School Hours

• 8:35 AM Doors open – There is no supervision available for children arriving earlier than 8:35 AM
• 8:50 AM Instructional day begins
• 3:40 PM Dismissal

Families are responsible for supervising their child when arriving early. Also, please be aware that our staff leaves at 3:50, so if you are picking your child up it is critical that you be punctual.

Late Arrivals

If your child is late for school (after 8:50 a.m.), please accompany him/her to the office where you can share the reason for his/her lateness. Your child will then be issued a pass to be admitted to class. Please be aware that according to the Red Clay Code of Conduct excessive, unexcused tardies (10) is grounds for automatic termination of your child’s Choice status at Linden Hill.

Dismissal Procedures

At Linden Hill we consider the entire instructional day to be important; therefore, we strongly discourage early dismissals. However, when you must pick-up your child early, we ask that a note be sent to school on the day of the early dismissal and be given to the classroom teacher.

Also, if an early dismissal is necessary we ask that you pick-up your child before 2:45 p.m. so as not to interfere with the overall dismissal of all the children. Therefore, unless it is an emergency situation no child will be called down to the office after 2:45 p.m. for dismissal. Any parent who comes to the office seeking to transport their child home after 2:45 p.m. will be asked to wait to receive their child until the general dismissal of the entire school takes place.

When you come to school to pick-up your child, please report to the office. The school secretary will notify the teacher to dismiss your child. Please sign the student dismissal book. If a person other than the child’s parent/guardian is picking up the child please send a note including this information even if the person is an emergency contact/

Many families have special childcare arrangements for their children after school. Often these arrangements vary for two or three days out of the week and sometimes change day to day. To assist with a safe dismissal each and every day we require the parent to put in writing any changes from the dismissal procedure that is assigned to you by transportation.

If for any reason your child’s regular dismissal routine should change the parent is responsible for notifying the school in writing of such a change. If changes are not put in writing we will follow the regular dismissal procedure for your child.

Attendance

We are extremely proud of our attendance record at Linden Hill Elementary School.  We know that children with good attendance records also demonstrate high rates of success in school.  Attendance is critical in all grade levels.  If illness or family emergencies occur and your child my stay home, please make sure that you send a written excuse to school.  In the note please include your child’s name, the reason and date of the absence and your signature.  Excessive absences will be referred to the district’s visiting teacher.

Excused absences include:

1. Illness
2. Contagious disease within the home of the pupil
3. Critical illness and/or death in the family or of a friend
4. Legal business
5. Observance of a religious holiday
6. Doctors appointment
7. Pre-arranged absence to visit a college/university or other educational experience
8. Suspension

Please note that children need to attend school for half the instructional day in order to be counted a s present for the day ( e.g., A child with an early dismissal before noon would  be marked absent for the day).

Visitors

At Linden Hill we encourage parents to volunteer.  If you are interested in working in the classroom with children, we require that you participate in our Parent Volunteer Workshop which is offered in the fall. If you are interested in helping out in other ways this workshop is not required.

To ensure a safe learning environment, however, we require all visitors and volunteers to first sign in at the office.  Visitors, please be sure to stop in the office first, before going to a classroom so that we can announce your arrival and/or provide you with an escort.

Because of safety concerns, building capacity, insurance issues, and the fact that we strive to maximize the instructional opportunities for all students, we ask that families not bring siblings to school to visit any time during the school day, however, there are many curricular and social activities that occur after school, to which all are invited.

Conduct

A Student Code of Conduct will be sent home to all families.  Please take time to review this with your child/ren.  It details the district’s board policies for such things as students’ rights and responsibilities, attendance, behavior expectations, etc. The District Bullying Policy is included below:

BULLYING POLICY

The law requires each school district to have a policy that: Forbids Bullying, Forbids Retaliation against those who report bullying.

The definition of Bullying: Intentional, Physical, Verbal, or Electronic towards student, school employee, or school volunteer.
Caused by a reasonable person known to effect:
• Reasonable fear…substantial harm…physical, emotional, or to property
• Pervasiveness, persistence, or power differential makes hostile educational environment
• Interfering with safe environment for student
• Coercing others to cause above harms

The law requires each school district to have a policy that:

• Requires each school district to adopt a school-wide bullying prevention program
• Requires each school to create a coordinating committee
• Requires schools to review and supervise non-classroom areas
• Sets forth reporting requirements and investigative procedures
• Requires report to DE DOE all confirmed bullying incidents
• Sets forth appropriate range of consequences for Bullying
• Sets forth procedures for notification to student/caregiver for information on bullying activity
• Is implement all year