Your child will bring home a copy of our Family Handbook, which is linked here for your convenience. This handbook is designed to provide clarity on our policies and expectations, helping you stay positively involved in both our school community and your child's education. We've simplified the process this year by consolidating all necessary parent sign-offs onto two pages at the end of the handbook. Please complete the last page sign-off form (front and back) and return it to your childβs teacher as soon as possible.
Please avoid picking up your child(ren) between 1:45 p.m. and dismissal time unless it is an emergency. If you need to pick up your child(ren) early for a non-emergency reason, we kindly ask that you do so before 1:45 p.m.
A quick reminder about traffic safety: If you park illegally or don't follow traffic regulations around our school, the NYPD may issue tickets without warning. For the safety of all our students and families, please be patient and kind, avoid parking illegally, follow traffic laws, and refrain from cutting off other cars in the Morning Stop & Drop Lane. Please do not park on either side of Natick Street during morning arrival. Natick Street is designated for Stop & Drop only.
Weβve noticed that during the first two days, a few parents have been double parking or blocking our neighbors' driveways to walk their children through traffic. This behavior creates dangerous conditions. For your safety and your child's safety, please refrain from doing this.
There has been no changes to our dismissal locations for this school year. For your convenience, below our Promises and Priorities we have included a picture showing where our dismissal locations are for the 2024-2025 school year.
Emergency Readiness- General Response Protocol (GRP) & Building Response Team (BRT)
Ensuring the safety and well-being of our students and staff is a top priority at our school. To that end, I want to inform you about the NYC Department of Education's General Response Protocol (GRP) and the Building Response Team (BRT) procedures that our school will be implementing throughout the year.
The GRP is a standardized set of responses designed to address a variety of emergencies, including fire, medical incidents, intruder situations, and severe weather conditions. These protocols provide clear and consistent actions that all school staff and students must follow in the event of an emergency. The GRP includes key actions such as Evacuate, Lockdown, Shelter-In, and Hold, each tailored to specific types of emergencies.
For more detailed information, please click on the links below:
We encourage you to review these materials with your child and remind them to stay calm during drills and emergency situations. You can also use this GRP Training Video to help guide your conversations with your children. We thank you in advance for helping us prepare and be emergency ready!
The Building Response Team (BRT) is a trained group of school staff members who are responsible for coordinating and managing the response to any emergency that may occur on school grounds. The BRT works closely with the administration, local authorities, and emergency responders to ensure that all safety procedures are followed effectively.
To prepare our students and staff for potential emergencies, we will be conducting in-class lessons and active drills at the beginning of the school year and at regular intervals throughout the year. These drills will cover all aspects of the GRP and will be conducted in a calm and supportive manner to ensure that everyone is comfortable and confident in their roles.
Please be assured that these drills are a routine part of our safety preparedness efforts and are not in response to any specific threat. Our goal is to ensure that our entire school community is well-prepared to handle any situation that may arise.
We will continue to communicate with you throughout the year regarding any updates or additional safety measures. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the school administration. Thank you for your continued support in keeping our school safe.
Attendance & the NEW Safer Access Door Procedures
As stated in our Family Handbook and incompliance with the 24-25 NYC DOE Attendance Policies, attendance is an essential component of learning and significant to your childβs overall success in school. Students cannot fully benefit from an educational experience if attendance is irregular and absences are frequent. Therefore, it is imperative that parents/guardians ensure that their children arrive at school on time, every day. To ensure that your child has good attendance, please follow these important guidelines:
Students are expected to arrive at the school no later than 8:10 AM. Any student that arrives after 8:15 AM will have lateness recorded on his/her permanent record. Instruction begins immediately at 8:10 AM in the morning, and lateness creates problems for our children and the learning environment.
If you wish for your child to eat breakfast in school, they may arrive at 7:45 AM when our doors open, but no later than 8:05 AM. Breakfast at PS 23 is a great way to start the day.
With the new Safer Access Door Locking System, parents must accompany their child or children to the Safer Access door (the far right main door) if arriving after 8:25 AM. Parents should press the camera doorbell, and our School Safety Agent (SSA) will communicate through the video doorbell and buzz in parents and students accordingly. Please have your driver's license or photo ID available at all times when entering our school building, as it is a NYC Department of Education requirement. Parents will then sign their child in on our late log. Once the Safer Access Door Locking System is activated at 8:25 AM, parents are required to accompany their child or children into the school without exception. The Safer Access Door Locking System will be active from 8:25 AM to 2:15 PM (dismissal), as well as during After School Center and Latchkey hours. Registered Morning Latchkey students will continue to enter the school through the Pinewood Avenue doors, which will be guarded by our SSA.
When your child is absent, please send a note upon their return to school explaining the absence. Doctorβs notes are appreciated as documentation for absences longer than three days. All notes are kept in the studentβs cumulative folder. You will get a message from school every day that your child is absent.
Weβre excited for the year ahead and look forward to working together to make it a successful one for all our students, staff, and families!
With Gratitude & Admiration,
Mr. Proscia & Ms. Mazza
