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Attendance
Appointments
Should you need to conference with a teacher, please contact the
teacher to arrange a time. If you would like to meet with the
principal please call the office to arrange a time. Teachers
are busy both before and after school preparing for class, attending meetings,
or correcting papers. It is a
courtesy to make an appointment and to stipulate the issues you wish to address
in the conference or meeting. This
allows the teacher and the principal time to gather information so that both
the parent and teacher/principal experience a productive conference or meeting.
If
a parent is upset about something, again, it is a courtesy to go to the teacher
to check out a story, rather than request to meet with the principal. The principal will intercede or mediate
if the parent or teacher is dissatisfied with the conference. Good communication prevails at St.
Clare, and we’d like to keep it that way!^
Gaining Entrance to the School
The front door of the school
is on a timer and can be opened by punching in the proper code at 8:05 a.m. The keypad is activated daily from 8:05 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. each evening,
except on week-ends and holidays.
This will allow those coming in for evening meetings to gain entry into the
school. Parents arriving at school
before or after that time may not use the pre-school door. Using that door or calling pre-school
employees to the door to allow you entrance takes away from their supervision
duties of our young pre-school children, not to mention the security risk it
poses. If you arrive before 8:05 a.m., you and your child should
wait until the front door is activated for entry.
If you are coming to a scheduled meeting
before the start of school, please make arrangements to enter the building with
the person you are meeting. ^
Absences ^
When a child returns to school after an absence, please send a
written excuse to the teacher via your child or by e-mail. The excuse should include the
child’s name, reason for the absence, date(s) the child was absent, and
the parent’s signature.
Please
make every effort to schedule doctor and other appointments outside of the
school day. Class schedules are posted
on the web to help you arrange appointments at an appropriate time. We also urge you to schedule vacations
when you know we will be out of school.
Standardized testing is an important assessment tool. Students should not miss school the week
of Stanford test taking (4/07-4/18), unless they
are ill.
Illness/Injury
at School ^
If a child says they are not feeling well in the morning,
we ask that you please seriously assess the situation. There are many times a child is ill
within the first hour of school, only to wait for the parent’s
return. If a child vomits or has a
fever they must stay at home until they have been vomit and fever free for 24
hours.
In the event a student becomes ill at
school, every effort will be made to contact the parent so that he/she can
assume responsibility for transportation and care of your child. Home is the best place for a sick
child. If a student incurs a minor
injury at school, basic first aid will be administered if the supervising
teacher or office personnel deems it necessary. Depending on the seriousness of the
injury, either an ambulance will be called and the parent notified, or the
parent will be called to pick up the child for medical assessment and treatment. Please keep your child’s emergency
information updated and inform the school office of new work numbers, emergency
contact numbers, and home phone numbers.
EXCUSED
ABSENCES (all absences are reported on the child’s transcript.)
The following reasons are considered excused absences:
ü
Student illness
ü
Illness at home
requiring student’s assistance
ü
Family emergency
ü
Court appearance
ü
Funeral
ü
Medical need
ü
Other reasons with
prearranged administrative approval
All absences excused or otherwise need to be followed up
with a signed note or e-mail from a parent or
guardian. Notes should be given to
the student’s teacher upon their return. Parents are to notify the school by 7:00 a.m., either by phone or e-mail, if their child will be tardy or absent from school that
day. If the office does not hear
from you regarding your child’s absence, you may be called at home or at
work to verify the whereabouts of your child. All absences are recorded on the report
card.
Homework During
Absence ^
Students who are absent due to illness or vacation are responsible
for asking their teachers about assignments missed during their absence on the
day they return to school. Students
will then have as many days to make-up the assignments as the number of days
they were absent.
Teachers
are not required to give assignments prior to a vacation or to prepare homework
for students who are ill. If
convenient, however, teachers may choose to do so. Parents who request homework for a sick
student should do so before 10:00am for pick-up at the end of the school day or
to be sent home with a sibling.
Please
remember that homework is posted daily on the St. Clare website at www.stclarepdx.org.
Late Arrivals
and Early Dismissal ^
Security is of paramount concern to teachers and
administration. As children leave
before dismissal for appointments or illness, or arrive late after the bell,
parents must sign them in/out.
Please come to the office and sign them in or out in the book provided
on the office counter. We
appreciate your consistent attention to this most necessary procedure.
It is essential that every
student have a good start to the day.
You would be amazed at how much an early morning “step out of the
routine” can throw off a student’s entire day. Every student should arrive by 8:05 a.m. to put things away, sharpen
pencils, put chairs down, etc. By 8:10 a.m., students should be in
their seats. Classes begin promptly
at 8:15 a.m. It is disruptive to the rest of
the class when a teacher must stop instructing in order to update a late
student. Please take seriously the 8:05 a.m. start time. You will be doing your son or daughter,
and the teacher a huge favor!
Early Student Release
If
you need to pick your child up early from school please alert your
child’s teacher to that so he/she can be prepared for the early
dismissal. Please check into the office first when coming to pick him/her
up. You will need to sign your
student out at that time. This
procedure is necessary in order to track everyone who is in the building. In case of a fire or emergency situation
we would have a record of those who had left the building early.
Student Release
Form ^
Your child(ren) will only be released to those authorized by you
with a handwritten note (this includes those you have listed on your
registration form for emergency pick-up).
If you make special arrangements to have a friend or relative pick up
your child during or after school, the office, daycare, and/or the homeroom
teacher must be informed in writing.
We will be asking the person picking up your child for ID before
releasing your child into their custody.
If we have not received, in writing, special instructions releasing your
child to someone other than yourself, we will not release them until we have
made contact with you. We ask that
you take this very seriously as this situation can pose an embarrassment for
those you have asked to pick up your child(ren).
We
need to know specifically what the legal visitation rights of non-custodial
parents are and rely on your cooperation to avoid embarrassing confusion. Students will be released during school
hours only after the adult coming to pick up the student comes directly to the
school office to sign the student out.
In addition, the school requests a copy of the court decree of custodial
authority and visitation rights.
Your cooperation in this matter will contribute to the safety and
security of your child(ren).