NORTH ELEMENTARY

Hello North Families!

Welcome to the 2024-25 school year at North Elementary, where we all can let our light shine! I am looking forward to a building full of light and energy when students and staff return next week.

For those of you who do not know me or my background, I am beginning my 34th year in public education and my 15th year as the principal here at North. My husband and I moved to Danville 26 years ago and love living in this community. Our own children grew up here, graduated from DCHS, and are now "adulting" on their own.

Each year, as I update this message, I find myself reflecting on the days when my own children were elementary age and being grateful for this town and this school system, and all that they have provided my family and so many others. I am excited for you and all that is ahead - first day of school pictures, wiggly teeth, evenings at sporting or scouting events, listening to your new reader become more fluent and confident, and hearing about friends, teachers, recess, specials or lunch. I hope that you are able to enjoy the great moments, big or small, and to keep in mind that the not-so-great moments are part of the learning and growing process as well.

This newsletter if FULL of really important stuff. Please be sure to read through it carefully, to be mindful of dates, times and deadlines, and to save it someplace you'll remember as it will be a good reference throughout the school year.

Karen Perkins

Principal

If you are receiving this and your child will not be attending North Elementary this school year, we would greatly appreciate you sending us an email at northoffice@danville.k12.in.us. We will then make certain your contact information is removed from our system as soon as possible.

We will miss you and wish you the best in your new location!

At NOON on Tuesday, July 30th, class lists will be finalized. At that time, parents may log in to the Infinite Campus Parent Portal and choose schedule in the left side menu to view their child's teacher for the 2024-25 school year.

• The Infinite Campus online registration process must be complete in order to view this information.

If you encounter any difficulties in completing the registration process or in accessing the parent portal, please call our office at 317.745.2610 or visit our office. We would be happy to help!

Monday, August 5th

12:30 - 1:45 and 4:45 - 6:30

Kindergarten (BY APPOINTMENT)

Your student's teacher will be contacting you to schedule a time to come in to the building during the hours listed above. While you and your student are here, you will be able to find the classroom and meet your teacher, drop off supplies and get information about arrival and dismissal procedures for the first day. During this time representative from transportation will be present to answer questions, you can pick up a car rider tag, and Mrs. Andrews, our treasurer, will be available to accept cafeteria account deposits.

1st Grade (OPEN HOUSE STYLE)

Parents and students are welcome to come to North Elementary anytime during the hours listed above to find the classroom, drop off supplies, and, of course, meet your teacher. During this time you will also exchange your current chromebook for a new one (see below for more information), a representative from transportation will be present to answer questions, you can pick up car rider tag, and Mrs. Andrews, our treasurer, will be available to accept cafeteria account deposits.

Wednesday, August 7th

What an exciting day! Because we also know that it can be an emotional time for both kids and parents, here are a few things that will be in place to help everyone through the day.

As students arrive in the morning, there will be several adults stationed at the entrances and along the halls to help any first or second grade student who is worried about finding their way. Kindergarten students will be met at the bus drop off by their teacher and at the front sidewalk by other staff members to walk them to their room with the rest of their classmates.

When it is time to go home, each student will have a end of day destination sticker so that any adult can help if necessary. Teachers and office staff will be working throughout the day to get destination information for any child that doesn't have their stickers already filled out.

And finally, some tips for parents!

• Make the first day as typical as possible. If your child is going to be a regular bus rider, have him or her ride the bus the first day. If your child is going to be a morning car rider, use the car line and drop off procedure. This is the start of your regular routine!
  
• Be aware that there may be some separation anxiety by your child the first few days. We will be here to assist in the separation with care and compassion.

• Arrival and dismissal will be very slow our first days of school. Thank you in advance for your patience.
• While we love having parents visit for lunch or volunteer in the classroom, we ask that parents do not come in for these things during the first 8 days of school. This allows your child and their classmates the chance to get to know one another, their teachers and their routines independently. Beginning Monday, August 19th, most of our students will be settled enough in their new environment that they are ready for special visitors. (See the Visitor section below for more pertinent information about lunch visitor expectations.)

Mark your calendars for the 2024-25 Back to School Parent/Guardian Nights.

The program will begin in your student's classromm where you will receive information about grade level curriculum, classroom management systems, teacher communication, field trips, and more. You will then move to the cafeteria where there will be a short presentation led by Mrs. Perkins, Mrs. Jackson and Mrs. Brown. This time will be used to highlight important school wide expectations and processes. We will wrap up our time with a drawing for a fun giveaway.

This event is for PARENTS ONLY. We ask that children do not attend.

Below are specific dates and times based on your student's grade level and teacher.

• FIRST GRADE, Tuesday 8/20
• 5:00 -- Mrs. Blankenship, Mrs. Cahill, Miss Perrey, Mrs. Pickel, Miss Westlake
• 6:00 -- Mrs. Martin, Mrs. Mershon, Mrs. Wynn, Mrs. Ziegler
• KINDERGARTEN, Wednesday 8/21
• 5:00 -- Mrs. Lane, Mrs. Lupinski, Mrs. Harvey, Mrs. Pritchett, Mrs. Ross
• 6:00 -- Mrs. Duffey, Mrs. McAfee, Ms Roberts, Mrs. Whitaker

• Stopfinder is our app designed to provide bus information, to keep your children safer, and to make your mornings and afternoons easier and more efficient. With Stopfinder, you and your student will receive detailed information about bus stop locations, pick up time, school arrival time, drop off time, schedule changes and much more! The app is FREE to all parents for the school year and can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play. Learn more HERE.
• A representative from transportation will be at Warrior Welcome events to answer questions.
• The transportation department contact information is as follows:
• 317.745.6875
• danvilletransportation@danville.k12.in.us

MORNING DROP OFF (Kiss and Go):

• We ask that parents not get out of the car. We encourage parents to say goodbyes and get morning hugs before leaving home so that upon arrival at school, the students can hop out of the car and be ready for their day at school.
  
• We ask that all parents use the drop off line. We ask that you do not park and walk your child across the sidewalk and/or into the building unless you have business that you need to take care of.
  
• Students are not to leave their cars until 7:25 a.m. Please wait until the first staff member is in the sidewalk area before allowing your child out of the car.
  
• Staff will be present to assist students who need help getting out of the car and to maintain safety expectations throughout the morning. Please be respectful to these adults and be aware of them as they work to keep the process moving.
  
• Before stopping in the line, please pull all the way forward. Watch for the staff member directing in the area of the cross walk. Please do not stop directly in front of the main entrance unless the line in front of you is full.
• See below for parking lot route and procedures.
  

AFTERNOON PICK UP:

• Again, we ask that parents either do not get out of their car, or if you do get out, please stand by your car in the center aisle of the car line. We feel it is very important that when students come out of the building, there are no adults standing in the sidewalk area. We want to be certain that we are aware of which adult and car each child departs with. We also require students to walk to your car using the center aisle of the car line. This allows us to keep an eye on every student during the process.
  
• We ask that all parents use the pick-up line. Please do not park and come to the sidewalk area to get your child.
• Staff will be present to assist students who need help getting into the car.
  
• Buses will pull out of the parking lot before car dismissal begins.
• See below for parking lot route and procedures.

• When entering the parking lot, please use the FOUR lanes in the middle of the parking lot heading west.
  
• At the end of these lanes, you will alternate left to right to merge into one line that will move along the sidewalk.
  
• Please pull all the way forward to the car in front of you before stopping to let your child out.
  
• Have your child exit from the passenger side of the car for their safety.

• When entering the parking lot, please use the FOUR lanes in the middle of the parking lot heading west.
  
• At the end of these lanes, you will alternate left to right to merge into one line that will move along the sidewalk.
  
• At the west end of the parking lot, Mrs. Gulley (blue star) will check your child's car tag (which you will receive at the start of school) and radio into the building for your child. She will then direct you which of the two lanes to pull into. When both lanes of children have been loaded, another staff member (red star) will release one lane of cars at a time.

We understand that changes to a child's after school schedule may need to occur from time to time. If a student has a change in routine, either destination or pick up, the school must be contacted by a parent or legal guardian prior to 1:30pm. Destination change notification may be made by

• A signed note sent to school in your child's folder (please include your child's first and last name and the date for the change)
• A phone call to the office 317.745.2610
• An email to northoffice@danville.k12.in.us.
• A parent square message to DCSC Northoffice

We ask that you do not email this information only to your child's teacher in the event that he or she is absent or unable to check their email. Last-minute changes are often difficult to get to the classroom and sometimes could panic or scare a child. Office personnel deliver end of day changes to staff at 1:45 each afternoon.

LUNCH VISITORS:

We love having visitors for lunch. See below for some important expectations for lunch visitors:

• All visitors must sign in with their driver's license.
• Please notify our office if anyone other than a parent or legal guardian will be joining your child for lunch.
• Per federal guidelines, carbonated beverages are not allowed in the cafeteria for students or adults. If a visitor brings lunch items for their child, food, beverages, or other treats cannot be shared with other children.
• NO TECHNOLOGY AT THE TABLE! While visiting for lunch, we ask that you (1) take full advantage of this time to visit with your child by refraining from having your phone out and (2) respect the privacy of other people's children by NOT taking pictures of other students.
• We ask that you refrain from coming to lunch the first 8 days of school so that we can help establish routines with all of our students.

OTHER VISITORS:

Other visitors to North Elementary would include:

• Classroom Guest Speakers or Mystery Readers
  
• Special Events (classroom or birthday parties)
• Parent/Teacher Conferences

Anyone entering the school building during school hours for one of the reasons above must sign in using their driver's license. These individuals will not be having regular, ongoing contact with students outside of the presence of school staff, and therefore are not required to complete the criminal history check.

Volunteers at North Elementary would include:

• Field Trip Chaperones
• Regular Classroom Volunteers who would work directly with students
• Field Service Observations/Preclinical Student Teaching Observations

All volunteers must complete the new Verkada application. This process consists of two steps:

• Step one: Complete the application
• Step two: Complete a background check. (This is not required if you already have current background check on file with the school)

There are two buttons below to help you complete this process.

There is a very good chance your student will lose something during the course of the coming school year. Our LOST AND FOUND accumulates an astounding amount and array of items that go unclaimed. Water bottles, sweatshirts, eyeglasses, winter coats, lunch boxes and more.

Here are some ways you can help us reconnect these lonely items with their rightful owner (a.k.a. you!):

• LABEL your student's items with their name. Before an item goes into the lost and found vortex, we will check for a name and return it to the classroom if we can. We know that not everything can be labeled, but this is very doable for things like sweatshirts, coats, lunch boxes, water bottles, and glasses cases.
• REMIND your student to ask to go to the lost and found to look for their missing item.
• COME IN and ask to look through the collection for your missing item.
• WATCH FOR pictures of lost and found items in our monthly newsletters and remind your student to ask to go to lost and found if you see something that belongs to you.

When the collection of items becomes overwhelming, we will bag everything up and donate it. Before we do this, there will be a "claim it or it's gone" date in the newsletter.

Even at this young age, your student's attendance at school is very important. You are helping them establish habits of attendance and on time arrival that they will carry with them throughout their school career and into their adult life. In order to maximize their academic and social growth, we encourage you to set the goal for your student to have at least a 94% attendance rate each school year. That translates to no more than 10 days absent over the course of the year.

• Help your child get into a healthy routine starting from Day 1. Sleep is critical for child development. Set and stick to a regular bedtime each night. Make sure all mornings alarms are set and that everyone is up and moving on time. Even being a few minutes late to school can throw a child off for the rest of the day. See the chart below for more about how minutes of tardiness and days of absence can add up and affect learning.

• As the year progresses, if your child begins to struggle getting to school, please reach out to us. Our counselor, Allie Brown, is a great place to start. She can help with getting a healthy routine back on track. You can reach her at albrown@danville.k12.in.us or by calling our front office at 317.745.2610.
• It is important that you report your student absent before 8:45 a.m. on the day the absence occurs. You can make that report by calling our office at 317-745-2610, by sending an email to northoffice@danville.k12.in.us, or by sending a parent square message to DCSC Northoffice. While it is helpful to let your student's teacher know of their absence, letting our office know is most important.
• You will be able to track your student's attendance and tardy rates on the Infinite Campus Parent Portal. If you have any questions about what is on there, please contact our office at 317.745.2610 or at northoffice@danville.k12.in.us.

• Finally, in order to help you prepare for your student's attendance this school year, you will find a link below to the DCSC 2023-2024 School Calendar.

Below you will find information about some of most frequently used websites/apps we use along with a brief description of how they will be used throughout the school year. If you have any trouble setting up your accounts or using them, please do not hesitate to contact our office for assistance. You can reach us at 317.745.2610 or at northoffice@danville.k12.in.us.

Infinite Campus Parent Portal is where you will find your student's schedule/teacher placement and current grade. You will be able to see your student's lunch account balance and add money here. If you are new to our district, you would have received information about setting up your Parent Portal when you completed online registration. If you are a returning family, your login information will be the same as is was last year.

Parent Square automatically generates an account for each parent, using the preferred email address and phone number from Infinite Campus.

Teachers, North Elementary, and the District Office will use this platform to share newsletters and send direct messages, including delay and cancellation notices, with parents. We encourage parents to access their accounts so they can download the mobile app and update their preferences on when and how they are notified (email, text, or through the app).

Schoology is the district online learning platform. While it is use significantly more by students in older grades, this is where you student will find their work on ELearning Days. Teachers will be working with students on how to login and to use this platform early in the school year so that they are ready on the first ELearning day which is scheduled for Monday, October 23rd.

You also have a parent account (login is the same as Infinite Campus) and you can view what your student sees.

For lunch, students must take at least three of the five meal components (meat, grain, fruit, vegetable, and milk) in order for the meal to be free. One of these three components must be a fruit, juice, or vegetable. For breakfast, students must take at least three of the offered items, with one being a fruit, vegetable, or juice.

Any second meals, second entrees, or ala cart items will be charged to the student's account.

Free and reduced meal applications will be processed to determine eligibility for lunch meals. We encourage households who may qualify to apply with a meal application in order to receive these benefits. A new meal application must be submitted yearly, unless you received a letter in the mail stating that your household qualified for free/reduced meals through the direct certification process.

Both paper and online free/reduced meal applications and instructions are available at the following link... https://www.danville.k12.in.us/departments/food-services/free-reduced-meal-applications

If your family is in need of additional assistance, please visit the link below for SNAP, TANF, Medicaid, Hoosier Healthwise, and HIP applications.

https://www.in.gov/fssa/dfr/ebt-hoosier-works-card/find-my-local-dfr-office/hendricks-county/

Other Food Service Department Information...

Danville Community School Corporation adheres to the specific USDA guidelines in providing special diet accommodations for students. In accordance with the criteria set forth in 7 CFR Part 15b, those students who are unable to eat the school meal due to a disability/medical need/or impairment are accommodated at no additional charge. Please contact our Director of Food Services Mrs. Stephanie Stuemke with further questions at 317-745-0366 or sstuemke@danville.k12.in.us.

Please see the link below to access the special dietary needs form: https://www.danville.k12.in.us/departments/food-services/special-dietary-needs

Other information such as our menus, charging policy, and wellness policy are listed on our food service website: https://www.danville.k12.in.us/departments/food-services

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

Welcome to North Elementary!

We are glad you're part of our family, and we are here to help. Contact any of us if you need any assistance or have any questions.

northoffice@danville.k12.in.us

317.745.2610

Parent Square message: DCSC Northoffice

Email: northoffice@danville.k12.in.us
Website: http://www.danville.k12.in.us/Domain/10
Location: 398 Urban Street, Danville, IN, United States
Phone: (317)745-2610