How I Protect Students | Wimpsett College & Career Prep

Student safety

Most of my students are minors. The rules below exist to protect them. They are not negotiable, even if a family offers to waive them.

Parents are always included. A parent or guardian is on the intake call, receives an update after every session, and is welcome to sit in on any session at any time without asking first.
No private channels with students. Scheduling and school communication go through a parent, or include a parent on the message. I do not direct message students privately on social media, and I do not use disappearing messages.
In person sessions happen in public or supervised spaces. A library, a school, or a home where a parent is present and aware. Never in a car, and never alone somewhere private.
Online sessions are recorded by default and shared with the parent. Note this also allows students to revisit topics in the session. See the recording rules below.
I report what I am required to report. If a student tells me something that suggests they are being harmed or are in danger, I will involve their parent and the appropriate authorities.
I work alongside schools, never around them. If a counselor or teacher wants to know what we are working on, I am glad to tell them with your permission.

Privacy and recordings

Recording protects everyone, but recordings of students are sensitive and treated that way.

Written consent before anything is recorded. A parent signs, and the student is told plainly what is being recorded and why. Students may say no. A family that declines recording can still work with me after further review and clarifications.
Only three people will see a recording: the student, a parent or guardian, and me. Recordings are never posted, shared as marketing, used as examples, or shown to another family.
Recordings are stored in a private, password protected account and are deleted within 30 days of the session, or sooner if a family asks. Sessions are not archived indefinitely.
Application information is seen only by me. Details from the application form, essays, transcripts, and score reports are never sold, shared, or used in advertising.
Nothing about your student goes public without written permission, including names, scores, photographs, or quotes. If I ever want to celebrate a student's result, I ask first, in writing, and a no costs you nothing.
You may ask me to delete everything I hold about your family at any time, and I will confirm when it is done.

Payments, cancellations, and refunds

The simplest test of a tutoring business is what happens to your money when something goes wrong. Here is mine.

You never pay for a session that does not happen. If I have to cancel, you are not charged. Packages work in increments, so if we end one early for any reason, unused prepaid sessions are refunded in full.
Cancellations need 24 hours' notice, and everybody gets one freebie package because life happens. Repeated no-shows can end a package, and if that happens, unused sessions or package increments are still refunded.
Semester packages are billed half at the start and half at completion. They are marked by weekly increments. Hourly sessions are paid as we go. I do not ask families to prepay months in advance.
Prices are on the website and do not change based on how much I think a family can pay. There are no consultation fees, application fees, or materials fees.
Hardship pricing is real and an important offering. Ask, and we work something out privately. It does not affect the quality or amount of attention your student gets.
Everything is in a written agreement signed by a parent before the first session, and you get a copy. Nothing in the agreement contradicts anything on this page.

Academic honesty

The fastest way to hurt a student is to do their work for them. Colleges are good at spotting it, journals are good at spotting it, and it teaches a kid that they could not have done it alone.

I never write a student's essay, application, or manuscript. I ask questions, react to drafts, mark what is unclear, and push for revision. The words stay theirs.
I do not do homework or take-home assessments. I teach the material until the student can do it, which is slower and works better.
If a school, journal, or conference asks whether a student worked with a paid mentor, the answer is yes. I will confirm my role in writing whenever asked. Programs that hide this are the ones to worry about.
I follow each organization's own rules on elections, grants, awards, and competitions, and I will tell a student no if a plan would break them.

Research ethics

Student research involving people is where a mentorship program can do real damage if it is careless. This is the part I am strictest about, and if a family or a school is not willing to do it properly, I would rather the project not happen.

The student's school has to be involved and willing. Before any project that involves people begins, a school administrator agrees in writing that the school is aware of the project and will host the review. If a school declines, we redesign the project so it does not involve human participants.
Review happens before recruitment, not after. The review panel follows the standard model for student research: a school administrator, a science or health science educator, and a qualified medical or mental health professional, with me participating as research mentor. I am one voice, not the deciding one, and I cannot approve a project by myself.
Written parental permission and student assent are required for every participant who is a minor, in plain language, before any data is collected. Participation is always voluntary and can be withdrawn at any point without consequence.
Data is anonymous wherever possible. We do not collect names, contact details, or identifying information unless a project genuinely requires it, and if it does, that is exactly what the review panel scrutinizes.
Data is stored in a password-protected account controlled by the student and their school, not by me personally, and it is destroyed once the project concludes and any publication process is complete.
The student owns their project. Their data, their drafts, and their findings belong to them and remain theirs if they leave the program early, finish with someone else, or never publish at all.
Sensitive topics get extra scrutiny. Projects touching on health information, mental health, or vulnerable populations either get built with additional scrutiny or redisigned entirely.
I never guarantee publication, and I say so before a family pays anything. Many good projects are never published. The finished work is the product.

Where my expertise ends: my statistical training is foundational, at the level of university introductory statistics with some R. That is enough for a strong high school survey project. It is not enough for complex modeling, and if a student's question needs that, I will say so and help them find someone who can do it properly.

Authorship and credit

A paid mentorship program that is casual about credit is one selling something it shouldn't be.

Payment never buys authorship, credit, or publication. Not for the student, and not from me. Money buys my time and teaching.
The student is first author on their own project. Always.
My role is decided in writing before work begins. In most cases I am acknowledged as research mentor. I am listed as a co-author only where my contribution genuinely meets the journal's own authorship criteria, and the student agrees to it.
On my philosophy/religion collaboration track, the student is not buying a credit. They are buying an apprenticeship in how this kind of research is done. If their contribution rises to the level a journal would consider authorship, we agree to that in writing at the time, and if it does not, they are acknowledged honestly. This is stated before anyone enrolls precisely so nobody enrolls expecting a line on a CV.
Any journal or conference fees are disclosed to you separately and are not part of what I charge. I do not receive any portion of them.

What I am not

I am a college student who recently did this well. Peer coaching is real help, and it has a ceiling. I would rather tell you where mine is than let you find out later.

I am not your student's school counselor, and nothing I do replaces them. They know your school, your district, and your student in ways I never will.
I am not a financial aid professional. I can explain how KEES and FAFSA work in general terms. Decisions about aid, loans, and what a family can actually afford belong with the aid office and with you.
I am not qualified for learning disability evaluation, IEP or 504 planning, or any clinical or mental health need, and I will refer those out immediately.
I do not tutor advanced mathematics. My own ACT Math score was a 27, and I teach Algebra and Geometry foundations only. For higher-level math, ask me, and I will help you find someone better suited.
I am new. This business opened in July 2026. I have real credentials but no long client history.

If I am the wrong person for what your student needs, I will tell you during the free consultation and point you toward someone better. That has already happened, and it will happen again. I would rather lose the work than take money for help I cannot give well.

How I protect students, in plain language.

Student safety

Privacy and recordings

Payments, cancellations, and refunds

Academic honesty

Research ethics

Authorship and credit

What I am not

Questions about any of this?