Dear Parents,
Welcome to the new school year. The Deer Creek staff and I look forward to making this a successful year for all of our students. We believe that with parents and teachers working together as a team, students have the best opportunity for success. We are proud of our staff and students and encourage you to be involved with our outstanding schoo
This Student Handbook is a resource guide for important information that you and your child need to know in order to have a positive and productive school year. Please take some time to read and discuss the contents of the Student Handbook with your child.
In closing, I would like you to know that I believe an open and direct line of communication between parents and myself is essential for every student. Please do not hesitate to call me or email me if you have questions, concerns, or great ideas to share.
Best wishes for a great school year!
Monica Daugherty
Principal
SCHOOL HOURS
Regular School Hours 8:25 AM - 2:45 PM
***first bell rings at 8:20, late bell at 8:25.
Minimum Day 8:25 AM – 12:10 PM
(K at 11:45)
Kindergarten Hours 8:25 AM - 1:15 PM
(August 19 - September 4th 8:25 AM - 11:45 AM)
Transitional Kinder AM 8:00-11:30
PM 11:15-2:45
Early Release 8:25-1:30 TK at 11:30 K at 1:15
HANDBOOK CONTENTS
Attendance
Absences
Tardiness
Independent Study
Transferring
Change of Address or Phone Number
Campus/Classroom Visitations
Character Education Program
Closed Campus
Communicator
Daily Schedule
Discipline Plan
Dress Code
Emergency School Closure
General Communication
Grading
Homework Policy
Hot Lunch Program
Illnesses and Accidents
Library
Lost and Found
Medication
Parent Organizations
Parent Teacher Club
Nevada City Schools Foundation
Site Council
Personal Belongings
Rotation Classes
Phone Extensions and E-mails
Playground/Lunch/Recess Rules
Site Council
Transportation
School Accountability Report Card
Special Programs and Services
Student Supply List
2015-16 Student Calendar
ATTENDANCE
Deer Creek School has a legal obligation to insure that pupils are attending school on a regular basis. Students that are excessively absent from school lose the connection to their friends, teacher, and the support systems of the school community.
Absences
If your child is absent, please call the office or have your child present a written note to the office when they return stating the reason for the absence. Habitual student absence will be reported to the Nevada County School Attendance Review Board (SARB).
Tardiness
Students that are late to school, after 8:25 MUST check in at the school office to receive an admit slip to class. The only excused tardy is for medical reasons. Habitual tardiness will be reported to the Nevada County School Attendance Review Board. The first bell rings at 8:20. There is a five minutes grace period until 8:25. Students entering the room after the 8:25 late bell will be sent to get a late slip from the office.
Independent Study
If your child will be absent for five or more days, it is important that you contact the office and your child’s teacher at least two weeks before the absence, to make arrangements for an independent study packet. Within the packet the teacher will compile work that is to be completed during the absence. Immediately upon your return, the work is turned into the office, checked for completion, and samples are kept on file as proof of completion.
Transferring
If your child transfers from Deer Creek Elementary during the school year please notify the teacher and the office as soon as you know about the transfer and certainly no later than one day prior to their last day of attendance. Students will be issued a transfer when all school materials have been returned. School records are forwarded by mail at the request of the new school.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS OR PHONE NUMBER
Please report any change of home or work address or telephone number to the school office immediately.
CAMPUS/CLASSROOM VISITATIONS
Deer Creek has an open door policy to all parents and adult visitors. We are proud of our school and love to share it with our community, yet, we strongly believe in having a safe and secure campus. We require that all visitors check in our front office to sign in and out of our register and to get a visitor pass. Please understand that teachers are not available for discussions during class time.
CHARACTER EDUCATION PROGRAM
Deer Creek School encorporates the teaching of many character traits throughout the school year. Our school climate program focuses on being kind, safe, and responsible.
CLOSED CAMPUS
Deer Creek Elementary is a "closed campus" which means that a student will not leave school until the end of the day. If a student must be excused to leave campus for a medical, dental, or other special appointment, a parent must come to the office to pick up the student and sign our register. Upon return to school the parent must sign the child back in at the school office.
COMMUNICATOR
On Thursday of each week your child will bring home his/her Communicator. This is a folder that we provide to encourage home/school communication. Parents should review the contents of the Communicator, so that the folder can be returned to school the next day.
On this day, families will also receive an email blast with other important information and links to our website. These emails provide everything you need to know about upcoming events and schedule changes.
DISCIPLINE PLAN
PBIS
Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports
We have a school wide system to improve school climate and student supports called PBIS.
The goal of PBIS:
· limits loss of instructional time
· spend more time teaching instead of on discipline
· keeps students in their seat learning
· minimizes negative behavior by being proactive
Improving school culture to be:
· proactive vs. reactive
· unified
· consistent
· predictable
For part of the program we will have a Student Acknowledgment System:
1. Students demonstrating the three school wide promises: Be Kind, Be Safe, Be Responsible are acknowledged with “Doe Bucks”. These can be earned from any staff member at Deer Creek.
2. Students take home the tear off section of the Doe Buck to show parents.
3. Students turn in the other section of the Doe Buck to enter in a bi-monthly student drawing. Students can earn: lunch with the principal, nature walk with a teacher, a new book, etc.. Rewards, for the most part, will not be prizes but rather an activity with a staff member.
Notice of Concern:
Consistent and fair discipline procedures are crucial to a successful consequence system in all schools. Consequences will focus on teaching, remediation, and logical consequences as much as possible. Students not following the three promises and violating rules will receive a Notice of Concern. It will be sent home for a parent signature. Please see attached form. Our goal is to encourage students to be positive and successful.
1st minor offense=warning, redirect, reteach
2nd minor offense=refocus
3rd minor offense=2nd refocus
continued problem=Notice of Concern
major problem behavior=Notice of Concern
Student’s Promises in PBIS
The Three Promises
· Be Kind
· Be Safe
· Be Responsible
Remember to:
· Turn in your doe bucks
· Tell your parents how you earned them
· Share Notice of Concern with parents
· Be FAWNTASTIC
· Encourage others to be FAWNTASTIC
Parent’s Promises in PBIS
As a Deer Creek parent, I promise to be kind, safe, responsible.
I can be informed by:
· Attending Back to School Night, Open House, and conferences
· Checking and reading the Thursday Communicator
· Checking school and teacher website often
· Communicating with teacher through Email, phone, binder reminder
· Reading the Deer Creek Email blast
I can be involved by:
· Volunteering in the classroom
· Being a room parent
· Communicating with the teacher first should there be any concerns
· Modeling and reinforcing Deer Creek promises
· Looking at Deer Creek Blog
· Attending PTC, Site Council, Foundation meetings
· Participating in family events at school
· Attending Casino Night
· Viewing monthly upcoming event videos by the student council
DRESS CODE
It is important for students to come to school dressed appropriately and with safety in mind. Please adhere to the following guidelines:
· All students should wear shoes that are appropriate for Physical Education. Flip-flops, platforms, high heels or open toe shoes can be dangerous when running and are not be worn to school. No “wheelies”.
· Tops that are midriff, backless, low cut, or tanks with spaghetti straps may not be worn to school. Tank tops must have straps at least 1” wide and not have deep cut armholes.
· Boxer shorts and underwear must not show.
· Baseball caps must be worn forward and taken off when inside.
· No clothing with wording or designs that are distracting or in poor taste or that promote alcohol, drugs or tobacco.
EMERGENCY SCHOOL CLOSURE
Emergency school closures will be communicated through our all call phone system. Emergency school closures will be announced over the radio on KNCO (830 AM). The announcement will be made as early as possible, usually by 6:15 a.m. You may also call 265-1820 to hear a recorded message at the Nevada City School District Office. If a school closure occurs mid-day, parents will be contacted prior to school bus departure.
GENERAL COMMUNICATION
If you need to contact your child's teacher during the school day, please call our main office phone number, 265-1870. Each teacher has a voice mailbox, so if you would like to contact your child's teacher outside of school hours call our main number and follow instructions for leaving a message. You may also contact staff via e-mail. For e-mail addresses go to http://deercreek.ca.ncs.schoolinsites.com and click on the School Staff link, which is the third link down in the left side column.
Students may use the phone in the school office for emergency purposes.
GRADING
Individual student progress is reported to parents three times a year. Parent conferences are held at the end of the first and third quarter. Your student’s teacher will contact you for an appointment. The purpose of these conferences is to review the child's academic and social growth and to develop open communication between the home and school. It is important that parents attend this conference.
All parents have the ability to access current grades, as well as lunch/milk balance and attendance through Power School. If you have Internet access you can view this information at any time by visiting the following website:
http://powerschool.ncsd.k12.ca.us/public/
You will receive a letter early in the school year with your user name and password information.
On the report to parents, the markings are explained. All students, 3rd through 4th grades receive letter grades: A, B, C, D, F. Enrichment Rotation classes are not graded.
HOMEWORK POLICY
It shall be the policy of the Nevada City School District to consider homework as an integral part of the student’s total program.
The purpose of homework is to increase the educational opportunities of students by providing additional learning time after the regular school day for reinforcing, extending and enriching instruction.
A successful homework policy requires close cooperation between the teacher, parent, and child. A gradual introduction from the onset of a pupil’s educational experience will provide continuity for good study habits; foster independence, responsibility and self-direction; and deepen skills and knowledge. The school district recognizes that children need free time each day independent of school assignments and responsibilities, in order to pursue activities and responsibilities of importance to the child and parents.
Homework is most successful when the child takes pride in his/her work and the parent provides a favorable environment, assistance, and supervision.
HOT LUNCH PROGRAM
Our school participates in a district hot lunch program. The County Food Services Program prepares the food. A menu is sent home with all students on a monthly basis. Each student has an account set up for parents to deposit money. It can be used for hot lunch and/or milk. Free or reduced price lunches are available to students who qualify. Please contact the school office for additional information.
ILLNESSES AND ACCIDENTS
Most day-to-day minor health problems are handled by our school secretaries who are Red Cross certified. In serious situations, we immediately call 911 and contact our school nurse. We normally do not notify parents about minor scrapes or bumps, however, it is our policy to notify parents when a student is seriously injured, has any sort of head injury, or becomes seriously ill at school. It is also policy that students with a temperature of 100 degrees or more be sent home. Please let us know of any specific condition in which we should call home, and we can make a note in the students records.
LIBRARY
Our school library is a source of pride and is a vital part of our instructional program. Through regularly scheduled classes and open library time, students are encouraged to explore the many books and resource materials available to them. In order to maintain an adequate collection, pupils, teachers, and parents must cooperate to see that books are returned in good condition. If materials are not returned, a charge equal to the replacement price will be made.
LOST AND FOUND
Please label your child's jackets, sweaters, sweatshirts, and lunch boxes. Should your child lose something, our lost and found is located outside of Room 11 just off the blacktop. Unclaimed items are periodically donated to local charities.
MEDICATION
We can only administer medication (prescription and non-prescription) if we have permission and directions from a doctor on file. Please do not send your child to school with any medication. You must come to the office to complete the proper forms.
PARENT ORGANIZATIONS
Deer Creek Elementary School has a long history of strong parent participation. In addition to classroom volunteers, we have the following parent organizations:
Parent Teacher Club (PTC)