CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL HANDBOOK 2003-2004

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE
Welcome to Central School for the 2003-2004 school year. The administration, faculty and staff want to make this a very positive and profitable learning experience for each of you.

Although this handbook seems to be addressed to you, the student, it is also designed for your parent’s information and use.

We want you to have an enjoyable year with a lot of learning experiences. This year is very important to each of you as it is another step to your educational goals. We all must work together to assure you a quality educational year as a solid building block for your future.

In each classroom we will concentrate on academic achievement in a proper environment.Teachers will strive to make each and every class a learning experience.

If you have any questions or concerns please call me at 856-3311.

Gary Krokroskia
Principal-Central Elementary School
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CHILDREN LEARN WHAT THEY LIVE
If a child lives with criticism,
he learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility,
he learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule,
he learns to be shy.
If a child lives with shame,
he learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance,
he learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement,
he learns confidence.
If a child lives with praise,
he learns to appreciate.
If a child lives with fairness,
he learns justice.
If a child lives with security,
he learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval,
he learns to like himself.
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship,
he learns to find love in the world.
Kristone
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PLEASE DO NOT ALLOW YOUR CHILD TO ARRIVE
BEFORE 7:45 A.M. BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT
PROPERLY SUPERVISED.

IF YOU HAVE A SPECIAL REQUEST ABOUT YOUR
CHILD’S ARRIVAL TIME, PLEASE SEE
MR. KROKROSKIA.
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BREAKFAST AND LUNCH
Lunch is $1.60 and breakfast is $.90 per day. Reduced prices are $.40 for lunch and $.30 for breakfast. Students may purchase extra milk or juice at breakfast and lunch for $.30 per carton. According to the Kansas State Food Service Department students may not charge extra milk at meals. They must pay cash or have money in their account to pay for the milk.

Lunch and breakfast monies are due in advance. Students will not be allowed to charge more than $10.00 in meal fees. Students who owe $10 will not be allowed to charge any school meals. They must bring their lunch or lunch money daily until the past due amount is paid.

If paying for meals is a hardship for you, please make application for free/reduced price meals. Please contact the school office and an application form will be sent to you.
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ACCIDENTS
Accidents which involve injury to a person or damage to property should be reported immediately to the office or a teacher. An “accident report form” should be filled out as soon as possible by the supervisor on duty in the area where the accident occurred and turned in at the office.
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ACTIVITY AND FIELD TRIPS
Students must have a permission slip signed by their parent or guardian before they will be allowed to attend. As a part of a Central School Student’s Educational Program students are expected to take part in all practices for school programs, field and activity trips, and school programs outside of the school day. Activities are a part of the educational process and experiences designed by the school to teach group process skills and other skills and knowledge as an extension of classroom activities.

Students who are absent from an activity trip, field trip, or practice for a program during the school day are subject to the section “ATTENDANCE” as stated in the Central Elementary School Student Handbook.

Field trips and/or activity trips are considered a day of school and the learning experience will be designed with educational goals in mind. An absence therefore, will constitute an absence from a regular school day.
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ASSEMBLIES
During the year, assemblies will be held. They are for instructional and entertainment purposes. Assembly courtesy is a necessity at all times.
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ATTENDANCE
Regular attendance is essential for students in order for them to benefit from school. Please make every effort to have your child at school.

According to Kansas state law students are expected to attend school on a regular basis.
The Principal is the official Truant officer for the building and is required to report to appropriate state agencies if a student has had excessive absences.
Students are considered truant if they have 5 unexcused absences in a semester or are absent 3 consecutive days without being excused.

When an absence occurs the parent is required to notify the school as to the nature of the absence. A phone call to the school or a note upon the student’s return will suffice. If the school receives no phone call or note from the parent the absence will be considered unexcused. Excused absences are determined by the principal and may include the following:

• Personal illness - a Doctor’s note may or may not be required
• Illness in the family - all school work must be kept current, ex. death of a relative
• Observation of a religious holiday
• If a student is going to be gone for reasons other than the above examples, parents must meet with the principal prior to the absences to determine if the absence will be considered excused.
• After 10:00 a.m. a student is considered absent for the morning. Students must be present for at least 2 hours after their scheduled lunch break in order to be counted present for the afternoon period.

Early Dismissals: If a student is to be excused during the school day, he/she should have his/her parent/guardian come into the office to sign him/her out.

If You Become Ill At School: If you become ill at school, you should report to your teacher and then come to the office where an effort will be made to contact your parents/guardians or other responsible party. At no time are students allowed to leave school without the permission of the principal and/or their parents/guardians.

Prolonged Absence (3 days or more): If you are unable to attend school but are able to study at home, you should call the office to ask that your assignments be secured from your teacher. Prolonged absences many times result in failure unless the student is conscientious about his/her makeup work.
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TARDIES
Tardies make it difficult for students to keep up with their school work and interferes with the learning opportunities of other students. Every 3 tardies will equal one unexcused absence. Social rehabilitation services (SRS) will be contacted after 15 tardies in one semester.
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APPEARANCE
Appearance does have an effect on the learning atmosphere of the school. Neatness, decency, and good taste are emphasized as guidelines for the understanding and interpretation of this dress code. The code is not intended to work a financial hardship upon any student or family; neatness and good taste are emphasized, not expensive clothing.

Appearance must be neat and clean:

1. Hair and body must be clean and well-groomed.
2. Clothing must not be unreasonably soiled and must be free of offensive odors.

Decency and good taste are required:

1. The body must be sufficiently covered to insure modesty.
2. All shirts, blouses, and dresses shall have sleeves, and all shirts and blouses shall be long enough to be tucked into pants or shorts.
3. All shorts, skirts and dresses shall be of modest length in which the hem does not rise above the finger tips when hands are at the side in a relaxed position.
4. Shoes must be worn.
5. No hats, caps, headbands, bandanas or sunglasses are to be worn in the building.
6. Clothing with profanity, obscene or suggestive obscene writing, or alcohol, tobacco, and
   violent pictures may not be worn.
7. Any style of clothing that causes disruption or distractions will be deemed inappropriate by the Principal.
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DAMAGE TO SCHOOL PROPERTY
Materials rented from the school district will be checked by the teacher periodically for normal and reasonable wear. If textbooks or other materials rented from the school district are damaged beyond what normal and reasonable use would dictate, a fee will be assessed for the replacement value of these materials or textbooks.

If other school property is damaged purposely by a student, his guardian(s) or parent(s) will be notified by the principal and arrangements made for the cost of repair or replacement to be made to the district.
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AFTER SCHOOL LOADING
Buses will load west of the building in back of the school. If you are picking your student up by car, please use the east side of the building. Parents may use the entire length of the east curb for this purpose. Please urge your child to cross streets at corners on the way home and to use the crosswalks on the east side of the building when crossing in traffic after school.
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BUS CONDUCT
Any student who rides a school bus at any time will abide by the following rules:

1. The bus driver is in complete charge of the student and may assign seats as needed.
2. Unnecessary conversation with the driver is prohibited.
3. Outside quiet conversation and courteous classroom behavior is to be observed.
4. Students must not, at any time, extend hands, arms, or head out of the bus window.
5. Students are not to throw waste paper or other rubbish on the floor.
6. Students must stay in their seats while the bus is in motion.
7. Any damage to the bus is to be reported to the driver.
8. When leaving the bus students must observe the directions of the drivers.
9. No profane language will be tolerated.
10. Pop cans or bottles are not allowed on a bus route.
11. Pets or animals are not allowed to ride on buses.

If students will not ride a bus to and/or from school on a given day please notify the school, the driver or the bus barn at 856-3333.

For violating these rules, students will be reported to the school principal, who will schedule a conference with student and/or the parent.
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CAFETERIA PROCEDURES
We wish the students to enjoy lunch period as a social time with their fellow students.
Students may purchase either a hot lunch and/or breakfast. If a sack lunch is brought from home, a student may purchase milk to drink at $.30 a carton.
Courtesy and consideration are essential for enjoyment of the lunch period. Each student is expected to follow the necessary procedures in the lunch period.

1. All students must eat in the cafeteria. No one is to leave the
   school grounds without permission.
2. We have a closed lunch period with the following exception:
   a. If the parent/guardian comes into the building and signs the
   student out.
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PUNISHMENT
If a student has discipline problems, he/she could end up with a loss of recess time, in-school suspension (ISS), out-of-school suspension(OSS), detention after school, assigned to an alternative learning center (ALC), Saturday school, or corporal punishment (paddling). The normal procedure is for the teacher to work first with the student then with the parent and student. If paddling is necessary it will be witnessed by another certified staff member and will be administered to the buttocks only.

Corporal punishment will be used only as a last resort and as designated by U.S.D. 508 Board Policy. The intention will be for corporal punishment to be administered in a manner which will not destroy the dignity of the individual.

Corporal punishment should be administered in proportion to the gravity of the offense but should never be administered in anger.
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DETENTION
After school detention may be assigned to a student for behavior, or failure to complete assignments. Detention may be as short as 30 minutes or as long as 1 hour. Parents will be notified the day before the student has detention. Students failing to attend or being dismissed because of behavior will receive further consequences from the principal.
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ALTERNATIVE LEARNING CENTER
Students may be assigned ALC by the principal for misconduct, tardiness, failure to complete assignments, or truancy.

The ALC room will be located at the Middle School on the first floor. It will be supervised by a certified teacher and students will be expected to have good conduct and get their work completed.

ALC may be as short as a few hours or as long as a few days.
Students failing to attend or being dismissed because of behavior will receive further consequences from the principal.
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FIRE DRILLS

1. Fire drills will be held monthly and are signaled by acontinuous buzzer sound throughout the building.
2. When the fire alarm sounds, the building should be evacuated immediately.
3. All students should be directed beyond 60 feet from the building.
4. Go directly to the exit as indicated by your teacher during your walk through drill at the beginning of the year.
5. Students are to return to class upon the signal bell.
6. Teachers should count the number of students present once they are outside to insure all members of their class are accounted for.
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HEAD LICE
K.A.R. 28-1-6 (1) on head lice should be called to attention which states: “(1) Prediculosis: Students infested with lice shall be excluded from school or child care facilities until treated with an antiparasistic drug and until all nits have been removed.”
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LOST AND FOUND
Students finding lost articles are requested to turn them into the office immediately. Check in the office if you have lost articles. Items not claimed in a reasonable amount of time will be turned over to a charitable organization. CLOTHING IS EXPENSIVE!!!
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MEDICINE
No students are allowed to have medicine at school. If a student needs to take medication during the school day that medication must stay in the office. A medicine permission form must be signed by both the physician and the parent and kept on file in the office. This means prescription medication as well as any over the counter medication (aspirin, cough drops, allergy medicine, cough syrup, etc). The medicine must be in a properly labeled container and will be administered by the nurse or an authorized school official. No exceptions to this rule are allowed. If a student brings any medicine to school without a signed permission form a parent will be called to come pick up the medicine. Parents may check in at the office and administer medication to their child, if needed.
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NUISANCE ITEMS
Students are not allowed to USE OR HAVE IN THEIR POSSESSION on school premises: tobacco, drugs (unless prescription), weapons, dangerous toys, transistor radios, water guns, or other nuisance items. This includes pocket knives. This list will include any item in the opinion of school personnel that interferes with the learning - teaching process.
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SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS
From time to time, you will have a substitute teacher, who will have the SAME authority as your regular teacher. They are to be treated as GUESTS in our school.
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TELEPHONE MESSAGES AND USE
THE SCHOOL TELEPHONE is a BUSINESS PHONE, therefore, students will not be allowed to use the office telephone during the school hours, except in the case of an emergency.
If you want a message delivered to your child please call the school before 3:00 p.m.
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VISITORS
Sorry, we do not allow student visitors from other schools. Their presence sometimes interferes with an already busy and crowded schedule of teaching and learning.
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WITHDRAWAL FROM SCHOOL
Students who are withdrawing from school should notify their teacher and the office as soon as possible. Parents are asked to contact the office so that records may be handled properly and promptly and all debts taken care of.
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PARTIES
Holiday parties will be celebrated for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine Day, and Easter. All holiday parties and birthday celebrations will be held the last 30 minutes of the day.

Invitations to parties being arranged or held outside of the school will not be allowed to be handed out in school buildings or on school grounds unless the entire class is invited.

We will have a full dress up day in place of Halloween.
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DRUGS AND ALCOHOL
Any student while on school grounds, or in attendance at school activities held off of school grounds, who exhibits obvious symptoms of having consumed alcohol or is apparently under the influence of alcohol or other drugs, or who has possession of alcohol or other drugs, will face suspension and/or expulsion. While suspended or expelled, the student will be prohibited from participation in or attending school activities. Police and/or juvenile authorities will be notified of every drug/alcohol related incident.
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HOMEWORK
Homework may be picked up after school is out at 3:15 p.m. No classes will be interrupted to prepare or pick-up a student’s homework.
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