WESTSIDE INTERMEDIATE STUDENT HANDBOOK Principal: Ms. Christina Stewart Assistant Principal: Ms. Heather Cherry 2023-2024 Wicomico County Public Schools
Welcome to your child’s agenda! Wicomico County uses the student agenda in many ways. It is a place for your child to stay organized by recording homework assignments daily and keeping track of other important dates. It is also a communication device between parents and teachers. If you have a question or comment for your child’s teacher, write it in his/her agenda and look for a reply that evening! Check your child’s agenda every night, so you can be informed when assignments are due, as well as projects and special events in the classroom. Teachers will send notes home in your child’s agenda, so be sure your child brings it home every night to be checked! We are excited and honored to have your child attend Westside Intermediate School! Please feel free to contact the school office if you have questions or need information at any time. We welcome and encourage parent involvement and look forward to seeing you in our building! -Westside Intermediate Staff SCHOOL INFORMATION Westside Intermediate School 8000 Quantico Road Hebron, MD 21830 Telephone: 410-677-5118 Fax: 410-677-5138 Website: http://wis.wcboe.org Facebook: Westside Intermediate School
MISSION STATEMENT The mission of Westside Intermediate School is to foster a caring and safe environment in which all children are provided the opportunity to learn rigorous content with the prospect for individual growth and achievement. This educational foundation will enable learners to become responsible and productive citizens in a diverse and technological society. SCHOOL HOURS 9:15 A.M. TO 3:45 P.M. Students may arrive no earlier than 8:45 a.m. and must be picked up no later than 4:15 p.m. There will not be anyone on duty prior to or after these hours. Please always enter our building from the large parking lot (Quantico Road), as other doors remain locked for the safety of our students and staff. ALL visitors MUST visit the school office before going to any location in the building. This procedure is designed to protect children and the staff. Please always follow the procedure. EARLY DISMISSALS On days, that school is scheduled for early dismissal, our dismissal time is 12:45 p.m.
SCHOOL ATTENDANCE School attendance is extremely important. When your child is home not feeling well or sick, when he/she returns to school you must send in a note within five days of the absence for it to be considered a lawful absence. This will assist us in keeping accurate records of lawful (excused) and unlawful (unexcused) absences. If you wish to pick up your child’s homework, please call the school by 9:15 a.m. and we will try to have it ready in the office by the close of school the same day. Our school messenger system makes an automated call to make sure you are aware of each day missed. We keep a close eye on all our students, making sure they are here on time each day. Feel free to contact the school office if there is a concern or if your child will be absent for an extended period. Please keep in mind that classes begin at 9:15 a.m. and instruction ends at 3:45 p.m. For your child to be successful, he/she needs to be in school on time each day! Please try to plan vacations when children are not in school so that instruction is not missed. Missed instruction means breaks in learning. Help us help your child be successful! Please be aware that students who are absent may not attend any after-school events on that day. 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. Also, please be aware that a student signed out prior to dismissal will be marked as an early dismissal. Please keep in mind that when your child arrives late for school, he/she must be signed in by an adult in the office. This is a safety precaution. Absence from school without parent's/guardian’s consent (truancy) is not acceptable. Truancy is unexcused; therefore, disciplinary actions will follow as stated in the Wicomico County Code of Conduct. If a student receives more than five unexcused absences, an attendance plan will be implemented with interventions.
6-DAY CYCLE Our school operates on a 6-day cycle, A through F days for scheduling special area classes. Art, Music, Media, Band, Strings, T.A.D. and Physical Education classes will be scheduled on letter days rather than days of the week. For example, your child might have Physical Education on A Day, C Day and E Day. Also, remember tennis shoes are required for Physical Education class. DRESS CODE See the Dress Code in the Wicomico County Code of Conduct section. WEATHER DELAYS, CLOSINGS, AND DISMISSAL If there is inclement weather and school is delayed, closed, or dismissed early, you will receive a school messenger telephone call on your home or cell phone via Thrillshare. You can check the website, www.wcboe.org. As always, local radio and television stations will also broadcast the information. Please remember, students may not arrive at regular time on delayed days, nor may they remain in the building if school is dismissed early. MEDICATION POLICY 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. There are students 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 the parent/guardian. If you have any questions about medication, please contact our school nurse. DISMISSAL Bus riders: Students are expected to ride their regular bus home unless a note is provided to the office in the morning. Car riders: Students who arrive and/or depart by car every day may be enrolled in our car rider program. Consistent day car riders are given car tags and may be picked up in our car rider circle. Students who are occasional car riders must be signed out in the office, and drivers must park in our designated parking area.
Students 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. FAMILY PORTAL We will provide parents an opportunity to monitor their child’s grades through the Family Portal capacity of our student information management system. They will need to include an active phone number on the student information form to access the system as we encourage them to view the gradebook. Progress Reports and Report Cards will now be posted on Family Portal. For security reasons, passwords are reset at the end of each school year. Log in instructions for Family Portal are as follows: Login ID: student’s full last name (all lower case, special characters and spaces removed, not to exceed 14 characters) + first initial of student first name + the last 4 digits of the student’s Social Security Number. Password: Student’s 5-digit lunch number (available from your student or call the school). This is temporary; the parent will choose a new password the first time they log on. Example: Your student is John A. Smith-Jones with the social security number xxx-xx-1234. John’s lunch number is 98765. The login id will be smithjonesj1234 and the temporary password is 98765. MEDIA CENTER Books may be signed out from the Media Center for a period. If the book is not returned on or before the date it is due, you will be fined each day beyond the due date. When the overdue book is returned, the fine no longer accumulates. If a book is lost, the student will be charged the replacement cost of the book. The cost of books is very expensive, so great care should be exercised in handling of books. No book is to be taken out of the media center until media personnel have properly checked it out. Violation or abuse of media center procedures will result in the loss of media privileges. CHANGES TO STUDENT/PARENT INFORMATION 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 Thrillshare, our school messaging system, 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 Westside Intermediate district at any time, special permission must be requested for your child to finish the year with us. Approval is not guaranteed, but we will do our best to accommodate our families. Transportation must be provided by the parent/guardian of a student with special permission. Forms are available in the school office for your convenience. YEARBOOKS Yearbooks will be available again this year at Westside Intermediate School. The approximate price should be around $25. Do not miss this opportunity for your child to have a wonderful memory book of their elementary school years! PBIS AND STUDENT INCENTIVES Academic and Attendance Certificates Positive Office Referrals with monthly ice pop socials PBIS (POSITIVE BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTION & SUPPORT) Mustang Merits: Merits are given to students for following the rules and exhibiting positive behavior. The more merits they earn, the more incentives they receive! Bus Bucks Sub Dough Cafeteria Cash Quality Quarters PBIS Friday Store SCHOOL STORE The school store provides students with the opportunity to purchase items with earned merits. Students must first report to class and receive permission to visit the store. Our School Store is open for grades 2 and 3 on Wednesday mornings from 8:50 to 9:15 a.m. and for grades 4 and 5 on Thursday mornings from 8:50 to 9:15 a.m. We will be using Class Dojo as our online student management system again this year. More information will be coming home.
FIRE DRILLS Each classroom has a set of directions for leaving the building during a fire drill. These directions are posted by the exit door. Students should be familiar with what to do in the event of a drill or fire. When the alarm sounds, students should move quickly and in an orderly manner towards an exit. When outside the building, each student should move with his/her class to a reasonable distance from the school and remain in a single file with his/her class. Students should return to the school with their teacher when signaled. If the fire alarm rings at lunchtime, students exit the cafeteria according to designated zones, and move outside in an orderly manner. Students will form a single file line with their class and await instructions from the monitors who will guide you. HALLWAY RULES Students are expected to behave in an orderly manner while in the hallway. Students who do not follow the rules will be subject to disciplinary action. TEXTBOOKS All textbooks are the property of and paid for by WCPS. These books are issued to students for their use. Once issued to the student, the book(s) become the student’s responsibility. Students should take good care of these books. Fines will be charged by the classroom teacher for damaged or lost textbooks. Price lists on all books are maintained in the main office. A lost textbook must be paid for before the student is issued a new one. TECHNOLOGY As students are using technology, parents are reminded that laptops from school remain the property of the Wicomico County Public Schools. Parents are reminded to go over the Acceptable Use of Technology Policy with their students. RECESS/PLAYGROUND EXPECTATIONS • Good sportsmanship must be displayed in all activities. • Throwing objects other than game balls is prohibited. • Game balls must not be thrown up against the school building. • Body contact games (wrestling, karate, tackle football, etc.) are prohibited. • Hard balls and footballs are forbidden. • Climbing on fences, trees, swing support and the sliding board supports is prohibited. • Students may leave the playground only with permission of the supervising adult.
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