The Manoa Messenger

Principal- Dr. Natalya Adelizzi

Assistant Principal-Mr. John Fulton

Counselor K-2- Ms. Carolynne Wurth

Counselor 3-5- Ms. Megan McDonald

Hello Manoa Mustangs,

I hope this message finds you well. As we gear up for an exciting new school year, I want to share important information regarding attendance, school procedures, and other details to help you prepare.

Please take a moment to read through the Manoa Messenger carefully. Should you have any questions or need further clarification, our dedicated school secretary, Mrs. Nichols, is here to assist you.

I highly recommend saving this Manoa Messenger for future reference as it contains valuable information that you'll find useful throughout the year. Please note that class assignments will be sent to families on August 23.

Thank you for your attention to these details. We are committed to supporting you and your child’s success, so don’t hesitate to reach out if you need anything.

With Mustang Pride,

Natalya Adelizzi, Ed.D.
Principal, Manoa Elementary

Our first day of school for all students, K-5, is September 3rd.

During the first week of school, extra adults will be available at the car drop off and bus drop off area to meet kindergarten and 1st grade students and walk the children to their classrooms.

Many helpers will be available to make sure that all of our students get to their classrooms on the first day of school, and teachers will be greeting the students at the classroom doors.

School Hours

8:35 am - 1st Bell (students may enter the building, unpack, and prepare for the day)

8:45 am - 2nd Bell (learning begins)

3:30 pm - Dismissal

Kindergarten- Students enter the building at 8:35

AM: Students enter the building at 8:35. Instruction from 8:45 AM – 11:25 AM

PM: Students enter the building at 12:45. Instruction from12:50 PM – 3:30 PM

Classroom instruction begins promptly at 8:45 AM. All children begin the school day with Morning Meeting, and it is a favorite part of the school day! We value every minute of the school day with our students!

If your child's dismissal plan changes, email your homeroom teacher and call the front office. You must do both to ensure the homeroom teacher receives the message.

There are a few options for bringing your child to school:

1- Walkers and Drive and Park- If you want to drive but walk up to the school with your child, please park on Eagle Rd. and walk down to the cross walk to the corner of our property. Come to the side of the building by playground. You can wait with your child there until the doors open at 8:35. Aides will meet the students right inside the doors to show them where to go.

2- Car Line Drop Off- Pull up to theentrance on Manoa Rd. Stay in your car until a car line monitor asks you to unload. Parents stay in the car and children unload on their own. An aide or teacher will meet them right inside the doors to show them where to go. Please be sure to say quick goodbyes as the line will soon move out and cars cannot move around you. If a quick goodbye is not possible yet, please use option 1 above. Please do not pull out and around other cars in front of you. Please do not wait until you are in front of the entrance to have your child exit the car. They need to exit onto the curb where ever your car stops. There are always 2-3 people outside directing the traffic. Please follow their directions.

3- Bus- Bus information/passes will be emailed to you. This email can arrive as late as the weekend starts. The bus pass will tell you where your bus stop is and the time for pick up. Check your bus drop off location and drop off time as well. If you ever have any questions about transportation, they can be called directly at 610-853-5900 ext. 5929 or emailed at transportation@haverfordsd.net.

Please see below for more information about bus behavior.

Dismissal- 3:25-3:30

Car Line- Stay in your car. A monitor will ask you to pull up. Parents stay in the car and children will be sent to the appropriate car. An aide or teacher will direct foot traffic. Please be sure to load in quickly. Please do not pull out and around other cars in front of you. They need to exit onto the curb where ever your car stops. There are always 2-3 people outside directing the traffic. Please follow their directions.

Bus Riders- At the end of the day, all students are escorted to their bus and loaded onto the bus by aides and teachers.

The School District is excited to announce the implementation of School Pass, an attendance system that will assist our school staff with tracking absences. SchoolPass will provide parents/guardians the ability to make attendance changes for their student(s) with the click of a button, without having to call or email the office. Click on the red label above for more information from our website.

Every day of the school year is an opportunity for our children to learn and grow. It is very important that students attend school.

The District’s Attendance Policy may be read here.

Whenever possible, please try to schedule doctor’s appointments after school.

Reporting an Absence, Late Arrival, or Early Pickup:

If your child will be absent from school please email the school to inform the secretary of your child’s absence- Manoa-attendance@haverfordsd.net. It is important that the district is aware of any student absence to ensure student safety. If you call the office, please send in a note or an email stating the reason for the absence. If the school is not informed of your child’s absence you will receive an email communication, text message and phone call requesting you contact the school. If the school is not contacted and we are unable to reach you , we will send a staff member to your home to check on the safety of your child. If district personnel are not available, we may ask the Haverford Township Police Department to check.

If your child is absent, tardy, or must leave school early, a note from the parent or guardian is required. Parents may email Manoa-attedance@haverfordsd.net or send in a handwritten note to the homeroom teacher. Please do not only email the homeroom teacher, as any substitutes do not have access to email.

Parents or guardians must report to the office with their driver’s license to sign the student out of the building; students are not permitted to wait outside of the school independently to be picked up.

If a student returns to school the same day, he or she must report directly to the school office to check in before proceeding to the classroom.

Amount of Excused Absences:

Please note that a parent/guardian can only excuse 10 sick days. If there are 3 or more absences in a row, a doctor's note needs to be provided. If a child has more than 10 sick days, every absence after the 10th will only be excused with a doctor's note. It is always wise to obtain a doctor's note if any absence required a visit to their office.

Educational Travel

Parents may request a maximum of 5 days of excused absences for educational purposes. The request must be made in writing at least 2 weeks in advance by submission of the “Request for a Preplanned Educational Travel” form available on our school website.

Please contact Ms. Nichols with questions about educational travel.

All visitors to Manoa Elementary School must enter through the main entrance and report directly to the office. All visitors must present a valid driver’s license that will be scanned and used to produce a visitor’s badge through the Raptor System.

Under no circumstances may parents enter the building without coming through the main entrance. Please understand that this is necessary for the safety of our students.

All students will participate in safety drills throughout the school year. Fire drills will typically be held once per month and there will be several lockdown drills during the school year. Teachers and staff will make every effort to prepare students for these drills so that all students know the procedures.

Please carefully review and update your contact information in PowerSchool to indicate your child’s dismissal plan in case of an emergency.

Please remind your child that students sit by grade level on the bus. K is in the front, then 1st grade with 5th grade having the back of the bus. Assigned seats will be used if students are not following the bus routines.

• No TECHNOLOGY- this includes tablets, chromebooks & phones.

• No food or drink. Students must remain seated.

• Please remind them to be safe with hands and arms in the windows, quiet voices, kind to others.

• If a child is unkind or unruly on the bus, they may be asked to sit in an assigned seat or be suspended from the bus for a duration of time. You will be made aware of bus incidents. We ask that you support us in emphasizing proper behavior at all times.

Bus drivers have the hardest job in our district! Their eyes are on the road!

Mrs. Kelly Belfie and Mrs. Bridget Morris Dougherty will again be our main nurse and MBNA at Manoa. You are welcome to contact them directly if needed at 610.853.5900, ext. 6470.

Prescription and over-the-counter medications may be administered by our school nurse only upon written order by the child’s physician. All medications must be in their original container and must be properly labeled when brought to school.

Please be sure that our school nurses are aware of your child’s medical issues, including allergies and potential reactions.

Medication may not be sent in a backpack with students. Parents/guardians may drop off medication in the original pharmacy container with the prescription from the doctor. Please Filll out this medication consent form in advance of drop off:

Monday, August 26: 11:00 a.m. -1:00 p.m.

Thursday, August 29: 8:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Students may bring lunch from home or purchase lunch from the cafeteria. A selection of additional snacks are also available for purchase, and they are typically offered after the first couple of weeks of school to allow for the food services team and the students to focus on lunches at the start of the year.

Read more information from our dining services director here: https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1658506903/haverfordk12paus/fevybtjbhmveop8ddmus/BacktoSchoolParentLetterFall2022.pdf

Lunch will be served on the first day of school. Menus are available on our district website (Sept. menu is coming soon): https://www.haverford.k12.pa.us/departments/food-services

Families may apply for free/reduced lunch and this information is confidential. Click the link in the section below for more information.

Students purchasing lunch will use their 5 digit ID code. It will take our first graders and new students some time to learn their code, and that is okay! Our teachers are very helpful in preparing note cards for the children to practice with until they get it.

Please send your child to school with a healthy snack and reusable water bottle every day. They are encouraged to refill their water bottles throughout the day. We have water filling stations throughout the building. There are also water fountains located in the cafeteria and by the nurse's office bathrooms.

All students in grades 1 - 5 may bring a snack to school. Our students have breaks for an additional "snack recess" during the day. If your child is in a "nut-free classroom" due to a child's allergy, you will be alerted to avoid sending nuts as part of your child's snack.

Click here for the Free & Reduced Lunch Application. If you have any questions about the application, please contact Mrs. Millie Cerone, Food Service Specialist, mcerone@haverfordsd.net or (610) 853-5900, ext. 7142.

Recess is a very important part of the school day! Students in grades 1 - 5 have recess for 25 minutes right after lunch each day. Kindergarten students have a designated time to play each day as well! Movement, play, social interaction, and brain breaks are very important for all children, and our teachers are intentional about providing these for our students every day.

Parents and guardians are invited to volunteer during our lunch and recess time. A Sign-Up Genius will be shared in a Manoa Messenger soon! You will need clearances to volunteer.

We enjoy recognizing and celebrating our children on their birthdays. However, no food may be distributed for student birthdays. We also ask that gift bags with pencils, erasers, or small tokens are not distributed to children. Instead, think about donating a book to the classroom library with an inscription from your child.

Birthdays are announced every morning. We recognize summer birthdays during the last few weeks of school!

Communication from the school including our weekly Manoa Messenger is sent each Friday at 4:00 to inform parents of school-wide events and important information.

Communication from the teacher should be frequent and timely; your child’s teacher will share information about when and how you should expect to hear from them at Back to School Night.

Our all-star custodial crew worked extra hours all summer to have our building looking great! We appreciate Gina Carrozza, Bob Steinrock and Pat for their constant dedication to making sure our school sparkles.

The Board of School Directors supports the use of computers, the Internet, and other network resources in the District’s instructional and operational programs in order to facilitate learning, teaching, and daily operations. Please refer to School Board Policy 815 for more information and forms.

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)

We are required under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) to supply parents of students under the age of 13 with our list of commonly used educational applications. This information is available on our District website under Technology - Parent Resources - COPPA Compliance.

Items such as cell phones, iPods, iPads, Apple/Smartwatches/Gizmo Gadget, DVD players, MP3 players, radios, tape recorders, and other electronic devices, etc. should remain at home.

Students shall be solely responsible for the safekeeping of any electronic device brought to school and each student who brings an electronic device to school or to a school function or activity shall assume the risk of loss, theft, damage, or another injury to the electronic device.

Manoa has an established STAR behavior chart, please feel free to review these expectations with your child.

Please label your child’s personal belongings. We check the items for names as they are put in the Lost and Found! We will have a “Lost & Found” space right outside the specials wing.

August 27th: Kindergarten and New Family Orientation

Kindergarten Orientation: 5:30 p.m.

Popsicles on the Playground Meetup: 6:00-7:00

New Families: 6:30 p.m.

August 29th: Sneak a Peek

All students and families are invited to see their classroom and meet their teachers. You may also bring school supplies this day.

12:00-12:30 Kindergarten

12:30-1:00- Grades 1-5

September 3rd:

First day for ALL students : )

September 11th: Students wear Red, White and Blue

September 17th: Back to School Night for all families

September 16th-20th: School Spirit Week! Activities to be decided by students!

In collaboration with the entire school district, Manoa Elementary will be working towards the district's goals of Diversity and Inclusion, Social/Emotional Wellness, and Preparing Contemporary Citizens. Our school staff continue to attend district professional developments to enhance our approach to these goals. We are excited to implement this work in our classrooms and throughout our learning communities this year!