural and
recreational activities. Some trips may include a community
service component. All students and parents are invited
to suggest possible trip destinations and should do so
by contacting the Director of Residental Life at ext.
2516. Students who sign up for off-campus trips are charged
according to the cost of that event, including transportation,
entrance fees, tickets, and other related expenses. In
most cases, students should bring pocket money on off-campus
trips to cover food and incidentals.
Student Government
Student government helps plan and execute student activities,
participates in the evolution of policies, rules, and
privileges, and builds leadership skills in students.
Elections occur in the spring preceding the next school
year so that newly elected representatives may attend
a leadership retreat in the fall. Representatives are
elected from each grade level, each arts major, day students
and international students. Student government includes
the student body president and a cabinet composed of the
senior class president (who is also vice president of
the student body) a secretary and a treasurer. Other students
are always welcome to attend and participate in student
government meetings.
Prefect Program
Prefects are senior students who have been chosen to work
closely with faculty members to monitor and govern the
dorms. There is approximately one prefect assigned to
every twenty students in the larger dorms and to every
nine students in the small dorms. Prefects attend weekly
meetings with the dorm parents on their team to discuss
all matters related to their dorms. In addition, they
work with the Director of Residential Life to plan weekend
activities both on and off campus. Prefects may conduct
or assist in conducting room inspections in the dorms
and may be responsible for enforcing dorm rules. They
also provide informal counseling and advice to students.
The prefects are chosen in May by the dorm parent teams
in recognition of their leadership potential, honesty,
dependability, fairness, and good conduct.
Honor Council
The Idyllwild Arts Academy Honor Council is a student-driven,
faculty-supported organization comprised of individuals
of all grade levels who are committed to promoting honor
within our school and educating other students as to the
benefits of honorable behavior within and beyond our community.
Through their actions and words members of the Honor Council
try to encourage in all students the highest standards
of personal integrity. When a member of the community
violates the trust and integrity of the rest of the school,
the Honor Council may convene to hear the case and to
recommend an appropriate measure of support and/or consequences.
The Honor Council encourages individuals and the community
as a whole to explore what honor means. The Honor Council
rewards honorable behavior and when we encounter individuals
who are dishonest, we are compassionate in our work to
reintegrate them into our community of trust. The Honor
Council represents one of the most significant opportunities
for student leadership on campus.
Dormitory Supervision
Faculty members live in or adjacent to every dorm on campus
to provide supervision and to create a nurturing, familial
environment. They are visible, available, and approachable
for students and it is not uncommon for students to visit
their dorm parents for conversation or advice. Students
also cook and eat in faculty apartments, walk faculty
dogs and babysit or play with faculty children. Similarly,
dorm parents spend time each evening visiting students
in their rooms. Student prefects assist in dormitory supervision
as well. These older students provide good role modeling,
experience, and leadership for younger students.
Privacy
Everyone deserves a certain degree of privacy in his or
her living space, and dorm parents strive to respect student
privacy by knocking on doors before entering. However,
a student’s dorm room is not an inviolable space.
The dorms are the property of the school, and school personnel
reserve the right to enter student rooms to conduct inspections
and repairs. In addition, individual rooms are subject
to search and special inspection if faculty suspect that
a student is engaged in illegal or illicit activity. For
safety reasons, students are not allowed to lock their
doors when they are in their rooms, including at night
when the students are sleeping. Students may not enter
other students’ rooms without the express permission
of the residents, and the school strongly urges all students
to lock their doors when they leave their rooms for extended
periods.
In Loco Parentis
In connection with its supervisory role, Idyllwild Arts
Academy may from time to time be called upon to make decisions,
sign documents and otherwise act in the place of a parent
or parents (in loco parentis), exercising the rights,
duties and responsibilities which would otherwise be exercised
by a parent were the parent present at the time.
Roommates
Students at IAA should expect to have at least one roommate.
Careful consideration is given to pairing students of
similar interests, tastes, and habits. Returning students
are encouraged to request a specific roommate before the
end of the preceding school year. ESL students studying
in an English-speaking country for the first time will
be assigned roommates who do not speak their native language.
Whenever possible, they will be assigned American roommates
to speed their linguistic and cultural acclimatization
to IAA.
Living with another person is sometimes difficult, and
we believe that the negotiation involved in living with
a roommate is an important part of living at boarding
school and provides an effective dress rehearsal for the
many close living and working relationships that students
will experience throughout their lives. Therefore, changes
in roommate assignment will be considered a last resort
and will not usually be granted. That said, counseling,
support, and mediation are available to all students who
are struggling with their living situations. Students
should seek out their prefects and dorm parents, the Director
of Residential Life, or any member of the counseling staff
at the first sign of trouble with their roommates in order
to help find a solution as quickly as possible.
Single rooms are not generally available. However, when
space allows, single rooms are assigned at the discretion
of the student services staff.
Quiet Hours, Room Study, and Curfew
After dinner from the hours of 7:30 to 10 P.M., quiet
hours are maintained in the dorms so students may complete
their homework. Quiet hours coincide with the evening
supervised study period. Supervised study time or “Room
Study” is from 8:50 TO 10 P.M. Monday through Friday
and on Sunday nights. Students may sign out to the library
or arts studios only if they have a 3.8 GPA or written
permission of their department chair. If students do not
sign out and they are not in their rooms during this time,
they receive an unexcused absence. If students are not
where they have signed out to be or where they are required
to be, they will receive an unexcused absence.
Each evening, all students must be in their rooms at curfew.
Sunday through Friday curfew is 10 P.M. Saturday curfew
is 11 P.M.
Lights Out Policy
To ensure that students get enough sleep, quiet hours
are enforced after 10 P.M. on Sundays and weeknights and
after midnight on Saturdays. A lights-out time of 11:00
P.M. is enforced for ninth and tenth graders every night
except Saturdays, and lights-out for juniors is 12:00
A.M. Twelfth graders are on their honor to turn out their
lights at a reasonable time but will be counseled by dorm
parents, the Director of Residential Life or the Dean
of Students if they are disturbing others after hours
or if sleepiness seems to be preventing them from working
effectively during the day. Students who fail to adhere
to lights-out and quiet hours guidelines may receive in-dorm
consequences and/or a dean’s referral for further
discipline.
Dorm Meetings
Living successfully as a community requires effective
communication and frequent get-togethers. Dorm meetings
are held for both social and informational purposes on
a schedule determined by the dorm parents and prefects.
Meetings are mandatory for all residents. Dorm parents
and prefects also share information on detailed bulletin
boards in the dorm and by sending emails and voicemails
to dorm residents. Students are responsible for knowing
how information is communicated in their dorms and for
checking these media on a daily basis. Each dorm also
sponsors weekend activities and off-campus trips for its
residents throughout the year.
Values
Idyllwild Arts Academy students know who they are and
what they stand for. They are young artists and scholars
who strive for excellence, and they stand for the following
values: integrity, respect, responsibility, aspiration,
passion, imagination, and contribution to the community.
Idyllwild Arts students express these values through their
daily behavior.
Integrity
Idyllwild Arts recognizes the importance of the integrity
of both the individual and the larger community. We strive
to be complete, whole, unimpaired, and sound as single
persons as well as people relating to things outside ourselves.
To aim for a principled consistency,
• recognize that no single aspect of you can be
separate
from you as a whole
• keep your actions consistent with your words and
ideals
• recognize that any action taken in your community
directly affects your community
• take responsibility for the consequences of your
actions
Respect
To respect is to hold in high regard and to refrain from
interfering with. In order to show our respect for each
other in this community of varied talents, cultures, and
identities,
• appreciate other people and other people’s
work
• embrace new ideas
• respect your bodies and your environment
• treat all with acceptance and tolerance
Responsibility
The Idyllwild Arts community asks us to make large and
small decisions every day. These decisions, often made
independently, must be made with careful consideration
because each decision carries with it an action. We are
accountable for those actions. Therefore,
• Consider and accept the results of your actions
• Aim high
• Demonstrate a positive attitude
• Be a loyal friend
• Follow through on your commitments
Aspiration
In the context of life at Idyllwild Arts aspiration means
to have a strong desire to live in the best possible way,
to cultivate ambition based on the values of altruism,
creativity, attention, and right effort. Therefore, in
our daily lives at the school,
• continually create vows that give substance to
aspirations
• go beyond what limits personal growth and the
growth of the community
• be an inspiration to others through daily actions
which are a reflection of your aspirations
Passion
Passion is the intense enthusiasm, strong or extravagant
fondness or desire that one has for one’s art form.
It is the driving force behind our art. Passion is a deep,
insatiable need to practice art. It is the inability to
stop ourselves from creating art. Because our lives as
artists are imbued with passion,
• Care about your art form so much that you notice
little the tiresome hard work that it requires
• Feel that no matter what else, doing your work
is non-negotiable
• Urge yourself on each day to love and be alive
in your work
• Supported and nurtured by love for your work,
learn and grow through the work, through sharing in the
creative process, and through celebrating your accomplishments
Imagination
Imagination is a vital part of an artist’s existence.
It is the source of our creative genius.
Therefore,
• have the courage to form mental images of something
that is not present to the senses
• take command of these images to develop and create
new aspects in your art form
• have the courage to look at existing objects with
your own eye
• never settle for anything less than your greatest
idea
Contribution to the Community
Idyllwild Arts is a community that necessitates the cooperation
and contributions of all of its members. Because the behavior
of each person directly impacts the school as a whole,
• be informed and involved
• actively protect the environment. Take responsibility
for the appearance of the school buildings and grounds
• know and obey the school’s rules
• be a good friend to all of the students
• make the school better artistically, academically,
and socially because of your presence.
