Prince Street Elementary 2023-2024

SCHOOL PROCEDURES AND PRACTICES Principal: Mr. Jason L. Miller Assistant Principals: Ms. Sheree Douglas-Johnson & Ms. Kimberly M. Waters Dean of Students: Ms. Shannon N. Vaughan 2023 – 2024 WICOMICO COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS Prince Street Elementary School

1 The mission of our school community is to provide a safe school setting of academic excellence through the use of effective teaching techniques, ideas, and technology. MISSION STATEMENT Schoolwide Rules

2 To enter the office, please park in the main parking lot (front lot) and ring the bell to enter. You will need to state your name and purpose for entering. For the continued safety of all scholars, in order for a student to be dismissed or picked up in a different manner than their normal way home, a note will need to be sent in to the main office. If there is no note, the scholars will have to be dismissed their normal way. When your student needs to leave early, please help us by sending a note saying what time they are to be dismissed. Your child will then give the note to their teacher and they will send it down with the attendance for the day. Please do not call the office asking us to have your child ready. Instructional time is very important and the student should be in class as much as possible. Thank you for your assistance. For your convenience in direct dialing, please keep these numbers in a handy spot: PSS Main Office 410-677-5813 PSS Fax 410-677-5865 PSS Nurse’s Office Ninevetch Bautista, RN & Dorothy Burks, CNA 410-677-5838 PSS Nurse’s Office Fax 410-630-4369 PSS Community Outreach Coordinator Elizabeth Bacon 410-677-5215 The hours for Prince Street School are 7:30am – 3:00pm. Scholars may arrive no earlier than 7:30am and must be picked up No later than 3:00pm. There will not be anyone on duty prior to or after these hours. On early dismissal days, our dismissal time is 11:30pm. Due to recent school safety concerns and the unfortunate events that have happened in schools across our nation, we will move forward this year as we did last year. While we want our parents and visitors to be welcome in our school, we also want to be able to ensure the integrity of safety for everyone. As a result, all parents and visitors wishing to visit a classroom are asked to contact the school and obtain permission from the principal or principal designee prior to their entry. This will enable us to monitor the number of individuals in the building at one time and their location for security purposes. We will still be hosting school events such as parent nights, specific award ceremonies, concerts, and other events where families and visitors are welcome. You will be notified of these events in our school newsletter as well as our Sunday night calls. Teachers on each grade level will also be hosting specific events throughout the year where you will be invited to come in to see a special activity or project your child is working on in the classroom. As you know, school safety and security is the top priority for all students and staff in our building. We greatly appreciate your understanding of our desire and need to keep your child(ren) and our staff as safe as possible. • Parents/guardians interested in seeing a specific class or in visiting on a particular day should first check with the scholars’ teacher so they can advise of best times to come or any times when it’s better not to come, such as when a field trip, student assembly or testing is scheduled. • Present a driver’s license or other government-issued photo ID to sign in and receive a visitor sticker to wear when visiting during the school day. This routine screening with the Raptor system takes place whether one visitor is coming through the office or 50 visitors, so please allow time for this important step to protect the safety of our scholars. When done, please exit through main office and turn visitor sticker in. • Only authorized visitors may come into our school to visit a student. For someone other than a parent/guardian to visit, a parent/guardian must make a written request to the school at least 48 hours prior to the person’s visit. All visitors must be over age 21. Unless the school has planned babysitting services, please do not bring young children or strollers with you during your visit. Questions should be directed to the school principal. MAIN OFFICE INFORMATION SCHOOL HOURS TIPS FOR VISITING IN WICOMICO COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

3 • Watch for announcements from the school or schools in which your family has scholars to find out what classroom activities and special events are coming up for you to observe and participate in. Visitors are also welcome during routine classroom instruction. • While in the building, please support instruction by practicing good visitor etiquette: cell phone on silent or vibrate, no outside food or drink, hats and outerwear removed, etc. No videotaping is permitted of any kind. The taking of photos of any child other than your own is also prohibited. ATTENDANCE PROCEDURES Any student who arrives at school after the 8:00am bell will be considered tardy. The student will need to be signed in by an adult when arriving. Scholars who wish to be excused from school early must bring a signed note from their parent or guardian including the reason for the request and the time of desired dismissal. Absence Notes - A note is required for an excused absence. Such notes would include doctors' notes, notices of court summons or a copy of an obituary from a death in the family. Notes must be submitted within 5 days after returning to school from the absence. Notes from parents may be submitted for other absences and will be filed to provide support in case of an attendance appeal. Only 5 parent notes will be accepted per year. Once this limit is reached, only doctor’s notes or physician’s certificate will be accepted. Late Arrival / Early Dismissal – A student must be signed in by a parent when arriving to school after 8:00am or prior to leaving at dismissal. A student must be in class for a minimum of 4 hours to receive credit for a full day. A half day requires a minimum of 2 hours in class. Once a student accumulates 9 tardies and/or early dismissals within a school year, they will be placed on an Attendance Intervention Plan. Nine or over is considered “excessive”. Please be aware that scholars who are absent may not attend any afterschool event that day. This includes; sock hops, music/band concerts, talent show, after-school programs, promotion, etc. Should your child be lawfully absent for 3, 5 or 10 days, the computer will automatically generate a letter. At 10 days lawfully absent, a student’s attendance will be referred to a Pupil Personnel Worker. At 15 days lawfully absent, Truancy Court proceedings will begin. Scholars should strive to be in school all day, every day. Consistent full-day attendance supports scholars in achieving academic success, graduation, and development into productive members of society. Parents/guardians and scholars should review the Student Attendance Policy and Student Attendance Procedure to know the rules for excused and unexcused absences for everything from family vacations to college and employer visits to student illness or death in the immediate family. Scholars who have more than 5 unexcused absences in a marking term must successfully complete an attendance intervention plan to avoid failing the marking term. An attendance intervention plan may involve the student staying after school for up to two hours a day, with parents/guardians responsible for alternative transportation home if needed. Student attendance is a family responsibility. Vacation requests, while excused, are now limited to three days per school year.

4 Our school seeks to serve the needs and best interests of each student; therefore, it is our goal to help scholars in problem situations. If you have a problem, please contact the following persons: 1. Contact the child’s teacher. 2. Contact the School Counselor, Student Advisor or Dean of Students. 3. Contact the Assistant Principals or Principal. Our school operates on a 6-day cycle, A through F days for scheduling special area classes. Art, music, band, strings, T.A.D, enrichment, and physical education will be scheduled for letter days rather than days of the week. For instance, your child might have PE on A, C, E days. As tennis shoes are required for physical education classes, it is suggested that your child wear (or bring) his/her tennis shoes daily rather than risk a zero for improper shoes. If your child needs to take medication in school, he/she must have a Physician’s Medical Order Form. This applies to all prescription medications as well as all over the counter medications. We are not allowed to administer any medications without this form. This includes cough drops. There are scholars who require emergency medication in school such as inhalers for chronic asthma and Epi-pens for severe allergic reactions. For your child’s safety, please have your doctor fill out the Medical Order Form and bring the order and the medication to our school nurse as soon as possible so that, in case of an emergency, we will be able to help your child. If we have no way to help, our only alternative is to call 911. Please be reminded that all medications must be brought to school by an adult. If you have any questions about medication, please contact our school nurse. In order to increase safety this year, we will be implementing the School Dismissal Manager app. Bus riders: Scholars are expected to ride their regular bus home unless a change of schedule is completed in the School Dismissal Manager app. Car Riders: Everyone picking up a scholar in the car rider line will need to scan the QR code as they enter. The QR code will allow you to begin scanning and entering the line at 1:30pm. Scholars who arrive and/or depart by car every day OR scholars who arrive and/or depart by car on particular day(s) must indicate this information in the School Dismissal Manager app. Walkers: Scholars who are walkers will be dismissed last. Any parent waiting on the sidewalk or on Spring Avenue to pick up their child will need to scan the QR code on the sidewalk and wait for their scholar to exit. Scholars may not be dismissed from the classroom without a confirmation call from the office. Please sign out your child in the office and he/she will be called to meet you in the lobby. HOW TO GET HELP WITH A PROBLEM 6-DAY CYCLE MEDICATION POLICY DISMISSAL PROCEDURES

5 At Prince Street, we believe in family. Not only are we all a part of one large Prince Street family, but we also have a system of smaller families called Houses within the school. Every scholar and staff are part of one of our five Houses, for which they remain a member throughout the duration of their time at Prince Street. Our five Houses—Kuleana, Jabari, Kuumba, Valentía and Goo Hae-Ra—bring scholars and staff from across the school together for a common purpose and bond. Scholars of the House aim to earn points daily by showing positive character, working hard, earning good grades, being a great friend and going above and beyond, just to name a few. Ultimately, each House is striving to earn the most amount of points at the end of the year, crowning them House Champions. Each month, Houses meet to come up with House goals, cheers, celebrations, team building, and unique traditions. During House celebrations, three members of each House are selected to spin the wheel to help earn extra House points. This tremendous honor is further rewarded by having an opportunity to write their name on the brick wall outside the gym. We encourage scholars and staff to show their House pride as much as possible. Each Friday is House Pride Friday and scholars can wear their House shirt. Prince Street is proud to offer this innovative and positive program to our scholars! Please see below for each House’s name, origin, meaning, color, and animal: House Name Origin Meaning Color Animal Kuleana Hawaiian Responsibility Blue Kangaroo Jabari Swahili Integrity Black Rhino Kuumba African Creativity Yellow Elephant Valentía Spanish Courage Orange Lion Goo Hae-Ra Korean Perseverance Purple Wolf MBLIES HOUSE SYSTEM

6 Many times, families change telephone numbers or cell phone numbers, change jobs, and even move during the school year and forget to let the school know. It is vital that we have a current address and contact information for your family in case your child becomes ill or injured during the school day. We also need to be able to contact you via School Messenger in the event of a weather delay or dismissal, field trip arrival change, etc. Please contact the school office to make any necessary changes to your address, telephone contacts, or emergency contacts throughout the school year. If you move out of the Prince Street district at any time, you will need to provide two new proofs of residency. Each marking term, an Honor Day Assembly will be held to recognize scholars for their achievements in academics and behavior. We will again be using an online student management system this year, the RCA app. More information will be coming home. Stay tuned! CHANGES TO STUDENT/PARENT INFORMATION HONOR DAY ASSEMBLIES

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