Parent-Student Handbook
Ridgeview Elementary School
11021 Sunnyside Drive
Yucaipa
909-790-3270
6th Edition
Dear Parents and Students,
It is my pleasure to welcome all students and parents (caregivers and guardians) to a new school year. All of us at Ridgeview Elementary School work hard towards our goal of providing a safe and caring environment for all students. Our school belongs to all of us, and we take pride in caring for it. The staff welcomes each of you and we wish everyone a great year of learning. This handbook is designed to answer many of your questions regarding our academic program at Ridgeview, but please don’t hesitate to call if we have missed something.
Our Mission Statement
Believing that education is an ongoing journey, we will work together with families and the community to make a difference in the life of each child. We will value individuals, maintain high expectations, and create a positive learning environment. We will encourage students to think critically and develop their potential so that they are prepared to meet the challenges of tomorrow with courage, imagination, and conviction.
How can you be involved in your child’s education?
The staff at Ridgeview Elementary is committed to providing each child with a quality education and the tools to succeed long after they leave Ridgeview. This is a tall order and can only be accomplished by fostering a strong partnership between home and school. Here are a few ideas to consider:
· Emergency Release Cards: Make sure school staff have current information including home and work telephone numbers. Be accessible if your immediate assistance is needed. Update Emergency Release Cards when changes occur. This includes any custody arrangements the school should be aware of.
· Regular Attendance: Please make sure your child attends school regularly to ensure the most positive learning experience possible. It is important to understand that a student can never adequately make up classroom instruction for a day missed. If your child is absent, please call the school to report the reason for the absence.
· Support the School Rules: Help your child comply with the school rules and classroom procedures. Please take time to read and discuss the important information found in this handbook.
· Report potential dangers or threats: Impress upon your child the importance of notifying school staff if they feel threatened or unsafe.
· Monitor homework assignments each night: Make completing homework a priority and check daily for accuracy and neatness. Set aside time to read and converse with your children for their language development. Stress organization of school notebooks, materials and assignments. Some teachers provide assignment sheets for homework information. Make sure you are familiar with each teacher’s system and monitor your student’s progress. Parents of younger children should listen to them read each night.
· Eat a good breakfast: Encourage your child to have a good breakfast and lunch each day.
· Get a good night’s sleep: Make certain your child sleeps at least 9 hours a night.
· Praise your children: Find time to praise your child each day for something he/she has done. Have a special place to put schoolwork or things brought home.
· Open lines of communication: Keep the lines of communication open between yourself and your child’s teacher. Inform the teacher of any family situations which could influence your child’s behavior. Also, if he/she is reluctant to go to school, let the teacher know so together you can find the reason.
· Go to the library: Take your child to the library often and encourage them to read for pleasure.
· http://ycjusd.ridgeview.schoolfusion.us: Visit the school’s website weekly for activities and important information.
Our Parent Handbook is in line with the YCJUSD Procedure and Behavior Booklet and Education Code. For more
information on all procedures concerning our students, please refer to the YCJUSD Procedures and Behavior Booklet.
Ridgeview “Building Blocks of Success”
As a school we instill in students the need to follow four basic traits so that they will have a successful year.
We call these our “Building Blocks of Success.”
Honesty, Kindness, Respect and Responsibility
During the school year we look forward to a cooperative and committed home-school partnership. Parent involvement is encouraged, welcomed and necessary for the success of our students and school. There are countless opportunities to be involved in our school including serving on parent advisory committees (School Site Council) and school PTA-related committees and events, volunteering in the classroom, attending school-sponsored events, and supporting your child’s learning daily. Please take time each week to visit the school website at http://ycjusd.ridgeview.schoolfusion.us. The website is updated weekly and is full of information to keep you informed of upcoming events and school related issues. Also, the school marquee is updated often to give you a quick reference to school events.
Arrivaland
Dismissal
Parent Information
Bus Riders
Walkers
Bicycle Riders
Attendance
Legal Absences
Unexcused Absences
Excusing Absences
Excessive Absences
SART
SARB
Independent Study
Attendance Letters
Attendance
Recovery Program
School funding
School Law
Attendance Recovery
Program
Awards
Back To School
Night
Cafeteria
Lunch and
Breakfast
Program
National School
Lunch Program
Classroom
Deliveries
(Food/gifts)
Code of Conduct
and
Behavior
Classroom Behavior
Playground Behavior
Self-Defense/Retaliation
Cyberbullying
Dress Code
Educational
Committees
Emergencies
Disaster Plan
Emergency
Release Cards
Field Trips
Harassment
And Bullying
Home/School
Communication
Parent
Concerns
Parent-Teacher
Conferences
Report Cards
Homework
Inclement
Weather
Kid’s Club
Library
Lost and Found
Medical
Coverage
Medications
Health Office
Immunizations
Megan’s Law
Operation
Clean Sweep
Parties
(Classroom)
Personal Property
Pets and Animals
Promotion/
Retention
PTA
(Parent – Teacher
Association)
School Sales
And
Information Flyers
Spirit Days
State-Mandated
Testing
(STAR)
Teacher
Requests
Telephone
Cell Phones
Textbooks
Things you
should never
bring to school
Transportation
Visitors and
Volunteers
Vandalism
Website
/ The safety of all our students is a priority of the Ridgeview staff and the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District. Please follow these guidelines when dropping off or picking up your children before and after school to ensure the safety of all our students. Please…
* do not pull into or park in the Faculty Parking Lot.
* do not pull into or park in the circular driveway in front of the school during bus pick-up and drop-off.
These times are: 7:45 a.m. – 8:15 a.m., 11:15 a.m. – 11:45 p.m., and 2:20 p.m. – 2:50 p.m.
* do not park in the yellow Loading Zone or the red No Parking Zone
When the curb is painted red, it means that cars may not stop, load or unload in that area.
When the curb is painted yellow, the area is for waiting. You may not park along a curb
that is painted yellow.
* use the designated crossing areas.
* adhere to all speed limits and be extra cautious as you approach school areas.
* use the yellow Loading Zone for immediate drop off and pick up.
* do not park in handicap parking spaces. They are reserved for drivers with the appropriate placard.
* if you are visiting the school for longer that 10 minutes, please do not park in the circular driveway.
Parents who want to get out of the car and pick up their students or wait in the car for the students to come out may park on Sunnyside Drive, Tahoe Drive or in the parking lot across from the school. The supervised area where parents can meet students after school is located at the front gates. After school pick-up supervision ends at 2:45 PM. After 2:45 PM, remaining students will sit on the planter in front of the school. There will be no supervision. Parents are asked to call the school if they are unavoidably delayed so that their student can utilize Kid’s Club. All students must be picked up no later than 2:45 PM.
Bus Riders
Busses will deliver/pick up students in the circular driveway in front of the school. Riding the bus is a privilege. Students riding the bus can promote their own safety and the safety of others by obeying the rules. Failure to observe district rules may result in denial of transportation. Students are expected to follow these rules while riding the bus or at the bus stop:
* Arrive five minutes early to the bus stop. Stand quietly in a safe place and respect surrounding
property and persons
* Follow the instructions of your school bus driver at all times.
* Remain in your seat at all times except when getting on or off the bus
* Do not place your head, hands, arms, or any body part outside the bus windows.
* Do not eat or drink on the bus.
* Do not bring animals, insects, or reptiles on the bus.
* Do not bring harmful substances or objects (drugs, tobacco, alcohol, and weapons) on the bus.
* Do not use abusive language, actions, and loud noises while on the bus.
* Do not destroy or deface any part or equipment on the bus
* Do not litter on the bus or at the bus stop.
Walkers
* Please follow all safety rules and use the sidewalks and crosswalks.
* Do not arrive at school before 7:45 AM. There is no supervision until 7:45 AM.
* Students must remain in front of the school when waiting for parents after school.
Bicycles, Skateboards, Scooters and Rollerblades
* A helmet must be worn at all times – it is the law.
* Bicycles, skateboards and scooters must be parked in the bike rack and be individually locked.
* The school and district assume no responsibility for theft of parts or stolen or damaged bicycles,
skateboard, scooters or rollerblades.
* Bicycles, skateboards, scooters and rollerblades are to be walked on and off the school grounds. The
school grounds begin at the sidewalk in front of the school – fence pole to fence pole.
* Bicycles, skateboards, rollerblades, and blade shoes are not allowed on the school campus at any time
– they must remain in the designated bike rack area.
* Bicycles, skateboards, scooters and rollerblades will be confiscated and parents will have to personally
retrieve them if they are used incorrectly or unsafely.
Your child’s attendance is a very important component in their academic success. The law requires that students attend school between the ages of six and eighteen years, or until graduation from high school. It is, therefore, the responsibility of the parents or guardians to assure that their child is in attendance at school. Failure of a parent or guardian to meet the obligation to compel the student to attend school according to Education Code #48205 may cause the parent to be subject to prosecution. When a student is absent, he/she misses class experiences that can never be replicated.
Legal, Valid, and Unexcused Absences and Truancies
Education Code 48205 states that a pupil shall be excused from school when the absence is related to the student only and meet the following stipulations:
1. due to his or her illness;
2. due to his or her quarantine under the direction of a county or city health officer;
3. for the purpose of having his/her medical, dental, optometric, or chiropractic services rendered;
4. for the purpose of attending the funeral services of a member of his or her immediate family, so long
as the absence is not more that one day if the service is conducted in California and not more than
three days if the service is conducted outside California;
5. for justifiable personal reasons, including, but not limited to an appearance in court, attendance at a
funeral service, observance of religious holiday or ceremony, attendance at religious retreats,
attendance at an educational conference on the legislative or judicial process offered by a nonprofit
organization when the pupil’s absence is requested in writing by the parent or guardian and approved
by the principal or representative pursuant to uniform standards established by the governing Board.
ALL OTHER ABSENCES ARE UNEXCUSED (This includes family vacations.)
Excusing Absences
Parents are expected to notify the attendance office the day of an absence as to the reason and expected day of return. Notes will be accepted by the attendance clerk upon the student’s return if no phone contact has been made. Parents have 5 days to call and clear a student’s absence. If the absence has not been cleared within five days of the student returning to school, the absence will be recorded as unexcused. Unexcused absences cannot be cleared after five days. The 24-hour attendance answering machine telephone number is (909) 790-3270 (Press 1). Absence verification should include:
Excusing by phone Excusing by note
· * the name of the student (first and last) * the name of the student (first and last)
· * the date of the absence * the date of the absence
* the specific reason for the absence * the specific reason for the absence
* the parent’s name * the parent’s name
* the date the note was written
* parent signature
Independent Study
Independent Study contracts may be requested if your child is going to miss 5 or more days of school. All assigned work must be completed in order to receive full attendance credit. Contract requests must be made one week prior to the first missed day of school. Please remember that the student misses more than assignments when they are absent from school.
Early Dismissal/Release
Students who miss part of the school day miss important instruction. Parents are expected to take students out of school only when absolutely necessary. Leaving early will affect perfect attendance for student awards.
Tardies
Students are required to be at school on time each day. Coming late will affect perfect attendance for student awards.
Excessive Absences
A student who is absent from school for reason of illness for more than five consecutive days is required to furnish a note from the physician prior to readmission to school. Students who have an unusually large number of illness absences of less than five consecutive days may also be required to provide medical verification of the illness or medical condition before the absences are listed as excused. If a student has an abundance of absences (excused or unexcused), tardies and/or early releases, the parents/guardians will receive attendance letters.