Hopkins Early Childhood
Special Education Program
Handbook
Table of Contents
Your Child’s Safety……………………………………………..1
Visits to School
Check-In Process
Releasing Your Child from Class
E-Mail Address and Phone Number
ECSE Website
Emergency Referral & Health Information…………...….…..2
Emergency Contact
When Your Child is Ill
Immunizations
Nursing Supervision
Medications/Health Procedures
Transportation………………………………………….…...….3
School Closings Due to Weather…………………………..…3
Food in Special Education Classrooms……………………...4
Snack Time
Birthdays
Additional Information………………………………………….5
Clothing Suggestions
Backpacks
Harley Hopkins Family Center Information
Staff List
Your Child’s Safety
Visits to School
We welcome parents to visit their child’s classroom. We ask that you please call the Early Childhood Special Education Office to schedule your visit (952-988-5020).
Check-In Process
All visitors are required to check in at the main office upon arrival. You will be asked to sign in and out and will be given a visitor’s pass.
Releasing Your Child from Class
A parent or guardian is required to call the office to indicate that they or another designee are picking up a child from school. In the case of a designee, the parent/guardian will need to give the name of the person they are authorizing to pick up the child. A picture ID may be requested at check-in.
Under no circumstances will a child be released to an adult without parent/guardian authorization.
E-Mail Address and Phone Number
It is important that we have a way to reach you in case of an emergency, to make announcements, and as a way for your child’s teachers to communicate with you. Please call the special education office at 952-988-5020 to notify us of any email, phone number or address changes during the year.
ECSE Website
The website contains information about our program strategies for helping your child learn, available resources, and upcoming events. To access the website, go to Click on Schools at the top of the page. Choose Harley Hopkins Family Center from the dropdown menu. On the left side of the Harley Hopkins Family Center page, click on Early Childhood Special Education.
1
Emergency Referral and Health Information
Emergency Contact
In the event of an emergency, or should your child become ill, the school must be able to contact a parent either at home or at work. For times when a parent cannot be reached, it is important to have the phone number of a relative, neighbor, or friend with a car who would be willing to pick up your child.
When Your Child is Ill
Hennepin County Epidemiology Guidelines advise that children should not come to school in the situations outlined below.
Fever = or > 100 / Keep home until normal temperature for 24 hours without medication.Constant runny nose or eye drainage / Keep home until medical examination indicates it is no longer contagious.
Rash with Fever / Keep home until medical examination indicates it is no longer contagious.
Any symptoms that would make your child unable to participate in routine activities. / Keep home until child can participate in routine activities.
I you have questions regarding whether your child should be sent to school due to illness you can reach the school nurse at (952) 988-5034.
Immunizations
To attend school in Minnesota, students must show they have had required immunizations or file a legal exemption with the school. If documentation is not provided, your child may be excluded from attending until the documentation is received.
Nursing Supervision
The Harley Hopkins ECSE Program has a licensed nurse in the building. She is available for consultation on issues of health, as well as doctor or dentist referrals. If your child has any chronic medical condition be sure to let us know. The school nurse will contact you. She will work with you to write an Individualized Health Plan (IHP) for your child if needed. IHPs can help to create a safer process for addressing your child’s health needs at school. IHPs also help to ensure continuity of care in the classroom and as students move from school to school. The school nurse is available to screen hearing and vision on students where there may be concerns.
2
Medications/Health Procedures
Because of our shortened school day, we have found that most medications can be given either before or after your child comes to school. If your child takes a medication or requires a procedure that must be given during the time your child is at school, please contact the school nurse directly at (952) 988-5034.
Transportation
Transportation of Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) students to and from the Harley Hopkins Family Center is available as needed. Students are transported by bus and picked up and returned to an address within the boundaries of the Hopkins School district. While riding the bus, your child will either be secured into a car seat or in a special safety seat made for a bus.
In the interests of safety and efficiency, we ask your help with the following:
- Bring your child out to meet the bus promptly. Drivers are expected to wait three minutes, no more, in order to ensure that all children on the route will get to school on time. On the return, the driver must release your child to an adult.
- Please call the district transportation office (952-988-4115) as soon as possible in the morning if your child will not be coming to school that day.
- Report any address changes affecting the pick-up or return of your child to the ECSE office (952-988-5020). Route changes require five to seven working days to implement.
- Be sure the ECSE office (952-988-5020) has current, correct emergency names and numbers in case we are unable to reach you.
School Closings Due to Weather
In the event of a weather emergency, schools may be closed. Listen to WCCO radio (8:30 AM), or watch WCCO TV (channel 4), KSTP TV (channel 5), or KARE TV (channel 11). Additional school closing information is available on the district’s web sight. You should also receive an automated phone message from the school District. If the district closes, Early Childhood Special Education classes will not be held.
3
Food in Special Education Classrooms
Snack Time
Snack is an important part of each day. We serve a variety of foods such as cheese, crackers, pretzels, animal crackers, fruit and milk. Sometimes we have a snack that ties in with a curriculum theme or snack may be a cooking project. We ask that parents contribute $15.00 twice per yeartoward the purchase of snacks. You may pay in advance for the year or by month. If you would like to contribute extra to cover the cost for a family unable to contribute, it would be greatly appreciated. If you are unable to contribute or prefer to provide your own snack food, we welcome you to send an individual snack for your child each day in their backpack or you could contribute snack for the class based on the approved snack list (see below). Please let us know if there are foods your child should not eat.
Approved Snack List
Please note, we are asking for specific cracker or cereal brands as often we have children who have nut allergies and these brands have been shown to package products in nut-free facilities. All items must be brought to school in the original unopened container. We will not be able to serve anything other than the following:
Nabisco Honey Maid Grahams
Nabisco Honey Maid Cinnamon Grahams
Nabisco Ritz Crackers
Nabisco Wheat Thins
Goldfish Crackers – Original, Cheddar or Pretzel
Rold Gold Pretzels
Cheerios - Original only
Kix
Corn Chex
Dried Fruit (raisins, craisins, apples, etc)
Individual Squeezable Fruit (only those not needing refrigeration)
Canned fruit and vegetables in natural juices or water (Mandarian oranges, diced beets, garbanzobeans/chickpeas, etc)
Clementines
Bananas
Packaged pre-cut vegetables (sugar snap peas, cauliflower, broccoli, baby carrots)
NOTE: If your child attends Kaleidoscope Preschool for ECSE Services, please follow the snack schedule provided by the Kaleidoscope teachers.
Birthdays
We usually celebrate birthdays at school with a birthday hat and singing. You may send a store bought treat to celebrate the day if you would like and we encourage a healthy, peanut free snack. We are not allowed to serve food that is prepared at home. Some parents like to visit on the party day.
4
Additional Information
Clothing Suggestions
Children should be dressed comfortably for play. Using art materials, eating snack and playing outdoors can be messy, so they are likely to come home less spotless than when they arrived at school! We do offer plastic aprons for water and finger painting but some children prefer not to wear them. For safe play in the gym and motor room, we encourage sturdy play shoes and not slippers, cowboy boots or shoes with slippery soles.
We would appreciate an old, complete change of clothing for your child in case of toileting or water play accidents. Make sure it is something you will not miss during the year. PLEASE MARK EACH PIECE OF CLOTHING WITH CHILD’S NAME.
We will be going outdoors often during the spring and fall. During the winter, we will let you know in advance if we plan to play outdoors, so you can send your child with boots, jacket, snow pants, scarf, hat and mittens – ALSO MARKED WITH CHILD’S NAME. Since the buses tend to be quite warm, most children prefer to be more lightly dressed. If you are buying winter clothing, it is helpful to look for features that make it easier for children to learn to dress themselves.
Backpacks
If possible, we would like each child to have a backpack marked with his/her name. This helps children learn to keep track of their belongings and is a good way for artwork and notes to travel between home and school. If you are not able to provide this, a plastic store bag would be fine.
Harley Hopkins Family Center Contact Information
Early Childhood Special Education: 952-988-5020
Main Office: 952-988-5000
Transportation: 952-988-4115
Fax number: 952-988-5037
Address: 125 S Monroe Ave
Hopkins, MN 55343
Staff List
Complete list of ECSE Staff is available on the Website: Hopkinsschools.org
5
Rev 6/21/17