GMP Policies & Procedures

  1. Keeping Up with Homework
  2. Recommendation for Next Year
  3. Grades
  4. Computer Accounts
  5. Attendance
  6. GMP–Home School Agreement
  7. Safety and Health
  8. Cell Phone Use
  9. Emergencies
  10. Weather
  11. Behavior
  12. Make-up Testing
  13. Pick up and Drop off
  14. Academic Dishonesty
  15. Classroom Boundaries
  16. Reasonable Accommodation
  17. Directory Information

1. Keeping Up with Homework

Because GMP students only meet twice a week, completing homework on time is a necessity. Parents should check UB Learns for homework grades. Zeros usually indicate that a homework was not completed. We may schedule a parent conference when there is a pattern of missing homework.

If your child is struggling with the homework, you should make use of the Friday extra help session.

After all reasonable steps have been taken, we reserve the right to ask a student to return to his or her home school mathematics program if their work is unsatisfactory and they have failed to complete assignments after a reasonable make-up opportunity.

2. Recommendation for Next Year

In April, we will send recommendations for children to continue in GMP next year. Teachers generally recommend students who maintain a 90 average or higher.

3. Grades

We plan to mail grade reports to the schools in November, January, April, and June. You can also view your child's grades on UBLearns. Students are asked to check their grades regularly on UB Learns. We strongly encourage parents to also check homework grades on UB Learns. If your child is not keeping up with homework, you will see -1 for homework grades. Graders are instructed to enter a -1 when a homework is missing (except in the case of absence extensions.) The -1 may or may not be changed, depending on class policies, but is entered as a communication to parents that homework has not yet been submitted, but should have been.

4. Computer Accounts

All students have a computer account that can and should be used to check email, get assignments, check grades, pay tuition bills, and obtain transcripts. Accounts are obtained during GMP I orientation. Please contact our office if you have any difficulty getting or using your account. Be aware that you will no longer have the email account after leaving GMP, so you should not use it for college applications and other important correspondence that will go beyond your time here.

5. Attendance

Please make every effort to see that your child attends every class and is on time. If your child cannot attend class for whatever reason, a parent must complete our absence form. Students who are sick should obtain notes from a classmate and follow up with their teachers at the next class session regarding the missed material. In addition to filling out the absence form above, students with planned absences, such as for a concert, should email or talk to teachers in advance of the absence regarding missed material. Missed assignments can be found on UBLearns. Students can attend extra help sessions if there are questions on the assignment. Students will not be permitted to join a class through a video call, and class sessions will not be recorded for later viewing.

If your child needs to leave class early, there must be either 1) a signed note from parent brought directly to class and shown to the instructor, 2) an email from parent to the instructor with a return response acknowledging the email, 3) a call from parent directly to the instructor (Leaving a message is not a valid method until the instructor has acknowledged having received the message with a return correspondence.), OR 4) Parent pick up at door.

We discourage regular absences due to extracurricular activities that take place at the same time. Teachers and mentors are not required to provide make up tests or materials for students who are frequently absent due to optional extracurriculars.

Extended absences are problematic because they interfere with your students’ learning and with our commitment to the school and state to provide instruction. If a student has missed four GMP classes, the equivalent of two weeks, GMP administration will determine if it is in the best interest of the student to return to the home school. Without extenuating circumstances, students who have missed 4 or more classes in a school year and have any quarter grade below 85 will be released from the program.

6. GMP–Home School Agreement

It has been our agreement with local school officials that students in GMP will not be in mathematics classes at their home schools and consequently should not be taking exams that are written for their home school classmates. They should, however, take standardized tests and exams at their home school to satisfy state requirements. We send this information to the school liaisons, but also ask that parents communicate with their schools.

  • Grade 7 and below students must take the appropriate NYS Math Assessment usually held in April.
  • GMP II students will be prepared to take the NYS Regents Integrated Algebra exam in June.
  • GMP III students will be prepared to take the NYS Regents Geometry exam in June.
  • GMP IV students will be prepared to take the NYS Regents Algebra II exam in June.

We will also offer regents review sessions for each regents level (to be announced in May). We ask each year that parents of students in GMP II–VI check with their guidance counselors and view their permanent school records to see that appropriate mathematics credit (one unit for each year) has been awarded for work in GMP. It is important that records are in order for graduation and college admission.

7. Safety and Health

The physical safety and good health of GMP students is important to us. We ask you to discuss behavior and safety with your child. Please report any accident or incident to us. Be aware that the university is designed for older students so precautions that are routine in secondary schools (e.g., a nurse down the hall) are not available. The university does not take responsibility for student accidents.

If a child has an allergic reaction or other health issue during class, staff are instructed to first call UB Police Department at 645-2222 followed by calling the parent or guardian. Parents of students with allergies are asked to update the allergy action plan PDF document yearly, so that we may keep our staff informed about student allergies. Parents may be required to come at any time to pick up a child due to illness or injury.

It is in the best interest of the students not to arrive here hungry. We ask that your child have a healthy snack prior to arriving at GMP. Water will be allowed in the classroom, but food will be discouraged. There may be special events (Pi Day activities, e.g.), as determined by the teacher, when food will be allowed.

Our table listing numbers of current covid cases can be found here.

8. Cell Phone Use

We encourage all students to bring a charged cell phone to GMP to be kept out of sight during class. Students may use cell phones only before or after class, or during break. We understand that you may need to contact your child about pick-up plans or the like. So as not to interrupt class, we would like all cell phones to be set to a silent setting. Students can retrieve messages after class or at break.

If a student is checking their phone during class, we will ask the student to put it away. If there are repeat offenses, we will take the cell phone and return it after class.

9. Emergencies

In case of emergency, if it is necessary to contact students or staff during the time classes are in session, call Campus Police at 716-645-2222. Mention that you are participants in the Gifted Math Program, give the appropriate location of your child, and tell them your message. They will send an officer to the class to deliver the message. There are no telephones in most university classrooms so you will not be able to speak directly to students and this process takes several minutes. Please use this procedure only for emergencies (see also Cell Phone Use).

10. Weather

Be reminded that whenever the university itself is closed by emergency there is no GMP. We may, in special circumstances, cancel classes independent of the university. Cancellations will appear on local channels and their respective websites: WIVB.com and WGRZ.com. If you would like to sign up to receive a text message,PDF document we have an account through remind.com, which we use only for class cancellations. We will try to have messages regarding cancellation on our website and our phone system. We urge you to use your own judgment about coming during severe weather as conditions may vary across regions that GMP services.

11. Behavior

We ask you to discuss behavior with your child. Please report any behavior incident to us. Our interaction with the university community has been excellent, and we would like to maintain it.

Students should conduct themselves as they would in any school setting. They should be quiet in the halls and respectful of others. They are responsible for the honest completion and representation of their work, for the appropriate citation of sources, and for respect for others’ academic endeavors. They should avoid public displays of affection, abusive or foul language, racial or sexual innuendos and expressions, as well as menacing or intimidating behavior.

Behavior concerns may be addressed with a correspondence to home, or a parent conference and can result in dismissal if problems persist. We will also dismiss a student from GMP if their behavior is dangerous or irresponsible.

12. Make-up Testing

We will try to arrange make-up testing for students IF we are given at least a week's notice prior to a planned absence or IF the office is notified on the day of an unplanned absence. Make-up tests are normally scheduled during extra-help sessions on Fridays or during GMP office hours.

GMP V and VI final semester exams will have one pre-scheduled make-up time. Other times may involve coming during the school day. The UB letter grades are due soon after our last classes in December and May.

13. Pick up and Drop off

GMP I-III students should be dropped off at the University no earlier than 10 minutes before the start of class as we cannot consistently offer supervision prior to that time. Students must be picked up promptly at dismissal time. Our concerns here are both for student safety and for our obligation to the University to supervise children on campus.

Be attentive to the parking rules while dropping off and picking up your children at UB. When GMP cars stand out as holding up traffic, it leads to complaints and can be harmful to our program’s reputation in the UB community.

Specifically, do not block traffic, especially busses, or leave a car that is parked on the road where special permits are required. If you are pulled aside in these spots while waiting, be prepared to move for permitted vehicles. Do not wait in an area where there is only one lane, such as the section of Mary Talbert Way in front of Baird Hall. You may park in the lots, or stand in a carpool spot in a parking lot. Do not block cars from leaving parking spaces.

14. Academic Dishonesty

Academic Dishonesty includes the following:

  • Copying or near copying from another student's work, a solutions manual, answer key, internet or other source.
  • Looking at another student's work or any other resource during a test or quiz.
  • Sharing your work during a test or quiz.
  • Using any resources, such as texts, internet, or other people during a take-home test unless approved by instructor.
  • Looking at or using another student’s answers when doing test or quiz corrections.

If academic dishonesty is suspected, students may be asked to redo homework, or take a different version of a test or quiz, possibly in the presence of GMP staff or with additional problems. Students may be taken aside during class to discuss this privately. Recourse may also include a grade of 0 on the assignment, test or quiz. Repeated academic dishonesty may result in dismissal.

15. Classroom Boundaries

Unlike at a high school or middle school, our halls are open to the public. Parents may drop off and pick up students right at the classroom. We encourage this for students younger than 12 and require it for students younger than 11.

However, we ask that parents do not attempt to have important discussions with teachers and, especially, instructional assistants on class nights. Brief interactions such as dropping off a homework, planning for absence, or picking up a child early are appropriate. Interactions such as discussion of individual student needs, or complaints about grading or classroom policies should be addressed in a scheduled appointment. All discussions with instructional assistants are only allowed in the presence of a teacher or administrator.

16. Reasonable Accommodation

The University at Buffalo is committed to providing equal access to individuals with disabilities, including physical access to programs and reasonable accommodations for members of the university community.

17. Directory Information

Families will be sent a directory in the summer before each school year for students in your grade level. This includes names, phone numbers, addresses, schools and email addresses. If you would like to be excluded from the directory, please notify us in writing before July 1st each year.