Mother of DivineGraceCatholicSchool
2612 East Monmouth Street
PhiladelphiaPA19134
215-426-7325
Fax: 215-426-0753
Motherdivinegrace.com
Mother of Divine Grace School reserves the right at anytime to amend or add to the policies, rules and regulations in this handbook, and to make such changes applicable to current and new students when the situation dictates.
Prayer for Catholic Education
“We have Faith in Catholic Schools”
Blessed are You, O God! You are with us at all times, in all places. We give thanks and praise that You continue to reveal Yourself to us.
Give our administrators, teachers and staff in Catholic schools the grace of insight in their endeavor to educate minds, bodies and spirits in Your life-giving ways. Give our diocese the courage to overcome obstacles and persevere in the pursuit of academic excellence, stewardship and service to God’s people.
For our pastor we ask the gift of wisdom to guide the staff, students and families. We thank You for the generosity of our Catholic families and community donors who continue to sustain our schools’ programs through volunteerism, participation in fund-raising and contributions of goods and services.
With grateful hearts we recall all who have gone before us on a pilgrimage of faith and hope. We ask Your blessing on all who have sacrificed so much to ensure the viability of our Catholic Schools.
Awaken in the hearts of our youth openness to the way of life You have designed for them. May they grow to be priests, religious Sisters and Brothers, married or single persons who faithfully spread the Good News of Your kingdom.
May all in our school communities find in You the source of all truth.
This we pray in the name of Jesus our Savior and Brother.AMEN
Mother of Divine Grace, Pray for us!
ACADEMIC POLICIES
Mother of Divine Grace School follows both diocesan and state educational guidelines. Within that framework basic skills are taught in various ways in accordance with teacher choice. This process reflects our school’s commitment to excellence.
Homework:
The curriculum is child centered, with skills organized toward individual pacing, homework time and content varies according to grade level. The following is a suggested time frame; this includes both written and study assignments,subject to change according to teacher discretion:
Grade K15 minutes daily
Grades 1 and 230 minutes dailyGrades 3 and 460 minutes daily
Grades 5 and 690 minutes dailyGrades 7 and 8120 minutes daily
We strongly encourage a home study time that is free of distractions and consistently adhered to daily. Homework should be done by the student independently. While this does not preclude parental help or interest, the assignments should not require undue parental assistance or supervision. Monitoring and checking homework is important to assure a quality product.
Student Recognition:
Students in Grades 4-8 may receive First or Second Honors.First or Second Honors will be given only for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd trimester. First or Second Honors are not given for the final average. Any student late 4 or more times during any trimester will not be eligible for honors. Students who receive a check mark on the Personal Development and Behavior section and Effort and Study Skills section are not eligible for honors. Students who receive an I or U in Art, Physical Education, Music or Technology are not eligible for honors. Please note that a student’s attendance and early dismissals are also taken into consideration when awarding Subject Awards. The following criteria is used:
First Honors: 92 or above in all major subjectsSecond Honors: 87 or above in all major subjects
Subject Awards
Students in Grades Kindergarten through Eight are eligible to receive a subject award. Subject Awards are given to students:
*who try his/her best*who has the highest general average
*who has not been late 4 or more times
*who have not received a check mark on the Personal Development and Behavior section and Effort and Study Skills section
*who has not received an I or U in Art, Physical Education, Music or Technology
Please note that a student’s attendance and early dismissals are also taken into consideration when awarding Subject Awards.
ATTENDANCE
Regular school attendance impacts positively on the child’s academic development. The total amount of days that school is in session is prescribed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Be aware that an excessive number of absences may result in a student’s retention or the student’s need to attend summer school.
Parents are required to call the school office by 8:30 AM in the case of a student absence. This includes a daily call for extended absence as well. If a student is not returning for the afternoon session, parents are required to call the school by 1 PM. Upon returning to school, a student must present a note of excuse written by a parent. State Law mandates students not be admitted without the excuse note after an absence. A doctor’s note is required for absence for an extended nature 3 or more days. Failure to submit an excuse note from the parent or a doctor will result in the absence being recorded as unexcused and as parental neglect on the official attendance form.
When absent, a student is responsible to make up academic work. If a student is absent, parents may call the school office for homework before 8:30 AM. Student work may be picked up at the school office no earlier than 2:30 PM.
Students who don't feel well enough to come into school at the start of the school and
feel better later in the morning are not permitted to come to school.
Students who are absent in the AM are not permitted to come to school for the PM session without a doctor's note.
If your child is sent home sick from school he/she is not permitted to return to school the next day.
Vacations while school is in session are discouraged. Teachers have no obligations to assign work ahead of time and/or reteach missed lessons due to vacations. Teachers have no obligations to assign “make up” work. Students will be excepted to complete all school and homework assignments upon their return from vacation. If vacations take place during assessment, student must take that assessment immediately upon returning to school with the time and place of assessment at the discretion of the teacher. Credit will be lost for oral and written classwork, assignments, projects, reports, tests, etc. that are not complete due to absences for vacation. Families are urged to schedule vacations during the school holiday breaks.
Parents are requested to make dental and doctor appointments outside of school hours. However, when unavoidable, parents are required to write a note to the student’s teacher for early dismissal. Whenever early dismissal occurs, the student must be accompanied by an adult.
A student is marked absent if he/she leaves after lunch or does not return to school after lunch for a doctor’s appointment or early dismissal. If a student is absent for a half day he/she will not receive perfect attendance.
If a student arrives late due to a doctor’s appointment or is absent for any reason for a half day he/she will not receive perfect attendance.
Student must be fever free, vomit free and diarrhea free for 24 hours before they return to school. If you have called your child out due to illness you may not send your child to school if he/she is feeling better late in the day.
EARLY DISMISSALS OR CLOSINGS
In the event of an early dismissal due to emergency or weather, listen to the radio station, KWY 1060 AM for the announcement “All Philadelphia Public and Parochial Schools will be closed. Please do not call the school or rectory since we do not receive advance information. If our school is in session during inclement weather when road conditions may be dangerous in certain areas, we ask parents to use their parental judgment in sending their children to school. In the case of an early dismissal due to snow emergency or any other emergency, each student must know the information that parents have written on his/her student information form for an emergency dismissal. This form is distributed to each student on the first day of school. It must be completed by parents and returned to the school on the next school day. Parents should discuss this emergency plan with their children at the time it is requested by the school.
CRISIS MANAGEMENT PLAN-SHELTER IN PLACE PLAN
Mother of Divine Grace School has a Crisis Management Plan in place. If, for any reason, the school must be evacuated, our plan calls for us to walk the students to the Sons of Italy Hall at 2537 East Monmouth Street or Cohox Playground at 2889 Cedar Street where parents/guardians may come to pick up students. In case of emergency where evacuation is necessary, do not call the school or the Sons of Italy hall. Our plan is to leave the building immediately and meet parents/guardians at this hall. In this type of emergency evacuation, there will not be time or personnel to answer telephones, instead go immediately to the hall. Mother of Divine Grace School Community is most grateful to the members of the Sons of Italy and Cohox for their immediate and enthusiastic response to opening their buildings to us.
Mother of Divine Grace School has a Shelter in Place Plan. “Shelter in Place” means that our school will be called either by the Police Department, Fire Department or the Office of Catholic Education to alert us to begin a Shelter in Place Plan. This plan means that our school will be in a lock down mode—no one in, no one out. The police department will be on site to enforce this regulation. This plan is not meant to last more than three hours at which time the police department will have buses on site to remove our students to a safe location which would be announced through the media and the emergency alert system to the community at large so that parents must go to the designated evacuation site, not to the school, to pick up their children.
ACADEMIC POLICIES
Progress Reports
One parent must attend a mandatory progress report meeting in October.
Progress Reports are sent home mid trimester prior to the closing of the trimester. Learning not only cultivates intellectual skills, but also responsibility for one’s actions; we will issue a progress report for any of the following reasons:
*Neglect of written homework
*Student not working to ability
*Test Failures
*Failure to listen to and follow directions after repeated warnings
*Lack of responsibility in handing work on time or failure to return a test paper or project signed by parents/guardians
*Absence work not made up after reasonable amount of time
*Carelessly written or incomplete homework assignments
Report Cards
Report Cards are issued two times a year to students in Pre Kindergarten.
Report Cards are issued three times a year to students in Grades Kindergarten through Eight.
Each student is responsible for his/her own report card grade by satisfactorily fulfilling the following requirements:
*major testing
*quizzes
*oral and written reports
*independent classroom work
*active participation in classroom lessons and activities
*class/individual project
COMMUNICATIONS
Frequent communications between home and school is essential to your child’s education. As a parent, we invite and encourage you to correspond with the classroom teacher. This correspondence may take place either by calling the school to request a return phone call by the teacher at his/her convenience, email or by a written request.
Unscheduled meetings are not permitted at any time.
Parents must schedule a meeting with the teacher if you would like to meet with the teacher.
The principal and pastor will not discuss nor meet with a parent if the teacher is not contacted first.
Please be mindful that the teacher(s) may not be able to contact you the same day you have contacted them.
Please be mindful that no staff member will respond to an email or phone call on the weekends.
LEGAL CUSTODY ISSUES
Parents are asked to inform school personal when legal custody of the children resides with one parent. It is important for the school to have a copy of the custody decree. This will help school personnel to make effective decisions when the need arises. This Court Order / Custodial Agreement is placed in a confidential file.
Custodial parents are likewise asked to supply the school with copies of restraining orders if the need arises.
All persons without legal custody of a child have no right to educational participation-including receipt of school materials-including step parents, friends and family members. Recognizing that requiring Mother of Divine Grace School to provide duplicate copies of school grades, notices and other related educational materials and notices is administratively difficult, Mother of Divine Grace School will send only one set of such materials to the parents/guardians. Therefore, parents/guardians retain the responsibility of communicating such information to each other for the health and welfare of the child. Mother of Divine Grace School is not required to send such material to any other person.
A child will not be released to a parent that does not have physical custody, without the written consent of the
custodial parent.
SCHOOL UNIFORM
All Pre Kindergarten and Kindergarten Students -Yellow golf shirt (short or long sleeves) with Mother of Divine Grace School,blue shorts or sweat pants, blue sweatshirt or blue cardigan sweater with Mother of Divine Grace School, sneakers-NO CHUCKS, white or blackathletic socks that are seen at the ankles.
Girls in Grades 1-4-Blue, white and gold plaid jumper with school emblem, jumper may be no shorter than two (2) inches above the knee,yellow Peter Pan collar (Short or long sleeves), blue socks or blue tights,blue cardigan sweater or sweatshirt with Mother of Divine Grace School, solid blue tie saddle shoes with rubber soles and heels.
Girls in Grades 5-8 -Blue, white and gold kilt, kilt may be no shorter than two (2) inches above the knee, yellow golf shirt (Short or long sleeves) with Mother of Divine Grace School, blue socks from September through November again in April through June, blue tights from November through April,blue cardigan sweater or sweatshirt with Mother of Divine Grace School, solid blue tie saddle shoes with rubber soles and heels.
Boys in Grades 1-8 -Yellow golf shirt (Short or long sleeves) with Mother of Divine Grace School, blue dress pants, black belt, black socks, blue cardigan sweater or sweatshirt with Mother of Divine Grace School, sensible black tie shoes with rubber soles and heels. NO BLACK SNEAKERS
Physical Education Uniform for Boys and Girls in Grades K through 8 - Navy blue sweat shorts, Gym shorts must be no shorter than mid-thigh,navy blue sweat pants, yellow or blue Mother of Divine Grace School tee shirt, navy blue Mother of Divine Grace School sweatshirt, sneakers-NO CHUCKS OR VANS, white or black athletic socks that are seen at the ankles.
Spring / Summer Uniform for Boys and Girls in Grades 1 through 8 -This uniform is optional-short sleeve yellow golf shirt with Mother of Divine Grace School, *Navy Blue or Khaki walking shorts NO CARGO SHORTS, shorts must be no shorter than mid-thigh, sneakers-NO CHUCKS, white or black athletic socks that are seen at the ankles.
From the 1st day of school until November 1st students may wear their spring/summer uniform.
From November 1st until March 31st students must wear their regular uniforms.
On April 1st until the end of the school year students may wear their spring / summer uniform.
JEWELRY / MAKE UP/ HAIR STYLES
It is important that each student respects his/her own dignity by his/her appearance. We have a uniform code so jewelry, make up, and hair styles are not distracting or presenting the wrong message about our Christian community.
Earrings are not permitted for boys.
Facial piercings are not permitted.
Small post earrings are permitted for girls-only one earring in each earlobe. No dangle or hoop earrings are permitted due to various school activities that maycause damage to earlobes.
One ring per hand is permitted for boys and girls.
Religious medals or crosses may be worn under the students’ clothing to preventbreakage.
No other type of necklaces may be worn by boys or girls.
One rubber statement bracelet may be worn. An example of a statement bracelet is one in support of a cause.
Reminder: It is best for jewelry to remain at home due to its great value, both monetary and sentimentally. The school assumes no responsibility for jewelry worn to school and which becomes misplaced or missing. Protect your valuables. Leave them at home to wear on special occasions.
No make up is permitted.No hair feathers or strips of hair color.
No nail polish of any color is permitted.Students are only permitted to wear prescription eyeglasses.