Description
"Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul; the blue prints of your ultimate achievements." - Napoleon Hill STUDENT SCHOOL DAY School hours are 9:15 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Buses will begin drop off at school around 8:55 a.m. Breakfast will be served from 8:50 - 9:15 a.m. Drop your child off at school no earlier than 8:55 a.m.; supervision at school begins at this time. Breakfast and lunch will be served on Early Dismissal days.EARLY DISMISSAL CHECKOUT Classroom instruction takes place until the very end of the school day. We strongly encourage parents not to pick up students early from school unless a medical appointment has been scheduled, or unless it is an absolute emergency. Should your child need to leave early, only parents or legal guardians will be permitted to sign allowed to pick up a child, if he or she has a signed and dated letter from the parent or guardian that indicates that this is requested. Please refer to Attendance section for more information on early checkout.CHANGES IN DISMISSAL ARRANGEMENTS It is very difficult for us to change routines for 700+ students on a daily basis. As much as we want to cooperate with family plans and circumstances, we would encourage our families to stay with the same dismissal routine. If you must change your child's regular dismissal routine, you must write a dated and signed note indicating the changes necessary, or you may come to the office before noon to indicate the necessary change. If absolutely necessary, we will accept the change request by phone if the correct security code word is given; however, the parent or parent designee who is listed on the emergency form must come in, show ID and sign the student out. The request for a security code word is attached to the emergency form sent home with each child or you may fill one out in the office. Under no circumstances can we reroute children off buses if we have not been notified by noon. If the above procedures are not followed, your child will be sent home in the usual manner.EMERGENCY FORMS Emergency Forms should be returned to your child's teacher as soon as all information is filled out! From time to time we may need to be in touch with you without delay. An unexpected illness or accident makes this critical. It is Citrus County Schools' Policy that emergency contact numbers are on file for each student from the very first day of school. Should you change your address or telephone information, promptly notify us. Should it not be possible to reach you, the principal or their designee will take necessary action in the best interest of your child. The principal or designee cannot administer any medication or sign for any emergency treatment of a student taken to the hospital.VISITORS As always, we welcome you to IPS. For purposes of security, we no longer permit parents or visitors to casually tour and wander about our facility. Parents are welcome to visit specific classrooms for a specific prearranged period of time. All visitors must check in and enter through the main office to obtain a VISITOR'S PASS.CAFETERIA MEAL SERVICE IPS offers breakfast and lunch service. Breakfast is $.60 and lunch is $1.65. Free and Reduced Meal applications are available at the District Services Center or (Call 726-1931 and ask for Food Service Department). Reduced rates are $.30 for breakfast and $.40 for lunch. Milk and juice are $.50. Adult lunches are $3.00. Weekly or monthly payment of lunches is encouraged to reduce daily time needed to collect money. IPS offers no lunch charges.MEDICATIONS Any medication to be taken at school must be brought to the clinic by an adult. Students may not carry any medications. ALL PRESCRIPTION OR NON-PRESCRIPTION DRUGS must be in the original container. The parent or guardian will need to fill out an Authorization For Medications form before clinic personnel can administrator medication. Parents or guardians of asthmatic students who need to carry their metered dose inhaler or are severely allergic to insect stings need to fill out a Permission to Carry Metered dose Inhalers or Epipen/Ana-kit for Severe Allergic Reactions form.SCHOOL RULES All students at IPS are expected to be courteous and well mannered at all times in all areas of the school. This can be accomplished by following these quite simple IPSville school wide rules: We walk. We listen and follow the directions. We keep our hands and feet to ourselves. We obey the adults at school. We are kind and considerate. Additionally, each teacher has developed with the class how students are expected to behave, established definite consequences for students when they make inappropriate behavior choices, and has developed plans for rewarding students who consistently set positive behavioral patterns. Each teacher will make you aware of these classroom standards. In accordance with state and school district laws and policies, IPS adheres to the accepted procedures and guidelines regarding corporal punishment. In this instance, parents are always consulted.BUS POLICIES Safety rules must be followed on school buses for the safety and well being of all youngsters. A child who breaks a bus rule will be given a white slip and reported to the assistant principal. There is a 4-step procedure; however, any child can be referred without going through all steps, if in the opinion of the driver or school administrator, the offense affects safety. The white slip needs to be signed by the parent and returned to school. Refusal to obey bus rules will result in suspension from the bus. Students will not be allowed to ride a different bus than the one assigned, unless a signed and dated note is presented to the main office by the parent or guardian.ATTENDANCE IPS awards yearly certificates to pupils having perfect attendance. While not every pupil can achieve this, we know that excessive absence hinders a child's school progress. Please refer to the Citrus County Schools Student Code of Conduct booklet for detailed information. The following is a summary of the District's Attendance Policy: 1. Excused absences, tardies and early dismissals will be allowed only for the following reasons: Illness of a student, major illness of an immediate family member, a student's medical appointment, a religious holiday of a student's specific faith, a subpoena or forced absence by any law enforcement agency, a major disaster in the family, 2 days for each occurrence of head lice, and planned absences which have been approved in advance by the principal/designee. 2. Parents will be required to provide a written statement indicating the reason for an absence, tardy or early dismissal within 2 days of the student's return to school, including the date, date of the absence (or tardy or early dismissal), name of student, name of teacher, reason, daytime phone number of parent or guardian, and the signature of the parent or guardian. 3. After 10 absences