Plymouth Balvihar operates under the following guidelines. All member families must abide by these operating guidelines.

1. Plymouth Balvihar has an agreement to utilize "Tiferet Bet Israel (TBI)" facilities from September through June, every Sunday from 2:20pm to 4:30pm. Changes to the schedule are announced by teachers and/or committee members as and when required.
   
   
2. New and current Plymouth Balvihar member families are required to complete an annual registration form each year.
   
   
3. Unless otherwise specified, Plymouth Balvihar will follow the schedule outlined below:
   
   

   Time	Children	Adults
   2:30pm to 2:45pm	Prayers (held in Culture class)
   2:50pm to 3:35pm	Culture class or Yoga class	Group discussion
   3:45pm to 4:30pm	Language class (Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi, Telugu)	Yoga class

   
   
4. Each child will be assigned to a language and spiritual class as per his or her age. The minimum age for enrollment is 5+ years (child attending or close to attending kindergarten). Each child is required to stay in their assigned seat for the duration of the class. Any special concerns are to be discussed directly with the teacher. The teacher has the final say in the classroom.
   
   
5. It is highly recommended that at least one parent from each Plymouth Balvihar family actively participate in its day to day operations in some capacity or other. We have noticed that this motivates the parent and the child and contributes to the overall success of Plymouth Balvihar.
   
   
6. We are required to vacate TBI facilities by 4:30pm . This means that any discussions beyond 4:30pm are to be held outside TBI facilities. Children who are not picked up by 4:35pm will go home with one of the volunteers. It is the parent's responsibility to make the necessary arrangement to pick up their child/children.
   
   
7. We are required to observe the following rules as related to the use of TBI facilities:
   • There are many classrooms at TBI. Please use only the rooms that have been assigned to Plymouth Balvihar. Please contact committee members if you have any questions.
   • Please try not to disturb or re-arrange the classroom furniture. If there is a need to do so then make sure that you put everything back the way it was.
   • Do not play with toys found in the classroom. They are not for our use.
   • The restrooms located in the hallway are the only ones that can be used.
   • There is no eating or drinking allowed inside the facility unless previously approved by the TBI officials.
     
     
8. In the event of inclement weather, the committee members will make a final decision as to whether Plymouth Balvihar will stay open or closed. It is the parent's responsibility to contact the committee members and/or the teacher in order to avoid confusion. Parents are advised to look up the Plymouth Balvihar website for weather related announcements.
   
   
9. Plymouth Balvihar will celebrate several events such as Father's day picnic, Field Trips, Diwali function, etc. throughout the year. All events shall be self-supporting. Parents are requested to contribute and participate in all these events.
   
   
10. Plymouth Balvihar has the following Web presence at this time.
    a) Visit us at http://www.plymouthbalvihar.org
    b) Email: plymouthbalvihar@yahoo.com or plymouthbalvihar@yahoogroups.com
    
    
11. All the operating procedures discussed above are subject to change with notice. Any questions or concerns are to be discussed with committee members only.

..................................................................................................................................................................................................

Standard Operating Procedures for Event Expenses

Reimbursements
		Submit copies of receipts on 8.5 x 11 paper so that Balvihar can file them easily. Write your name, date, event and the purpose of the expense on the copied receipt.
		Event coordinators should collect all these receipt copies and verify them for accuracy.
		Event coordinators should submit these approved receipts to treasurer for reimbursement.
		Event coordinators should collect and distribute the reimbursement checks to the appropriate parties.
Process of collections
		Event coordinators should stamp back of checks with the Balvihar account number and enter these checks on a deposit slip. Also should count all the cash and enter on the deposit slip. Event coordinators should write the total amount on the deposit slip, verify the total amount from the signup sheets and turn the total account to the treasurer.
Treasurer Role
		Treasurer will issue reimbursement checks for event expenses only when they are verified and signed by event coordinators. President/Vice President will have the override authority for exceptions.

..................................................................................................................................................................................................

Donations

		Specify donation amount. Give cheque to Treasure and coordinate reciept from same Treasurer.
		If you are in possesion of a reimbursment reciept and want to donate the money, specify before submission of reciept.
		If you are in possesion of an uncashed Balvihar Check, Return it before seeking a donation reciept.

..................................................................................................................................................................................................

Email Guidelines

Email is a powerful communication tool that should be used for informative/interactive communications, build relationships and help Plymouth Balvihar to be known as a model community in the Philadelphia area.

These guidelines widely cover any communications among Balvihar members and communications between Balvihar members and outside parties.

Guidelines:

Tone: Prepare an email by keeping the tone of message in mind. We are not in business to hurt anyone. If an issue needs attention, give a reasoning behind and request to cooperate. Failure to achieve the results to multiple requests should be brought to the attention of Operations Committee.

Mood: Every human being goes through different moods based on the circumstances. PLEASE do not initiate/respond to email messages when you are not in a good mood. If the email/response has to be sent out urgently, just postpone it for 15 minutes.

Content: Please keep the content to minimum possible and keep/highlight the important details in the top of the message. People often read only the first few lines of a lengthy message.

Timing: Timing of an email is very important in every communication. Try to send an email during the time that is more likely to be read by others. If a series of emails are coming out at the same time as you are planning to, you may want to wait for a day or two to send your message.

Quality and Clarity: When an email is prepared, review it for quality and clarity. If it is not clear to the intended party, the chances of being read by them are zero. Also, the intended party can misunderstand the message.

Recipient: Please keep recipient in mind while preparing/responding to an email. An email to a recipient that will not add value will be a waste of time for all parties involved. Often times, people tend to reply to “all” with a message that has no value. Please abstain from these practices in consideration of others time.