THE WILDCAT WAY

RHES Arrival/Dismissal Times

8:50 AM - 3:50 PM

Car rider line opens at 8:15 AM

OCTOBER 5-10: FALL BREAK

OCTOBER 13: END OF FIRST QUARTER

OCTOBER 14: RUN FOR THE HILLS 5K

OCTOBER 16-20: BUS SAFETY WEEK

OCTOBER 16-20: PARENT LUNCH WEEK

OCTOBER 18: 2ND GRADE READING RALLY AT MES

OCTOBER 19: PICTURE MAKE UP DAY

OCTOBER 20: BOSTERTHON FUN RUN

OCTOBER 23-27: RED RIBBON WEEK

OCTOBER 24: FLU SHOT CLINIC

OCTOBER 28: ELEMENTARY ART SHOW , 4-5 PM

Kona Ice is coming to RHES on October 4th! Place your order online with this link: https://app.konaicepay.com/#/F01223426

The link expires at midnight on October 4th. Cash will be accepted on Kona Ice Day but make sure you send the exact amount, no change will be available.

This information is shared in every newsletter.

All Students

Backpack tags have been placed on your child's backpack to assist during arrival and dismissal. These tags indicate the homeroom teachers and transportation to assist RHES adults in helping students in and out of the building daily.

Car Riders - Arrival

• Car riders have an assigned number. Parents may pick-up their children by driving through the car rider line with the child’s number card displayed on the driver’s side dashboard.
  

• Please do not drop your child off in the carline before 8:15 a.m., as we cannot guarantee adult supervision until that time.

• Morning drop-off for students will take place behind Carver and Richmond Hill Elementary Schools. We will use the entire sidewalk to unload students on the passenger side of the car. Please do not park your car in the parking lot and allow him or her to walk inside, as there are buses and moving traffic that pose major safety concerns.

• The car rider line will close at 8:45 a.m. Students will be marked tardy if they are not in their classrooms at 8:50 a.m. If you arrive after 8:45 a.m., please bring your child to the front office to sign-in.
  

Car Riders - Dismissal

• To pick-up your child at the end of the school day, you must enter the car rider line as directed on the back of this sheet. Please do not park in the parking lot and walk up to get your child, as this space is designated for buses only.

• Your vehicle must display your child’s car tag in order for us to allow him or her to be dismissed in car line. In the event that the car tag is not available, we will ask you to present proper identification to our front office staff. This is not to inconvenience you, but to be sure that we keep safety at the forefront of our dismissal procedures.

• Please follow the established traffic flow to keep the line moving.

Walkers

• Walkers will be approved by address verification.
• Approved walkers should walk to and from campus, not arriving in a car. If you are driving to campus, please use the car line.
• For more information on walkers and bike riders, click here.

Student dismissal is based on information provided by the parent or guardian. Every morning the teacher records how each child in her class is going home. If there is a change in transportation, please send in a note the morning of the change. Please include the dates for the change and a phone number for verification purposes. If a change is necessary during the school day, it will be considered an emergency change and should be requested by calling the office at 459-5100.

Frequent changes in transportation can be confusing and stressful for young children. Please do not make changes except in emergency situations.

Every parent or guardian completes demographic information in PowerSchool for their child at the beginning of each school year. This is the information that the office will refer to when releasing students. In order to guard the safety of your child, our office staff is extremely cautious when releasing students to other adults. Please keep this information updated with current phone numbers, who to contact in case of an emergency, and the names of adults that have permission to check-out your child.

Permanent changes to the demographic information can be done in person with an ID by the custodial parent or guardian. Custody documentation must be on file, and the office must be notified immediately when changes are made to custodial agreements.

If there is a need for a different adult other than those listed in PowerSchool to pick up your child, a signed and dated note from the parent/guardian is required. When it is time to check-out your child, our staff will require the adult to present a picture ID.

Students checked out prior to 12:30 PM are considered absent as they were present for less than half the school day.

We believe that attendance is an essential component to your child’s academic success. It is our goal to partner with you to ensure that your child views school attendance as an important part of being a successful student, as an absence means that your child has lost an opportunity to learn.

Any combination of 10 early check-outs or late arrivals will require the parent to provide proof of residency documentation. Further, an attendance meeting will be called once the student has excessive unexcused absences.

Students checked out prior to 12:30 PM are considered absent as they were present less than half the school day at RHES.

Teachers will assist students with missed lessons and assignments when they return from an absence. When students are absent due to illness, we prefer that they use that time to rest and recover. If students are out due to extended illness or injury, parents should contact Bethany Poole, counselor, for information on hospital homebound services.

Please send doctor's notes to Francy Valenzuela via email at fvalenzuela@bryan.k12.ga.us.

Refer to the Bryan County Schools Handbook for full attendance policy.

While educating our Wildcats is important, our first and foremost mission is the safety of our students and staff. We, along with the support and guidance of Bryan County Schools, take a proactive approach to keeping our students safe each day through a comprehensive safety plan, vigilant supervision, and regular safety drills.

As part of the Richmond Hill Elementary family, there are a few simple steps you can take to partner with us to ensure student safety:

1. Only use our main entrance to access the building unless instructed otherwise (i.e. special events, performances, family nights).
2. If volunteering or visiting campus, check-in through the main office and wear the provided identification badge at all times.
3. Have transportation tags and identification on hand when picking up your student.

Thank you for your support and cooperation in keeping our students and staff safe!

We welcome lunch guests during one designated week per month. Parents/Guardians will be able to choose one day during the week to enjoy lunch with their child. We do ask that siblings not attend as lunch guests.

• All lunch guests must be on your child's white card.
• One lunch guest per child per visit due to space limitations.
• Please plan on visiting for lunch just one day of the designated week.
• Ensure you closely look at the schedule for designated weeks. We will only be able to accommodate lunch guests on the scheduled weeks.
• All guests will be required to sign in at the front office and wear a visitor's badge while on campus.
• All visitors will eat with their child at a designated area. Due to space and safety, only your child will be permitted to eat lunch with you. Your child's friends will not be permitted to join lunch with you.
• Please do not bring outside food during your visit.

We love our Parent Volunteers! Volunteers are a crucial part of what we do each day. An orientation is a required component prior to being able to volunteer at any Bryan County School.

The school nurse will determine when a child needs to be sent home due to illness. If a child is sent home by the nurse, it is considered an excused absence. The following procedures will be used to determine student illness and parent notification:

• Fever – If your child has had a fever of 100.4 F or above during the night they should not be sent to school. Parents will be notified when a child has a temperature of 100.4 F or above and the child will be sent home. Children can return to school when fever-free for 24 hours WITHOUT medication.
• Rash – Parent will be notified when child has a suspicious rash that could possibly be contagious.
• Pink Eye - Students with any signs of eye infection, "pink eye", or eye drainage must be kept home from school. Students diagnosed with "pink eye" must be on prescription medication for 24 hours prior to returning to school.
• Nausea, vomiting, and related illness – If a student vomits or has diarrhea at school, a parent will be notified and asked to make arrangements to have the child picked up from school. The student may return after a 24-hour period with no vomiting/diarrhea.
• Lice — Parents will be notified when their child is suspected of having head lice. Before the child can be admitted back to school, he or she must be checked by the school nurse. Unless proof of treatment is presented and all live lice are gone, students will not be readmitted to school nor allowed to ride the school bus until these procedures are followed. Parents should accompany their child for him/her to be rechecked by the school nurse.

Contact the school nurse at lslack@bryan.k12.ga.us or 912-459-5100.

All medication is to be taken to the office by a parent and/or guardian to be accepted by the school nurse. Medication cannot be transported by students in backpacks.

Prescription medication will be logged in, and an inventory will be updated as medication is taken. Medications must be kept in the original container and must clearly show that the medicine has been prescribed for the student. Non-prescription medicine must also be delivered by a parent or guardian.

While students are at school, medications will be kept and administered in the office or clinic, including lotions and lozenges. While at school, students may be administered prescription medications that have been prescribed for them.

RHES students are not allowed to have cell phones or any other communication device turned on during school hours unless by a doctor’s request. If it is determined by a licensed physician or surgeon to be essential for the student's health, that student will have a written plan including the doctor's verification for cell phone/communication device use which has been approved by the school administrator and which is on file in the school office.

If a student brings any of these devices to school, it will be powered off and placed in student’s bookbag until the end of the school day. See BCS Student Handbook for more information.

For birthdays, parents can choose to send in a store-bought special snack to be enjoyed during the regular snack time. Parents may send this snack (cupcakes, cookies, fruit, etc.) to school that morning. All treats should be store-bought in the original package with ingredients listed. Homemade treats will not be accepted by the office. Teachers and paras will supervise special treats.

Please consider student allergies when sending in snacks and treats for special events. Your child’s teacher will share a list of the different types of allergies in the classroom.

Students may not receive deliveries at school, including balloons, flowers, outside food items, etc.

Parents will be invited to join the class for 2 parties each year - a winter holiday party and an end of year party. Details will be shared with parents prior to these events.

Your child’s teacher will be happy to meet with you during the school year. In order to maximize instructional time, meeting times during the school day are limited. We will hold face to face meetings/conferences, as well as having virtual options available.

The 7 Mindsets are based on a three year research effort that began with the simple question: What do the world’s happiest and most successful people have in common? In search of the answer, we studied many of the happiest and most successful people who’ve ever lived. We reviewed the most extensive and important studies on personal achievement ever conducted. And we personally interviewed over 400 leading experts, some of the most successful men and women of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Our research revealed that the answer isn’t related to gender, ethnicity, or where they lived in the world. It had nothing to do with being raised in a loving home or a broken one. It didn’t matter if their families were rich, middle class, or impoverished. It wasn’t even connected to how far they advanced in school or the skills they acquired along the way. In fact, it turns out that the game-changing commonalities of happiness and success are based on how the world’s most successful people think.

What emerged from our research was a set of seven mental habits foundational to an enriched life. The7 Mindsets are a comprehensive blueprint for happiness, meaning, and success, written in simple, powerful language to teach and activate success strategies for people to live the lives of their dreams.

In the following pages, you will find a description of each of the 7 Mindsets, along with a summary of the key components of each that empower us to live our best lives. At the end of each section is one immediate action to take that will help instill a 7 Mindsets culture in your home. These will change the dynamic of your family’s daily life by invigorating your children to tap into their unlimited potential.

Following the 7 Mindsets overviews, we summarize our E.M.P.O.W.E.R. approach to driving intrinsic

motivation within students. With each step, we provide a Parent Tip to help you successfully

implement these methods in your home.

From BCS Student Handbook - The Exceptional Student Services Department meets the individual needs of students ages three through twenty-one who are eligible for services according to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). A full continuum of services is available, ranging from the least restrictive to more restrictive environments, depending on the specific needs of the student. The department also supports schools in ensuring students with disabilities appropriately access the curriculum and provide specialized instruction as determined necessary by the Individualized Education Program (IEP). In collaboration with students, schools, families, and the community, the Exceptional Student Services Department assists students with disabilities in increasing academic performance and enhancing postsecondary options

From Georgia Department of Education website - Children start school at a designated chronological age, but differ greatly in their intellectual development and experience base. The Early Intervention Program (EIP) is designed to serve students in Kindergarten through grade five who are at risk of not reaching or maintaining academic grade level. The purpose of the Early Intervention Program is to provide additional instructional resources to help students who are performing below grade level obtain the necessary academic skills to reach grade level performance in the shortest possible time.

EIP Eligibility for Placement Criteria: Students are placed into the EIP program based on a variety of indicators, which includes results from local and/or State assessments in English language arts/reading and mathematics, EIP Rubrics, and/or portfolios, and/or local school checklists.

Gifted Student – A student who demonstrates a high degree of intellectual and/or creative ability(ies), exhibits an exceptionally high degree of motivation, and/or excels in specific fields, and who needs special instruction and/or special ancillary services to achieve at levels commensurate with his or her abilities. For more information see State Board of Education Rule 160-4-2-.38

There are three steps in the process of identifying and placing gifted students: referral, evaluation, and eligibility.

• Referral- Students are referred automatically as a result of system-wide testing or they can be nominated. Three referral windows, Fall, Winter, and Spring are available. Referrals are reviewed by the school’s local eligibility team. The team determines which students will be formally evaluated.

• Eligibility -The eligibility team reviews the relevant information about the referred student. A decision is made by the team regarding eligibility or the need for further assessment.

• Evaluation- Following parental consent, the local school evaluates the student’s mental ability, achievement, creativity, and motivation through the use of nationally normed tests, instruments, performances, and standardized assessments. Students are not evaluated until 1st grade.

Email: kdeal@bryan.k12.ga.us

Phone: 912-459-5100

Address: 473 Frances Meeks Way, Richmond Hill, GA 31324
Website: https://rhes.bryancountyschools.org/o/rhes