MONTLAKE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Hours

School starts at 9:10 am (first bell is at 9:05am).
School ends at 3:20 pm.
The school office is open from 8 am – 4 pm.

Every parent must have a back-up plan for late pick-ups or missed buses, and discuss it with your child in advance.

** Please do not drop off your student at school before 8:50am. There is no playground supervision before 8:50am, and if your student is injured we may not be able to get them help in a timely manner.

You are responsible for supervising your child before or after supervised hours. Please enforce our playground rules so all students are safe on school grounds.

Absence

All absences must be reported to the office by 8:30 am (phone: 252-3304). 
Washington Law requires that we report all unexcused absences.

Late Arrival or Early Dismissal

If your child arrives after 9:10 am, he/she must first check-in at the office.

If it is necessary for your child to leave school early, you must first sign your child out of school in the office and obtain a Temporary Dismissal form to give to his or her teacher.

Transportation / Bus Issues

For bus issues, call the district transportation office at 252-0900 (be prepared with your route number and student ID number).  When a bus is late, the bus or replacement bus should complete the run as soon as possible.  If a student misses the bus, the parent/guardian is responsible for getting them to school. 

To send your child home on a bus with a friend, submit a request to the school office in writing to get a temporary bus card.

Snow and Other School Closures

To hear about school cancellation or delayed starts (typically two hours late), check local radio or TV stations, www.schoolreport.org, or call the Seattle Public Schools News and Information Line at (206) 252-0207.  Decisions are made no sooner than 5am each day.

More information about radio announcements and transportation services is here.

Car Drop-Off and Pick-Up

For safety and efficiency, please:

• Do not use E. McGraw St. for drop-off or pick-up (this is a bus load / unload zone).
• Drive only eastbound on E. Calhoun St. next to the school.
• Drive only southbound on 22nd in front of the school.

A Word from the Safety Patrol

Please don't block the view of the student patrol members by parking your car too close to the corner (22nd and McGraw).  This is because doing so creates a safety hazard for the students patroling the corner.  Thank you!

Communicating Effectively with Your Child’s Teacher

Curriculum Night:  End of September

Curriculum Night is an annual event held to provide the adults in a child's life with important information regarding grade level expectations and curriculum.  Teachers will present their curriculum, teaching philosophy, etc. in their classrooms during this event, and it also offers the perfect opportunity for parents/guardians to ask general questions of their child's teachers.  We hold our individual parent/teacher conferences in November so Curriculum Night is not the time for individual conferences with teachers.  Due to the critical information that is presented, we hope parents/guardians will understand that we ask children not to attend Curriculum Night.  We hope that you will plan early to attend this important event.

Birthday Parties:  In-Class Parties

Due to a growing number of students with severe, life-threatening food allergies, Montlake will no loner celebrate birthdays with food.  Each classroom will decide ow they want to celebrate birthdays without food.  Not only is this change about supporting children with food allergies, but we know that it is fund for kids to be special on "their" day and it doesn't need to be about the food.  Thank you for your cooperation.  Find out how your child’s classroom celebrates students’ birthdays from your child's teacher. If you have any questions about this policy, please call our school office at 252-3300.

Birthday Parties: Invitations to parties outside of school

Please respect the feelings of all children when planning birthday parties.  Please do not distribute party invitations in class or discuss party plans unless all children are invited.  Discuss this with your child so they can likewise be sensitive to others.

Visitors & Classroom Visitation Policy

All visitors are required to first sign in with the office staff prior to visiting any part of the school.  Classroom visitations are welcomed.  Please call your child’s classroom teacher to arrange a convenient date and time for your visit.

Field Trips

Field trips provide a fun way to enrich and enhance classroom learning.  Parents are required to sign release forms before a child can attend any field trip.  Parents are not allowed to drive students on field trips due to liability issues.  Only teachers with Type II licenses may drive students.  Please discuss any transportation issues with your child’s teacher in advance.

No After-School Supervision

This is just a reminder that there is no after-school playground supervision.  Children may not stay at school and play on the playground unless they have a parent there to supervise them.  We have too many children left after school playing on the playground with no parent supervision.  Per CDSA rules, CDSA children are not allowed to play with any students other than CDSA students.  Student left on the playground after 3:30 MUST come in the office to wait for their parent.   Parent must come to the office to pick up their student.   Please be aware that after 4 PM the office is not staffed.  

Before and After School Care

Before and after school care is available via the Community Day School Association (CDSA), located in P-1 right on Montlake’s campus.  It is offered Monday through Friday 7 – 9:10 am and 3:20 – 6 pm.  The Seattle School District will provide transportation between the program and any school in the same zone or cluster. If school is delayed due to weather conditions, CDSA will likewise be delayed by the same amount of time.  Contact Amy Alexander, director, for more information:  323-8299 or http://communitydayschool.org/locations/montlake/.

Lost & Found

Please mark all clothing and personal belongings with the child’s name.  Lost & Found is located in the cafeteria along the east wall. All unmarked and unclaimed items will be given to charity on a bi-monthly basis.

Nursing Services

Our school nurse, Rhian Lombard (252-3307), is here all day Monday, and can be paged at other times.  She can help enroll children and families who have limited or no health insurance in the Medicaid Outreach program. Please do not hesitate to contact her if she can be of any assistance.

Ms. Lombard may not diagnose or give treatment other than first aid.  State Law forbids all school personnel to administer medication or treatment (other than first aid) to any child without parent’s and physician’s written permission on a school form.  Medication must be in the original bottle with clear instructions from your doctor.

Sickness and Injury

If your child is ill or injured, please arrange to have her/him see your family doctor, Public Health Department, or someone at a neighborhood clinic.  Do not send your child to school if she/he is ill. An elevated temperature, sore throat, pain, rash, and vomiting are some danger signs. It is safer for your child and other children if you respond to symptoms before she/he leaves for school.  Do not send your child to school until 24 hours after the last symptom has disappeared.

Head Lice

Anyone can get head lice—it does not denote a lack of personal cleanliness, and you need to report it immediately to the school office to reduce the risk of spread and infestation.

Signs of head lice:

·       Itchy head, especially behind ears and neck

·       Red scalp, sometimes bites resembling mosquito bites

·       The actual louse is rarely seen, but eggs (nits) are generally found at the base of the hair shaft (tiny oval eggs which are cemented to individual hairs).

A child with active head lice will be sent home, and may return to school only after adequate treatment has eliminated all lice and their eggs.  Please keep the school advised of progress in treatment.  Once a case has been reported, the staff will do regular head checks of other students in the class, and class parents will be asked by letter to perform additional checks at home.  For more information, see www.headlice.org.

Support Services

The Seattle School District provides the services of a psychologist, speech therapist, occupational therapist, physical therapist, and special education staff.  See the school staff for their names and hours.  Contact the school office if you’d like your child assessed for any of these services.

School Lunch Program

The Seattle School District provides breakfast and lunch on a daily basis.  Applications for free meals are available in the office (make checks payable to: Child Nutrition Services or CNS) or pay online at www.PayPAMS.com

• Breakfast: $1.25
• Lunch: $2.25
• Milk only: 50¢

Prepaid punch cards:

• Two weeks lunch + milk: $ 22.50
• Four weeks lunch + milk: $ 45.00
• Two months lunch + milk: $ 90.00
• Two weeks milk only: $ 05.00
• Four weeks milk only: $ 10.00
• Two months milk only: $ 15.00

Disaster Preparedness Policy

Montlake Elementary School will care for our students in the event of an earthquake or other major disaster during school.  Classroom teachers stay with their students until another capable adult relieves them.  No child is dismissed until picked up by a parent or an individual listed on the student’s emergency information form in our files. Please be sure to keep your child’s emergency information and comfort kits up-to-date.  We have many people with first-aid training and we will be in communication with local emergency services.  Staff members belong to at least one of the following teams: command control, communications, first aid, or search and rescue.

In the case of a disaster, parent cooperation will be of utmost importance:

• DO NOT CALL THE SCHOOL within the first few hours of the disaster.  Delaying your phone call will provide us time to collect the information about the children.  If we have phone lines available, we must have them open for emergency calls.
• DO NOT IMMEDIATELY DRIVE TO THE SCHOOL.  The school access route and street entrance area must remain clear for emergency vehicles. 
• If an Internet connection is available, we will send email to parents and/or post updated information on the Montlake Elementary School homepage:  http://www.montlakeschool.org.
• If phone lines are available, the school will keep KIRO 710 AM radio apprised of the status of the school.
• When you do pick up your child, locate him/her at the temporary emergency student release station (not their classroom).