August 25, 2008

 

Dear Parents:

            Welcome to Central Primary! We are excited about working with  you and your children this year. Our staff has been planning for the 2008-2009 school year with great expectations for the best year ever.

            For our students to have a smooth transition back into school or for the first experience with school, we will need your help. It is our desire for every child to have a great learning experience each and every day;  therefore, we will give our best efforts to maintain communication with you at all times. You may contact your child’s teacher with any questions or concerns at 853-2710. The teacher will be given the message and  return your call as soon as possible. If you need to schedule a conference with the teacher, the same process should be followed.

The gate behind the Kindergarten Building will open at 7:30 each morning for students to be dropped off in the car rider line. If you plan for your child to eat breakfast at school, you will need to drop them off at the gate between High School and Jr. High between 7:30-7:45. If you are going to be later than 7:45, it is really too late for them to eat breakfast at school. Any student dropped off before 7:30 will be unattended, because that is when our staff is scheduled to be on duty. Please do not drop your child off behind the cafeteria for breakfast, because the buses will be unloading in that area. It creates a dangerous situation for children to cross over in that area. The area in front of the Primary/Multi-Purpose is also closed to cars parking or pulling through for drop off in the morning and afternoon. 

For the safety of all students, we require that you sign in at the Primary Office upon arriving on campus. We will need to scan your driver’s license each time. You will receive a Visitor’s Tag. This does include when you come to have lunch with your child. Only parents or grandparents will be allowed to eat with your child, and I would advise that to be no more than once a week. We encourage this, so our students will learn to socialize with other students during meal times.

Please pay your child’s lunch money in the cafeteria. It is really too hard for young children to be responsible for taking money to the cafeteria. If your child brings lunch, please make sure the food does not require heating. The microwaves are for the older students to use. Our students have 30 minutes for lunch, and there is no time for this. The law requires that teachers be given a duty free lunch, so they will not have time to heat food either.

If your plans change for how your child will get home, you will need to contact the Primary Office no later than 2:00. Please do not send a note with the student, because young children do not always remember to give us the note.

We are focused on ensuring every child gets the best education possible, and that requires being in attendance every day possible and being on time each day. School begins at 8:00 and is dismissed at 3:10 for students to go to car rider line or buses. Even being a few minutes late or leaving a few minutes early takes away from the instructional time your child receives each day. Excessive tardies and absences will be addressed early as an intervention for the progress of your child. I will contact you if the need arises to discuss these issues. Any student who is absent more than 5 days will be contacted for a conference, and 10 absences will be submitted to Judge Bowers.

Please visit www.centralisd.com for important information and scheduled events. Once again, I am excited about our upcoming year, and I look forward to working with you. If you have any questions, call me at 853-2710.

Sincerely,

Karen Shumaker
Principal, Central Primary