LTB Tutor Policies

Conduct While Tutoring

Communication:

• Be mindful of students' circumstances when communicating. For example, use terms like “guardian” instead of “mom” or “dad” until you learn the student's preferred terminology.

• Do not share personal contact information. All tutoring and communication must occur online through the Learn to Be platform. Learn To Be connects students and tutors via text using an intermediary number so that users can communicate via text without exchanging information. In-person tutoring is not allowed through Learn To Be.

• All tutoring sessions should occur in the Learn to Be platform and recordings must be enabled. Users may turn off their video if they feel uncomfortable being on camera. All recordings are securely stored and never released publicly.

• Tutors cannot tutor their own friends or family members. This is not considered community service.

• Prep time does not count as community service hours.

• Avoid personal or inflammatory topics, such as dating, drugs/alcohol, political views, or religious beliefs unless they are directly relevant to the tutoring session (e.g., a history or social studies class). Only facts should be shared, not personal opinions.

• Tutors should never ask a student or family for money or any form of payment. Most of the tutoring on our platform is free, however if families are able to make a small contribution, it will be through Learn To Be.

  • Families may give tutors small gifts as a way to say thank you, but this should never be requested or expected by the tutor.
  • Tutors may also give small gifts to their student but any gift for a student must be discussed with a parent/guardian first. Learn To Be will not give out student addresses for gifts.

• Ensure that the background visible during tutoring sessions is clean and free of potentially offensive items, such as curse words, violent images, or other inappropriate materials.

• Smoking, alcohol consumption, and drug use are strictly prohibited while tutoring. Tutors must remain fully dressed and wear appropriate clothing during all sessions (see "Dress Code" for specific guidelines).

• If at any point during a tutoring session a tutor witnesses anything that could endanger a student such as suspected abuse by a family member or other person upon a student, a student that appears to be in medical distress, or a student who struggling with self harm, that tutor should inform a Learn To Be staff member, or call the authorities for help if the danger is immediate. Learn To Be will help tutors identify the best next steps on a case by case basis. Learn To Be also works with a mental health specialist to support when needed.

• Learn To Be staff members are Mandated Reporters and are therefore obligated to file a report with Child Protective Services if they witness any signs of abuse or neglect in a student’s home. However, LTB staff members do not witness these events firsthand, so they are unable to file reports on behalf of tutors. LTB staff will help tutors through the process of filing a report with CPS if that is the action the tutor feels is appropriate. Reports must be filed within 72 hours of witnessing an event.

• Learn to Be has a casual dress code, and all tutors should dress for tutoring sessions as though they would be meeting students or parents in person.

• Appropriate attire includes:

  • Clothing that would be considered appropriate if you were in a public setting. This can include a shirt and pants, shorts, or skirt, a dress, or other options. This could also mean other cultural dress that is appropriate to wear in public.

• Unacceptable attire includes:
  • Any attire that contains obscenities, racial, ethnic, cultural, gender, or other slurs, political statements, or other images or verbiage that could potentially be deemed as offensive to certain groups of people.
  • Attire that promotes or displays violence to self or others.
  • Swimwear.
  • Pajamas or bathrobes.
  • Any attire, or lack of attire, that reveals a tutor’s undergarments or body parts that would not be acceptable to be seen in public. Although your upper body is typically the only part displayed on camera, you must be fully dressed at all times during all tutoring sessions and events.