Gonzales Elementary
Campus Handbook
2016-2017
1600 ST. ANDREW
GONZALES, TEXAS 78629
TELEPHONE: 830-672-1467 FAX: 830-672-5758
SECTION 1 - GENERAL INFORMATION
MISSION STATEMENT
“Enriching lives through learning”
VISION STATEMENT
Gonzales Elementary is a campus where all learners are viewed as part of a proud, cooperative team which instills integrity and respect for self and others as well as a love for learning in order to promote a successful future
STUDENT PLEDGE
I pledge today to do my best in reading, math, and all the rest.
I promise to obey the rules in my class and in our school.
I’ll respect myself and others too; I’ll expect the best in all I do.
I am here to learn all I can, to try my best, and be all I am.
GISD EMPLOYEE DRESS CODE
Gonzales ISD employees shall be the example of professional appearance by displaying the utmost standards of dress, hygiene and grooming.
General Guidelines:
District employees shall be expected to dress in a neat and professional manner appropriate for their job assignment. Please refer to the standards listed below for specific expectations.
●Clothes that resemble lingerie including but not limited to spaghetti straps, halters, see-through fabric, revealing necklines, bare backs/midriff and tank tops are not permitted.
●Clothing with pictures/slogans endorsing tobacco, alcohol or any illegal substance are unacceptable.
●No hats or caps worn inside the building.
●Hair shall be clean and groomed neatly.
●Facial hair shall be neatly trimmed.
●No shower shoe type flip-flops/slippers. Dress sandals are permitted.
●Dresses/skirts shall be knee length.
●Spandex, leggings, and tights or other tight clothing shall not be worn as pants unless under a knee length dress as hosiery.
●Shorts are not appropriate with the exception of Dress or Capri pants (knee length or below knee).
●Warm-ups, exercise clothes shall not be worn unless it meets the job assignment requirement. Special days designated by the principal are appropriate.
●Blue denim jeans may be worn on spirit days. Other days as designated by the principal are appropriate for denim.
●Male shirts should have a collar unless wearing a sweater during cold season.
●Tattoos shall be covered.
●No jewelry/studs in piercings other than the ear.
Exceptions:
●Physical Education staff may wear attire approved by the administration to meet the needs of their job assignment during the physical education class.
●Safety attire may be worn as meets the needs of the instructors of any shop or lab courses.
●Auxiliary employees in maintenance, custodial, transportation, food service and other positions shall comply with the guidelines specified by their supervisors as set in their handbooks for their departments.
●Other exceptions related to religious beliefs or medical need as determined by administration.
SECTION 2 – CALENDAR
A copy of the current 2016-2017 calendar is located at the back of this document.
MEETING DATES FOR 2016-2017 – will be posted at the end of the weekly newsletter.
SECTION 3 - SCHOOL OPERATIONS
ATTENDANCE
Accurate attendance is a critical component of the school operation. Gonzales Elementary relies on all teachers to follow the attendance procedures without variation.
Attendance is taken electronically through the Skyward attendance program at 10:00 a.m. Before submitting attendance, please take a minute to be sure everyone is coded properly. All errors must be corrected immediately. Please notify the office with any corrections.
EXCUSED ABSENCES
Students who return to school after an absence must submit a written note signed by a parent/guardian explaining the absence. Students may submit a physician’s note in place of a parent note. Students will submit notes before 8:05 a.m. to their homeroom teacher. Students will have one school day to make-up all class work for each day absent. After this, late work penalties apply.
UNEXCUSED ABSENCES
Parents have three days after an absence to provide a written excuse or the absence will remain unexcused.
ATTENDANCE COMMITTEE
A committee comprised of the principal, assistant principal, and grade level members will review students with excessive absences to determine placement for the next school year.
TARDY
Students must be in the school building when the 8:15 a.m. tardy bell rings. All students who arrive after 8:00 a.m. may not enter a classroom without a blue tardy slip. Students with excessive tardies may be subject to further disciplinary consequences and/or truancy charges. Teachers should collect and retain all tardy slips.
BREAKFAST
Each student at Gonzales Elementary is eligible for a free breakfast. Each morning breakfast will be served in the cafeteria from 7:15-8:00 a.m. Students will enter their cafeteria code as they are served breakfast.
Note: The cost of a teacher’s breakfast is $1.20. Visitor breakfast is $1.50.
LUNCH
Student lunches are served in the cafeteria. Student lunches are $2.00. Free and reduced lunches are also available once a family qualifies after filling out the appropriate forms.
Students may also bring their lunch from home. Federal law states that parents can bring food for their child only. A parent cannot bring food for other students.
Note: Teachers may also purchase lunches in the cafeteria for $3.15. Visitor lunches are $3.20.
FACILITIES
Teachers who come on the campus before or after regular school hours are responsible for turning off lights, setting the alarm, and locking the building. The alarm system is set each weeknight at 10:00 p.m. If you are on campus weeknights after 10:00 p.m. or on the weekend you will need to disarm the alarm system. Make sure the system is armed before leaving. If for any reason the system will not acknowledge “armed”, call the principal or the assistant principal.
Please make sure all windows are locked daily. Please lock all classroom doors at the end of the day. If your door is unlocked in the morning, please let the office know.
Please encourage students to pick up trash in the classroom each day before dismissal. Students are not permitted to lean against the walls or place feet on the walls. Pride in our campus should be stressed throughout the year.
All maintenance requests should be made through Sylvia Martinez or Nikki Nerada.
All classrooms should be clean, organized, and neat. Our classrooms are a reflection of our campus. Please take care of your space.
LOUNGE
No students, including teacher’s children, are ever permitted to enter the lounge for any reason. All users of the lounge should help to keep it neat and clean.
KEYS
Keys to the campus, classrooms, cabinets, and file cabinets are the responsibility of the employee. Should keys be lost, the employee is responsible for paying to have keys replaced. Should the keys to the exterior doors be lost, all exterior door locks must be replaced along with all employee exterior door keys.
SUPPLY CLOSET
Gonzales Elementary employees are not allowed in the supply closet except to inspect permanent records. Teachers or staff in need of supplies should request them from the office staff.
FOODS AVAILABLE AND UNAVAILABLE TO STUDENTS
The Texas Department of Agriculture has amended the Child Nutrition Program Foods of Minimal Nutritional Value (FMNV) policy to be effective with the start of the 2004/2005 school year.
The following guidelines are now in place for Gonzales Elementary:
Such food and beverages may not be sold or given away on school premises by the school, school or non-school organizations, teachers, parents, or any other person or group during the school day.
Prohibited items are:
●Any type of carbonated beverages.
●Water ices (commonly referred to as Popsicles); water ices that include fruit or fruit juices are not included.
●Chewing gum
●Certain candies which include hard candy (sour balls, fruit balls, candy sticks, lollipops, starlight mints, after dinner mints, sugar wafers, rock candy, cinnamon candies, breath mints, and jaw breakers), jellies and gums, marshmallow candies, fondant, licorice, spun candy and candy-coated popcorn.
●Candy including candy bars and packaged candies not included as FMNV.
●All food and beverages that are not provided by school food service.
Food Exceptions
●Elementary classrooms may serve one nutritious snack per day in the morning or afternoon (not during lunchtime) under the teacher’s guidance. The classroom snack may be provided by the school food service, the teacher, parents or other groups and should be at no cost to students.
GRADE LEVEL ACADEMIC PROMOTION REQUIREMENTS (EIE LOCAL)
In grades 1-8, promotion to the next grade shall be based on an overall average of 70 on a scale of 100 based on course-level, grade-level standards (essential knowledge and skills) for all subject areas, a grade of 70 or above in language arts and in mathematics, and a grade of 70 or above in either science or social studies.
Retention Contracts - A retention contract must be completed by a teacher after the fourth six-week grading period if a student is in danger of failing the school year according to the promotion/retention policy. The teacher(s) will hold a conference with the student and parent to review the areas of deficiency and devise a plan for the student to follow to try to show enough improvement to pass.
LIBRARY
The library will be open daily from 8:00 a.m. – 3:25 p.m. Mrs. Leazer’s lunch will be determined after the master schedule is completed and approved.
Teachers may reserve a time to visit the library with an entire class. Please see the librarian in advance to reserve your time. Other students are permitted to check-in and out books when the library is reserved by a teacher. Books are checked out for 2 weeks. Students should bring reading logs to the library to allow the librarian to help the student choose an appropriate book.
PARKING
Parking in front of the school is reserved for visitors, office staff, and teachers who travel from campus to campus during the day for instructional purposes. The front row of parking spaces, which include the handicap spaces, should remain empty for visitors. The remainder of the faculty is to park in the faculty parking lot. All faculty and staff should have the Gonzales Elementary parking placard visible in their vehicle.
PERMANENT RECORDS
All student records are kept in their permanent file in the school safe. Permanent records are not to be taken off campus for any reason. All records must be returned to the closet at the end of each day.
All special program cumulative records are not to be taken from the campus. All student records must be kept in a secure file drawer in a classroom.
PHONE CALLS - STUDENTS
Unless an emergency, telephone messages for students will be taken throughout the day and delivered to your classroom shortly before school is dismissed. Students will not be allowed to use the office phone at any time during the day. A student should use the telephone in your classroom and only in emergency situations – not for lunch money or to question if they should ride the bus.
Students are not to have cell phones on or out during the school day. If they bring them to school and you see them you should take them up, put their name on them and turn them into the office. The student can pick it up at the end of the day. If a student continues to have his/her cell phone on during the school day, parents will have to come and pick it up.
PHONE CALLS - TEACHERS
Any phone calls made to an area code other than 830 must be made from a front office phone. All long distance calls should be school related. Messages will be taken and placed in your box or sent to your voice mailbox. We will advise callers that teachers will not be called from class to the phone unless it is an emergency.
Teachers and paraprofessionals are not to use personal cell phones during the instructional day. Personal cell phones are for emergency calls only. If you need to call a parent, use the telephone in your classroom. Please turn off your cell phone during the school day. Likewise, social networking is not allowed during the instructional day either on your classroom computer or on your cell phone. Teachers and paraprofessionals who disregard this policy are subject to disciplinary action.
STUDENT SIGN-OUT
Any student leaving campus must have a parent/guardian sign them out in the office. Sign-out sheets require: date, time left, reason for leaving school early, time returning to school, and who is taking the child. Students are to be picked up by parents only.
TEACHER WORKROOM
The teacher workroom is for all professionals and paraprofessionals to use to provide instructional materials for the classroom. Use supplies wisely. Don’t waste. Clean up your workspace after you have finished.
If the copier becomes jammed while you are using it, clear it. If you can’t, contact someone in the office.
Please keep your mailboxes clean. They are not a shelf or file cabinet for storing your things. They are for mail.
WORKDAY SCHEDULE
The normal workday for faculty and staff is from 7:40 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. less otherwise specified. Teachers must be in their classrooms by 7:40 ready to greet students when they arrive.
All faculty and staff must utilize the sign-in/sign-out sheet in the office for all late arrivals, off-campus, or leaving early situations.
Arriving Late:
In the event of a late arrival, please call the office as soon as possible so that arrangements can be made to have your classroom door opened and someone available to monitor your students until you arrive.
All personnel who arrive after their scheduled time must sign-in at the office.
“Early-Out”
Please submit an “early-out” slip for approval before leaving early. If leaving before 3:00 p.m., please submit a request for discretionary leave form. An absence from duty report is always required for employees who leave before the last 60 minutes of the scheduled workday. This includes 3:45 p.m. on Friday.
“Early-Out” is a courtesy to faculty and staff for extraordinary situations when leaving early is required.
Paraprofessionals –Paraprofessionals will work a 38 hour work week.
Conference Periods - A teacher’s scheduled conference period is for holding parent conferences, planning, professional development, collaborating, and conducting on-campus preparations for lessons. Teachers are not to use their conference periods for leaving campus to run errands.
Conference periods next to a lunch period are not extended lunch periods. All employees are required to honor the time/workday commitments required of Gonzales ISD employees.
Planning Period - All core academic teachers will be provided with a 45-minute planning time.
SECTION 4 - TEACHER RESPONSIBILITIES
ABSENCE FROM DUTY
If you know that you will need to be absent from school ahead of time, please make arrangements using the discretionary leave request form.
Should an emergency arise and you need to call in for a substitute, please notify Sylvia Martinez by 6:30 a.m. at 830-263-0840.
All campus faculty and staff must complete an absence from duty report immediately upon returning to work. A written statement from a physician or practitioner shall be attached if the absence is more than three (3) consecutive days.
Personal leave requests shall be granted in accordance with GISD policy. Any personal leave requests for longer than 3 consecutive days must be approved. Please adhere to district guidelines for use of personal leave. For more information see Policy DEC Legal and DEC Local.
DISCRETIONARY/SICK LEAVE DETERMINATION
If an employee is absent from duty for more than 60 minutes, but less than 4 hours, ½ day of leave will be charged.
A full day’s absence will be charged if an employee is absent from duty for more than 4 hours.
A half day = 7:45 a.m.–Noon or Noon–4:00 p.m.
Note: An absence from duty report must be signed by the employee even if a substitute is not required.
EMERGENCY LESSON PLANS FOR SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS
1. Emergency lesson plans should be maintained by each teacher. Plans should be kept in a folder and
updated after an absence.
2. Items to be included are as follows:
a. Class schedule including times for electives, lunch, and any duties you may have (Substitutes are
responsible for performing all of your duties during the time you are out.)
b. Class roster with a seating chart
c. An attendance roster of students in your class for the substitute to mark and send to the office