The first day of school for all first through third grade students will be Monday, August 26th. Every school year our Kindergarten and Pre-K students participate in a staggered entry process to ensure a smooth transition for our youngest students. Please see the information below regarding the staggered entry process for Pre-K and Kindergarten.

Kindergarten Staggered Entry:

All Kindergarten students will be assigned a "first day of school" during the week of 8/26. This will either be on Monday 8/26, Tuesday 8/27 or Wednesday 8/28. ALL Kindergarten students will come to school daily beginning on Thursday, 8/29. Our office will be calling families this week to communicate what your Kindergarten student's first day of school will be. You can also find out this information next week at Open House.

Pre-K Staggered Entry:

NC Pre-K students do not begin school until after Labor Day. NC Pre-K students will be assigned a "first day of school" during the week of 9/3. This will either be on Tuesday 9/3, Wednesday 9/4, Thursday 9/5, or Friday 9/6. ALL Pre-K students will come to school daily beginning on Monday 9/9. Pre-K teachers will be reaching out to families this week to communicate this information and schedule a home visit for the week of 8/26.

Meet your teacher, see your friends, drop off supplies, and get excited for a new school year! Open House is Wednesday, 8/21 from 4:00-6:30. This is a floating event.

Please feel free to bring in your students school supplies to their classroom on Open House night. Bringing them in ahead of time can make the first day of school a little easier for both students and teachers. Supply lists can be found at the bottom of our website under the "school news" section and on our Facebook page.

All PCS students are responsible for paying the district's $20 technology fee for the school year. We will be collecting this fee during Open House in order to reduce the risk of lost money sent through students the during the first week of school. Our bookkeeper will be collecting this fee at a table near the front office. Bringing exact change is appreciated! The student device agreement and more information regarding this fee will be passed out at Open House.

Post cards with teacher assignments were sent out to student's mailing addresses on file. If you have not received a post card, you can find out your child's teacher assignment during Open House.

School bus assignments will be available at Open House at the Transportation Department's table. Please see them for your child's bus assignment as well as estimated pick-up and drop-off times. The deadline for signing up for transportation was on August 2nd. If you have not requested bus transportation, your request will be processed AFTER school starts and transportation will not be able to be provided for the first two weeks.

It is expected that all families read our handbook at the start of each new school year. Handbook acknowledgment forms will be sent home during the first week of school.

At the beginning of each month, a digital newsletter will be published on our website and Facebook page. Please be sure to check these monthly for important updates and information.

Each Sunday at 5:30 pm you will receive an automated message with important information from the principal. Please do your best to answer and listen to these calls. If you miss the call, the script of the messages can be found on our website and at the link pasted below. This year we will also be sending the text of the call to parent/guardian emails that we have on file. If you are not receiving our calls, please contact our data manager, Tina Lee, at tinalee@pamlicoschools.org.

Each classroom teacher will utilize Class Dojo this year to communicate with parents and track positive student behavior. Please be sure to register with Class Dojo and sync your account to your child's class as soon as possible.

Remember to follow us on Facebook for even more PCPS content!

The school day begins at 7:55 am and ends at 2:45 pm.

Please be mindful of the following:

• All transportation changes must be communicated prior to 2:00 pm
• To keep the front entrance and exit of our building accessible, parents or family members picking up students in the car-rider line should not park and wait in the front loop prior to 2:15 pm.
• If students arrive at school after 7:55 am, they are considered tardy and a parent must walk them inside the building to sign them in.

Parking in the red zone (pictured below) is prohibited while waiting to pick up students in the afternoon prior to 2:15 pm. If you arrive earlier to pick up students, please park in the parking lot. You may leave the parking lot and wait in the loop after 2:15 pm. When cars arrive early and back up to the front entrance of our driveway at Neals Creek Road, access to our school is blocked off. It is important to keep this access clear in case if we were to ever need it during an emergency. Thank you for understanding and doing your part to keep our school safe!

ALL parents, guardians, and visitors, MUST sign-in at the front office and receive a visitors pass sticker. Stickers must be worn during the duration of your visit and must remain visible at all times.

While we encourage independence from the start, we understand that parents of our Pre-K and Kindergarten students may want to walk students to class on the first day of school. Families walking students to class MUST have a yellow visitor's pass prior to walking them down. Dropping students off on the first day at a new place can bring many emotions and sometimes anxiety, we encourage parents to make drop off quick so that students can begin taking part in their new morning routine as soon as possible. Please refrain from lingering in the classroom or outside in the hallway.

In order to protect instructional time, respect student allergy and dietary restrictions, and comply with child nutrition guidelines, student-specific birthday parties are not able to be held during the instructional day. There are other opportunities throughout the year to celebrate school-related activities as a school and as individual classrooms. To participate in helping with school-wide celebrations, please consider joining our Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO). We appreciate your understanding in this matter and thank you in advance for your cooperation!

As a reminder, all excuse notes must be turned in within three days of a students absence. Excuse notes may be turned in online at the link below.

Third grade students will participate in the BOG on Thursday, September 5th. Please make sure that third grade students arrive to school on time on this day!

Join us to explore careers and enjoy a meal together!

The next PCPS PTO meeting will be after school on Thursday, September 5th in the media center. We will get started as close to 3:00 as possible. All PTO meetings will occur on the first Thursday at 3:00.

This year our district is aiming for all of our schools to be "Common Sense Schools". Common Sense Education provides educators and families with digital learning tools that engage students and teach them how to behave safely, responsibly, and respectfully online. Please take advantage of some of the resources available to families linked below!

Breakfast and lunch are FREE for all students!

This year our district has opted to utilize the Clever platform to streamline our student login process for accessing educational tools online. Students have QR codes and/or log-in credentials that they may use to access a customized homepage of some of our most-used learning tools. Please feel free to use this log-in on your devices at home for easy access to student resources. Please direct any questions regarding Clever log-ins to your student's teacher.