Office of the Principal

Village School Procedures

Student drop off in the morning:
Due to bus arrivals and fire regulations, the circle in front of the school must be clear of cars at all times. Please do not park in the circle at any time. This request also applies to school evening events. Students should be dropped off in the Village School parking lot only. Because safety is our priority, we ask that you do not drop off students before 8:30 and near the bus circle. We do not have staff in place to monitor the students in the building until 8:30. All students will enter through the main entrance of the school. We ask that you say goodbye to your child at the main entrance door. Parents will not be allowed to walk their students to their classroom. If you are dropping off a student and need to communicate information to school personnel, please let the office know and they will get the appropriate person for you.

Volunteers:
We are so pleased to have so many volunteers at Village School. Volunteers are priceless to us and benefit our students in so many positive ways. We would like to note a few procedural changes for when you come into school. The district is requiring that all volunteers go through a background check before being approved to volunteer in the Gorham Schools (this is for all new and current volunteers). Because of this, please be patient for these checks to be made and you to be cleared to work in the building (this can take up to 6 weeks). The office will have a list of volunteers who have made prior arrangements to volunteer. When entering the building to volunteer, you will need to sign in and out of school so at all times we know who is in the building. Once you have signed in, you will be buzzed into the school. Again, this is for the safety of all students, staff and visitors.

Calling your student out sick:
If your child is home because of an illness or if they will not be attending for other reasons, we ask that you call the office to inform us of the absence at 222-1300. We need to make sure students are accounted for on a daily basis. Just a reminder that students need to be fever free for 24 hours before returning back to school.

Change of dismissal plans:
If you need to change how your child will be dismissed at the end of the day and you did not have a chance to send in a note, please make sure to call before 12:00p.m. This gives us time to provide the teacher written notification of the change.

Parent Pick Up:
We have two groups of parents/caregivers that we consider with our end of the day pick-ups:
One group is the parents/caregivers who pick up their students every day or certain days of every week. We will call these parents DAILIES because they pick up Monday and/or Tuesday and/or Wednesday, etc. all through the school year. These people need to send us in a note to let us know this will always happen.

The second group is the parents/caregivers who ‘call in’, ‘drop in’ or send in a note to pick up their children occasionally. This group we will call JUST FOR TODAY. If you would like to pick up your child at the end of the day and have not sent in a note, please call the office (222-1300) by 12:00p.m.. This will give the office time to put your child on the pick-up list. We know there will be times when you just cannot call by 12:00 but please try your best to adhere to this time.

PROCEDURE for pick up:
ALL parent pick-ups will begin at 2:55 and will take place in the gym. Mrs. DeSanctis will call the individual names of the children who are JUST FOR TODAY. If your child is a DAILY or if you sent in a note, s/he will not be called by name but will be called as DAILIES. Staff will walk the children down to the gym. A staff member will manage a sign-out table for all pick-ups. You will need to SIGN YOUR CHILD OUT at the table. Please note that we will need written permission if anyone else will be picking up your child. Once you have signed them out, you will need to wait in the gym to “connect” with your child and take them home. Parents and visitors will not be able to access the rest of the building.

PARKING:
Parking will be available on the basketball court by the playground after 2:40. IMPORTANT: DO NOT park in that area prior to 2:40 as classes may be using the outside areas.

WALKERS:
We must receive a note from you indicating that your child may walk home at dismissal. Walkers will be dismissed after all buses have left the premises.