Baker Co High School Community Service Form

Please fill out the form in complete sentences. Submit the completed form to Guidance.

Beginning with the class of 2023, students may now use work hours in lieu of service hours. Service and work hours cannot be combined. If you are enrolled in OJT and you are turning in work hours, the  hours submitted MUST be in excess of the minimum required for your OJT hours. For example: If you are scheduled for 3 periods of OJT each week, you need to work a minimum of 15 hours to receive course credit. The allowable work hours that you turn in must be hours ABOVE and BEYOND these 15 hours. 

COMMUNITY SERVICE/WORK HOURS PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS FOR THE FLORIDA BRIGHT FUTURES SCHOLARSHIPS AND 150 HOURS GUIDELINES FOR THE SILVER CORD PROGRAM

Volunteer Service is defined as identifying and addressing a social issue in the community. These hours will meet the requirement for the Florida Academic Scholars, Florida Medallion Scholars or Gold Seal Vocational scholarships. The completed hours will be recorded on the student’s transcript. To be eligible to receive one of the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Awards a student must complete a program of volunteer service work that includes a "minimum" of hours:

To be eligible to receive one of the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Awards, students must complete either volunteer service hours or paid work hours. 

Community Service Hours Needed:

• Florida Academic Scholarship - 100 hours
• Florida Medallion Scholarship - 75 hours 
• Gold Seal CAPE - 30 hours
• Gold Seal Vocational - 30 hours

Paid Work Hours Needed: 

• Florida Academic Scholarship - 100 hours
• Florida Medallion Scholarship - 100 hours
• Gold Seal CAPE - 100 hours
• Gold Seal Vocational - 100 hours

Upon graduation, students who have served 150 hours of volunteer service qualify for an honorary silver cord, which symbolizes their commitment to service. This cord will be worn during graduation.
Hours earned as part of the Volunteer Service Program must be documented on the Volunteer Service Record Log Sheet. These forms must be submitted to the community service designee. Students should turn in service records during the school year in which the service occurred and should keep a duplicate copy of all forms for their records.

General guidelines for the student volunteer service program are as follows:

1. All services must comply with the policies of the School Board of Baker County, Florida.
2. Student community service hours may be earned in both the school and/or the community.
3. Participation in and travel to theatrical musical performances, festivals or community events will count as service hours if both (A) and (B) below are met:

A. The performance meets an identified community service need.
B. The performance is not a fundraiser for the organization nor the student is paid, or receives academic credit. For example, students participating in a BCHS drama or school band may receive hours for performing at a retirement home, charitable, and civic events or for a non-profit agency.

4. Rehearsal and practice time will count for volunteer service projects to be performed or conducted specifically to meet a community service need.
5. Fundraising activities for non-profit charities will count as community service hours as long as the activity complies with Baker County School Board Policies providing the student is not volunteering for an organization that benefits the individual directly (i.e. raising money to go on a field trip or pay for personal equipment). For example, a high school class may have a booth at the county fair and use those funds to pay for things that benefit the entire school. The hours earned would count as community service.
6. Serving at events or programs sponsored by governmental agencies will count.
7. Time out of class may not be used for community service hours; however a maximum of five (5) volunteer hours per week can be earned by participation in an organized, supervised and approved peer tutoring program in which the tutoring takes place when school is in session. However, the tutoring sessions cannot take place during any of the tutor’s academic classes.
8. Service hours will be awarded for students volunteering on political and issue campaigns. To receive service hours, a student cannot be paid for working on the political campaign. A student is not eligible to receive service learning hours for volunteering on the political campaign of a school board employee or in school board elections. Students are not eligible to receive service learning hours for campaigning or being engaged in political activities during the school day and on school campuses.
9. Students may receive community service hours for helping at religious institutions as long as those hours do not include participation in a religious service, teaching religion or proselytizing. For example, a student is not eligible for service learning teaching Sunday school, singing in the choir, playing an instrument, or serving as an altar server. However, a student may receive service hours for assisting in landscaping, clean up days or volunteering in the day care center. In addition, students serving as teen aides (i.e. copying materials, walking kids to bathrooms, assisting with supervision) are eligible for service learning credit as long as the student is not teaching religious studies.
10. Volunteer service hours completed at a hospital or nursing home will count if the service benefits the patients of the facilities.
11. Volunteer hours shall not be granted to students who volunteer at for profit summer camps. Students who volunteer at governmental sponsored or not for profit summer camps shall be eligible to receive Service Learning Hours for their work. Please note that the collection of a fee does not determine the “Not For Profit” status. The State of Florida issues a 501(c) (3) certificate to “Non-Profit” organizations.
12. Service for a student’s family or family business will not count.
13. Service performed as the result of disciplinary action taken by the school or the courts will not count.
14. Participation in campus or competitive activities such as athletics, plays, debate meets, etc. will not count.
15. Service performed as an academic requirement, other than that performed as part of the approved volunteer service learning courses will not count.
16. Babysitting, or similar services, performed for an individual family, will not count.
17. Volunteer Service hours may not be certified by a family member or fellow student.
18. The donation of canned foods, toy collections, toys, or monetary donations will not count as volunteer service hours. The time spent collecting the donated items (as long as it does not occur during the school day) can count.
19. The number of service hours that are earned cannot be doubled or in any way increased by any agency or school for student participation in a specific project. Agencies found to be practicing the doubling of hours will be removed from the list of those agencies approved by the programs.
20. Participation in self-improvement workshops, clinics, conferences or conventions will not count for volunteer hours. If workshops, clinics, etc. have a specific service component, the hours spent on that activity can count.
21. Hours spent helping others (not family members) in disaster preparations or clean up may count. A letter from the parent or guardian indicating that the volunteer service was performed with their permission must be submitted with the log sheet. For example, students volunteering their time to assist neighbors in putting up and taking down hurricane shutters will count towards service learning.
22. A student may receive service hour’s credit for the time donating blood at an off-campus facility or after school. Donation of blood during the student’s school day does not qualify for service learning. However, a student who donates blood at a church blood drive is eligible for service learning credit.

APPEALS PROCESS FOR VOLUNTEER SERVICE PROGRAMS

If a student’s hours have been denied by the school-based student volunteer service designee the student may appeal that decision to the BCHS Activities and Athletic Director. The appeal must be in writing and a copy of the Log Sheet referencing the hours in question must be attached. The letter must contain a telephone number and address at which the party initiating the appeal can be reached.