PARENT INFORMATION



The following information has been determined to be extremely important information that parents need to know. We have put together this information due to the fact that we have had some concerns in the past with all of these areas and we would very much like to reduce any areas where there could be misunderstanding and/or problems. Please read through the material and acquaint yourself with the information with which you need to be aware.

Important dates for your planning calendar for the 2007/2008 school year. Please try to keep these dates available for your child’s conferences.

Conferences - Fall - November 26 – December 30, 2007 – Evening Conferences -November 28, 2007.

Spring – April 15–18, 2008 – Evening Conferences – April 17, 2008


Report Cards – 1st Marking Period – Progress Reports October 12, 2007

Report cards issued November 20, 2007


2nd Marking Period - Progress Reports December 20, 2007

Report cards issued February 8, 2008


3rd Marking Period - Progress Reports March 7, 2008

Report cards issued April 11, 2008


4th Marking Period - Progress Reports May 22, 2008

Report cards issued June 20, 2008


ATTENDANCE POLICY AND PROCEDURES

The laws of the State of New Jersey require regular attendance of all pupils enrolled in the public school system. The school cannot properly instruct students who are not present. Poor attendance limits accomplishments and reinforces a habit, which will impact negatively on the students’ achievement levels as well as the students’ futures. Frequent absence of pupils from regular classroom learning experiences disrupts the continuity of the instructional process. Please be aware that the Roxbury Township School District Regulation R5410 titled “Promotion and Retention” contains the following requirement:

A PUPIL WITH LESS THAN 150 DAYS ATTENDANCE IN GRADES PRE-K-8 WILL NOT BE PROMOTED TO THE NEXT GRADE LEVEL. IN GRADES 9-12, FEWER THAN 165 DAYS DURING THE SCHOOL YEAR.

Individual circumstances will be taken into consideration. However, if a student is not in school for 150 days of required attendance there will be a strong possibility that the student will be required to repeat the grade the following year.

PROMPT PICKUP OF STUDENTS AFTER SCHOOL EVENTS - Prompt parental pickup is a must after a field trip, after school activity, or any other Lincoln/Roosevelt School function where students are being picked up by parents. There will be a consequence if parents are late without notifying teachers that they are not going to pick up their child at the pre-arranged time. Please be considerate and remember that teachers may have other obligations after they have finished their commitment at school and when a parent is late picking up a child the teacher is put in the position of having to stay to watch a child and miss an important appointment. We thank you in advance for making the effort to be on time to pick up your child.

FIELD TRIPS - When parents are asked to be chaperones on any Lincoln/Roosevelt School field trip the following tenets apply:

Teachers are in charge at all times on any field trip! No parent is to give any directions to students that contradict a teacher’s directions.

Parents are not to wander off from the group at any time and take their child with them without teacher permission. 

NO alcoholic beverages or tobacco products are to be consumed or used during any Lincoln/Roosevelt School trip by any parent.

Cell phone use should be limited to emergency use only.

STUDENT DROP-OFF BY CAR IN THE MORNING – We have two drop off spots in the morning. You may drop off your child either in the morning drop-off area in front of the Roosevelt Building or in the rear of the Board of Education Building in the designated drop-off lane. It is strongly recommended that you have your child take advantage of bus transportation that is provided so that we do not have so many vehicles dropping off students in the morning. The drop-off system is difficult to control because everyone is in a hurry to get where they need to go in the morning. In either location, please use extreme caution and good judgment when dropping your child off. Also, as you pull up to the drop-off have your child ready to exit the vehicle so as not to hold up the cars waiting behind you. DO NOT PARK YOUR VEHICLE UNDER UNDER CIRCUMSTANCES DURING DROP-OFF TIMES.

PICKING YOUR CHILD UP FROM SCHOOL

If your child must leave early please send a note with your child in the morning indicating that you will be picking up the child. Indicate the reason you are picking up your child and what time you plan to pick him/her up.

If the child is being picked up at regular dismissal a note is needed. The child will be expected to be picked up in the main office.

STUDENTS ASKING TO GO HOME ON A BUS OTHER THAN THEIR ASSIGNED BUS – Students are not allowed to change buses and go home on any other bus than their assigned bus. This is a policy of the Transportation Department and cannot be altered at the individual schools. Notes from parents asking for bus changes cannot be honored.

VISITING THE SCHOOL – Whenever a parent visits the school for any reason we ask that they sign-in at the office and obtain a visitor’s pass prior to going anywhere in the school. (After completing their business, visitors need to sign out in the office.)

EVENING EVENTS – No students are to attend any evening events or performances without a parent or chaperone. Any student in attendance without proper chaperones will be asked to call home and be picked up. In the past students have been dropped off and people running the activities have had to assume responsibility for the students’ behavior.

AGENDA BOOK – We ask that all parents check their child’s agenda book on a nightly basis. We also ask that all parents encourage the regular use of the agenda book by their child. We are committed to improving the organizational skills of our students and the regular and encouraged use of the agenda book is an easy first step toward that goal.

PARENT PARKING – Please do not park in the teachers’ parking lot when you come to school for events. We have opened up a parking area on the field behind the Grey Building for parents who are visiting for field trips and/or large group activities that require many parent parking spaces. Also do not park in a space designated for a specific district employee.

EARLY DISMISSAL DAYS – CLUBS AND ACTIVITIES – Clubs and other after school activities will not meet on days when school is dismissed early. Students will be sent home on their regular buses.

EARLY DISMISSAL PTA PHONE CHAIN – The Lincoln/Roosevelt PTA does provide a phone chain notification calling system for the convenience of the parents at Lincoln/Roosevelt School. The calling system is designed to try to alert parents that some situation exists that has caused the school to:

1. Open late

2. Close early

3. Close for the day

4. Change some aspect of the school schedule due to an emergency situation.

Please be aware that we have 700 students at Lincoln/Roosevelt School. Contacting 700 families on any occasion is not an easy job. When it is being done quickly by parent volunteers for an emergency situation it only makes the job tougher. People change phone numbers and forget to update the PTA list, people are not home to get the call, and sometimes when dealing with multiple-parent households a parent gets the notification and does not pass it on to the parent who has the child at that time.

We also have an e-mail notification system but you need to sign up for that service at the beginning of the school year in order to receive the e-mail notification of the emergency situation. Please sign up and take advantage of this means of sharing information.

The PTA phone chain is provided as an extra means of notifying parents of an emergency. If the weather is bad you always need to listen to the radio stations or go to the official Roxbury web site www.roxbury.org to obtain the latest up-to-date information about emergency situations.

Also, every parent needs to make prior arrangements to make sure that their child has a place to go or is able to get into their house when school is dismissed early. Pre-planning is imperative in order to ensure the safety and well being of every student at Lincoln/Roosevelt School.

Please note – if your child is enrolled in the Roxbury Day Care Program after school they will go home on their regular bus since the Day Care Program is not in session on emergency early closing days. This has been standard operating procedure for many years at Lincoln/Roosevelt School

Please create an emergency plan for your family so that everyone knows exactly what to do in an early dismissal procedure. Most storms are predicted days in advance and it should not be a complete surprise when the schools are dismissed early for storm-related reasons.

UPDATING INFORMATION ON EMERGENCY CARD – Please make it a point to contact the main office and the nurse’s office to update any emergency information on the emergency card such as phone numbers, emergency contact information, medication information, or marital status if there are changes in custody.

SCHOOL HOURS – Students may enter the building at 8:26 am. NO student should arrive prior to 8:25 am since there is no supervision for the children. Homeroom begins at 8:40 am. A student is late if he/she arrives after homeroom begins. School dismisses at 2:58 pm. Early dismissals occur at 1:17 pm.

STUDENT INSURANCE – In September, a form will be sent home with information about school insurance that is available for your child at very reasonable rates. Please check out what is available and what is covered and consider purchasing the insurance if you find what is offered to your liking.

ADMINISTERING MEDICINE AT SCHOOL – The Roxbury Township Board of Education policy No. 5330 regarding the administration of medication to students is as follows:

According to the policy, “medication” means any prescription drug or prescribed over-the-counter medicine. This also includes such medication as Tylenol and cough drops.

The following guidelines must be followed when the administration of medication in school is necessary:

The parent or guardian and private physician must provide a written request for the administration of the prescribed medication at school.

The physicians written order must include the following:

Diagnosis or type of illness involved

Name of the medication

Dosage

Time of administration

Time when its use will be discontinued

Side effects

Currently dated medication must be brought to the Health Office by the parent/guardian in the original labeled container. (Most pharmacies will provide you with an extra bottle properly labeled for school.)

Medication no longer required must be promptly removed by the parent/guardian.

The school nurse or parent/guardian are the only persons permitted to administer medication in the school. Students with asthma or other potentially life threatening illnesses will be allowed to self-administer medication when a nurse is not physically present at the scene. Permission for such administration must be on file in the office of the school nurse and comply with the conditions for granting permission.

Medication permission slips may be obtained from your school nurse.

LOST AND FOUND – Every year we accumulate a tremendous amount of clothing and belongings, (jackets, sweatshirts, sweatpants, hats, gloves, lunchboxes, etc.) which are never claimed by anyone. Many of the items are expensive. A number of Roxbury jackets complete with first names on the front panel as well as many expensive brand-name sweatshirts and jackets are also regularly in the lost and found collection. If your child is missing something expensive (we cannot figure out how children forget to wear home their winter jackets in the winter???!!!) please come in and look in our lost and found and see if you can reclaim your lost item.

USE OF THE PHONE BY STUDENTS – The use of the telephone in the Main Office by students is limited to emergency use only. A forgotten lunch, instrument, or book is not considered an emergency. 

SENDING MESSAGES TO STUDENTS BY WAY OF OFFICE – Due to the high volume of telephone calls to the Main Office please do not call the office to pass on a message to the student during the school day. It not only interrupts the office but also the classroom.

LUNCH INFORMATION - Lincoln/Roosevelt has two cafeterias serving lunch every day. The cost of the main hot lunch is $2.35. On a daily basis bagel and yogurt, hot dog, salad, sub sandwiches, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are available, as well as a variety of snacks.

LINCOLN/ROOSEVELT PTA – Lincoln/Roosevelt has a very active PTA. Packages of information and forms are sent home during September. Please read and return all forms. Also, please consider joining our PTA and attending our monthly PTA meetings in the Lincoln Auditorium. Meeting dates are listed on the district calendar.

LINCOLN/ROOSEVELT E-MAIL NOTIFICATION SYSTEM - You will be getting a form from the school that will contain information about the e-mail notification system we have in place at Lincoln Roosevelt School. The school will send you e-mail about such things as emergency school closings, school functions, and other important information about which parents should be aware. Please take the time to sign up for this important service when the form comes home in September.

PARENTS BRINGING STUDENTS BACK TO SCHOOL FOR HOMEWORK, BOOKS, OR OTHER FORGOTTEN ITEMS – It is certainly an allowed practice for parents to drive students back to school to pick up forgotten items. HOWEVER, two things need to be stressed:

Parents should not make it a habit to bring students back to school to retrieve forgotten items on a regular basis. Poor organizational skills are enabled when children are constantly allowed to return to school to obtain things they should have remembered to bring home.

No student should enter the building without a parent when they come back to Lincoln/Roosevelt after hours. Also, no parent or student should ever be in a classroom without a custodian present. Find a custodian and they will escort you to the classroom.

Last Updated: July 24, 2007