Buckhannon Academy Elementary School
family Handbook
2017-2018
Buckhannon Academy Elementary School
16 College Avenue
Buckhannon, WV 26201
Phone number: (304) 472-3310
Fax number: (304) 472-3790
Principal: Susanne Britton
Assistant Principal: Shannon Lewis
Secretaries
Shelia Davis and Tera Spotloe
Kindergarten Kindergarten Aides
Beth Materne Jennifer Winans
Amanda Mason Stephanie Singleton
Tammy McKisic Teresa Halle
Jessica Howes Sue Spotloe
First Grade Second Grade
Christi Flanagan Megan Lipscomb
Brittany Barlow Amy Hackett
Alicia Egress Kassondra Tracy
Kelly McNeish Lisa Bennett
Third Grade Fourth Grade
Lisa Wildman Mark Leigh
Stephanie Jack Jenny Tenney
Barbara Bailey Brittany Bennett
Mandy Tenney
Fifth Grade Title I
Sherri Hoover Kim Lantz
SarahJean McGee Patrina Thorn
Tahsha Carpenter Angie Landis
William Squires Taylor Houston
Special Education Speech
Kristine Irvine (Gifted) Connie Everett
Becky Squires Beth Pickens
Susan Currence
Ann Osburn
Specials Aides
Music- Stacy McFall and Brandon Williams Sue Michaels
PE- Dustin Carlyle and Daniel Hepler Bev Miller
Art- Levi Bender Connie Riggleman (Nurse)
ESL- Alan Price
Computer Technicians Custodians
Miranda Skidmore Tim Cogar Kevin Eshleman
Rosalie Hissam
Billy DeMastes
Buckhannon Academy Elementary School Core beliefs and Mission Statement
Pioneering education that inspires and empowers lifelong learners!
Every child can learn. Learning is a continual process.
Every child can realize his/her self-worth, Education is everybody’s responsibility.
Attendance
Buckhannon Academy Elementary operates under the Upshur County Schools Attendance Policy that is distributed each school year. Regular attendance at school for students is directly related to their success and attitude about school. Therefore, it is very important for them to attend school every day. State laws and policies regarding attendance are very structured and strict. For every day that your child is absent from school, the parents must provide a written note within 2 days of the absence, or the day will remain an unexcused absence. After 3 days, a certified letter from the Board of Education will be sent to the home to inform parents of unexcused absences. After 5 unexcused absences, a letter from the Attendance Director will be sent requiring a face-to-face meeting with the principal. (WV Code 18-8-4) This meeting must occur within 10 days of the written notice. If unexcused absences continue to be a problem after the meeting, the attendance director will schedule a hearing with the magistrate court to address the issue.
Parents should send a note every time their child is absent or tardy or they will be considered unexcused. When children have doctor or dentist appointments please obtain an excuse to be turned into the office. County policy states the excuses MUST be turned in within two days. Other reasons for excused absences include illness, death in the family, or a family emergency.
Excused Absences consist of illness of the student, death in the immediate family, or a family emergency. The legal guardian/parent may have a legal notice served compelling them to Magistrate Court if their child continues to have additional unexcused absences (beyond 5) or if they fail to attend the scheduled school conference. Contact with the principal allows for families to meet and formulate a plan to improve the student’s attendance. A parent may only excuse five (5) absences per semester or ten (10) days per year as per county and state policies. These excuses must be in writing. Please refer to State Attendance Policy 4110 for further information or clarification.
Educational Plan for Excused Absence are personal or academic circumstances allowed by the principal. A Request for Educational Leave form may be found online or in the office. The Educational Leave form must be submitted to an administrator two weeks prior to the departure date and may not exceed ten days. Only students with 5 or less absences are eligible for educational leave.
Tardiness
Tardiness shall be defined as being late for school, arriving after 8:00. Early departure is defined as leaving school early without missing a half-day of school. Upon the third occurrence of unexcused tardiness and/or early departure, the principal may issue a notice requesting a meeting.
If your child arrives at school after 8:00 a.m. they are considered tardy. You must sign your child in at the office and notify the secretary if your child will be eating hot lunch.
Students arriving after or leaving before 11:40 will be counted absent for a full day. Students arriving after 9:55 or leaving before 1:25 will be counted absent for one-half day.
In regards to the fieldtrip policy only, 3 tardies will equate 1 absence and may result in your child becoming ineligible for school fieldtrips. If these unexcused times from school continue, a referral to the school SAT (Student Assistance Team) team will be made. Students arriving late must be signed into school by a parent or guardian. The parent needs to let the secretary know if a second breakfast and/or hot lunch is needed for their child.
Being late for school hurts a child’s learning. A student who is 10 minutes late every day will miss 30 hours of instruction during the year.
Office Hours/Early Departure the office is closed daily for parent pick up from 2:45-3:30.
Conferences
Two parent teacher conferences are scheduled during the school year.
Dates are: October 25th, 2017 and March 21st, 2017. Both conferences are from 4:00-6:00.
Discipline
At BAES we like to celebrate our students and we have created a Positive Behavior Support system for minimizing disciplinary issues. PBIS emphasizes using positive approaches and reinforcement to encourage good behavior.
The core principals of PBIS are as follows:
Be Kind, Accountable, Excel, Safe and Successful
To help students learn the guidelines, we will regularly review our expectations. Students will be taught what the expectations for our school “look like, sound like, and feel like”. Posters with our school guidelines are posted throughout our building; to encourage these appropriate behaviors, students will be awarded by faculty and staff consistently “catching our students
being good” and following our school guidelines.
WV State Policy 4373 EXPECTED BEHAVIOR IN SAFE AND SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS (PREVIOUSLY KNOWN AS STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT)
All Upshur County Schools follow Policy 4373 Expected Behavior in Safe and Supportive Schools that took effect July 1, 2012. This new state law was fully adopted by Upshur County, which is now our Policy 4011. This is an extensive policy that can be accessed on the West Virginia Department of Education website (wvde.state.wv.us) and on upshurschools.com. There are 6 chapters within this policy that address expected student behavior, students’ right and responsibilities, inappropriate behavior and meaningful interventions and consequences, procedures for addressing allegations of inappropriate behavior and procedures for taking action on substantiated inappropriate behavior. This policy classifies inappropriate student behavior in four levels. All Level I violations are now addressed by the classroom teacher. These behaviors include cheating, disruptive behavior, inappropriate language and disrespectful behavior. Level II-IV behaviors are addressed by the principal. Upshur County teachers will document consequences in the WVEIS data base, which is part of their permanent record.
Expectations for student behavior is the joint responsibility of the school and individual home. Your support of the need to teach our children respect and responsibility for self, others and community is appreciated. It is important that you and your child understand the consequences to inappropriate behaviors and how the school will handle each situation. Your understanding and support will allow us to better address each situation, and the consequences for rule infractions are clearly stated and understood by you and your child. If you are interested in viewing the new policy, please contact the school office or access online http://wvde.state.wv.us/healthyschools/ElectronicManual4373New.html
All students and employees in West Virginia public schools shall behave in a manner that promotes a school environment that is nurturing, orderly, safe and conducive to learning and personal-social development.
ALL STUDENTS SHALL:
ü Help create an atmosphere free from bullying, intimidation and harassment.
ü Demonstrate honesty and trustworthiness.
ü Treat others with respect, deal peacefully with anger, use good manners and be considerate of the feelings of others.
ü Demonstrate responsibility, use self-control and be self-disciplined.
ü Demonstrate fairness, play by the rules and do not take advantage of others.
ü Demonstrate compassion and caring.
ü Demonstrate good citizenship by obeying laws and rules, respect authority, and cooperating with others.
Bullying/Harassment
Bullying is generally defined as an intentional act that causes harm to others, and may involve verbal harassment, verbal or non-verbal threats, physical assault, stalking, or other methods of coercion such as manipulation, blackmail, or extortion. It is aggressive behavior that intends to hurt, threaten or frighten another person. An imbalance of power between the aggressor and the victim is involved.
All Buckhannon Academy Elementary School students are expected to treat one another with kindness and respect. Teasing, name calling, taunting, physical contact of an aggressive nature, spreading rumors, gossiping or intentional isolation will not be tolerated. We have a zero tolerance for bullying and consequences are prompt and consistent. Students are expected to report any incidents of bullying to the nearest adult at the time the bullying is happening. Reporting the incident at the time it happens is of utmost importance so the incident can be investigated properly. This is NOT to be considered tattling….it is “responsible telling”, and staff needs to be aware so we can stop these behaviors. Every child has the right to attend school in a safe and bully-free environment. Choose your behaviors wisely and treat everyone with respect at all times.
BAES Expectation Guideline
Citizen of the Month/Character Education
Character education is the process of learning common attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that are important for responsible citizens. Each month we will be focusing on a character trait and a person from around the world to reinforce that trait. Students that exemplary reflects the character trait will be selected as the Citizen of the Month and these children will be honored at a school wide assembly.
Character Pillar / Person RepresentingKindness / Rachel Scott
Respect / Nelson Mandella
Self-Worth / Anne Frank
Self-Discipline / Mehmet Ghandi
Caring / Clara Barton
Honesty / Abraham Lincoln
Responsibility / Mother Teresa
Positive Attitude / Princess Diana
Integrity / Martin Luther King Jr
Citizenship / Eleanor Roosevelt
Computer Use
Students will be using computers, tablets, and other school provided devices. You and your child will need to sign an acceptable use policy giving permission to use the Internet before computer and internet will be permitted. Not following the policy may result in loss of privileges.
Parent Drop Off in the Morning
Students brought to school by parents can drop the student off at the parent pick-up area. A staff member is available at the parent pick-up door from 7:15 a.m. until 7:55 a.m. Supervision is not provided for students prior to this time.
ü Parents are asked to pull into the designated unloading/loading zone and allow their child to exit the car. To ensure safety of your child, please do not have them leave the car before reaching the entrance.
ü Please remain in the line of traffic to exit the parking lot. The staff member on duty will ensure your child enters the building safely.
ü To avoid a traffic delay, we request that you pull your vehicle forward as far up as possible into the loop. Do not park or exit your vehicle in the drop off area. The parking lot/unloading zone can become crowded with vehicles waiting to drop off students; your cooperation in moving through the area in a courteous, prompt, and safe way is needed.
ü If you arrive after 8:00 a.m. you must accompany your child into the building to sign him/her in through the front office. We request that parents do not accompany their children to the cafeteria, classroom, locker, gym, etc.
ü You may not park in the bus loop until after 8:05 a.m. Parking is available on the opposite side of the street from the school.
Upon entering the building
All students must immediately report to the gym (grades 2-5) or cafeteria (grades K-1). If students wish to have a hot breakfast it will be served until 7:50 a.m. in the cafeteria. A 2nd breakfast opportunity is available at 9 for those students who are unable to eat the hot breakfast.
Breakfast and Lunch
You are welcome to visit your child at lunch time and to share quality one-on-one time. Our cafeteria manager needs to know you are eating hot lunch prior to 9:00 a.m. As a reminder, students are not allowed to share food from either hot or cold lunches. Adult breakfast is $2.60 and an adult lunch is $3.60. Money must be turned in to the secretaries prior to eating.
Evening Dismissal
To increase the safety of our students and to assist parents with a timely evening dismissal, please follow the policies below.
Your child may be placed on the parent “pick up” list on a daily basis or as needed. In order to have your child’s name added to the list for a specific day simply send a signed note to school requesting your child’s name be added to the list for the day.
Parent Pick-up
If you intend to pick up your child from school (daily or weekly) you must sign up for an automobile tag to display from your car mirror at Open House or in the office.
Parent Pick-Up will continue to enter into the back loop through the Smithfield Road entrance and exiting onto Victoria Street. Two cars can safely wait side by side until staff arrives. Please follow staff guidance when lining up. Students will be walked to the cars at 3:20. You must have your car tag visible in order to pick up your child in the parent pick up loop. If you do not have it, please go to the office to pick up your child.
Walkers
If your child will be a Walker indicate this on the student dismissal form and/or send a note to school daily/as needed. At 3:20 students will exit the building, and cross the street at the assigned crosswalks for evening dismissal. Parents may wait in their automobile or at the brick pillars (not at the doors) and students will be dismissed to their care.
Dismissals.
ü Unscheduled Early Dismissals----If Upshur County Schools must dismiss early it will be broadcast on the local radio and TV stations and on the West Virginia Department of Education website (http://wvde.state.wv.us). Try to refrain from calling the school or Board Office as these lines need to be kept open for emergency communication.