Policies

Anti-Bullying
This Policy was approved by the Board of Directors of Greenfield Center School on December 13, 2010. A downloadable copy can be found here.

Lice
After several decades of treating lice in school age children one way (sending kids home, chemical treatment, and obsessive house cleaning) there has been a radical shift in treatment. Recently a comprehensive study by Harvard School of Public Health was published that made everyone take a step back and put pediculosis into perspective.

While it is true that head lice are spread by head-to-head contact and somewhat by the sharing of hats, combs and hair accessories it is not as easy to contract as we have thought. It is far less contagious than the common cold. In fact, head lice rarely, if ever, can cause direct harm and should not be treated as a public health or medical problem. As of November 2008, Greenfield Center School and an increasing number of schools around the world have cancelled their "no nits" policy. If children are found to have active lice and/or nits we will inform parents that day but will not send children home or do whole class lice checks.

Snow Days
Center School subscribes to ParentReach, the Emergency Notifications Service created especially for schools. For school cancellations due to weather or any kind of emergency we can reach you quickly on your home or cell phones (using numbers that you provide us). The notification method is a recorded message that begins when connected to a live voice response or to an answering machine. You will recognize this informational call as coming from us by our school’s caller ID or the Parent Reach caller ID "411-411-4111". Remember to say "hello" if you pick up your phone so that you can hear the message. ParentReach may also be used for non-emergency, non-snowday, general announcements to the whole school community. You can also check our website’s home page for Twitter messages regarding school closures or other emergency information.

Illness
Early in the morning it is often difficult to make a decision about whether your child is sick enough to stay home from school. With minor symptoms, you often cannot tell if they will get better or worse during the course of the day.

The main reasons for keeping your children home are:
-if they are too sick to be comfortable at school or participate in educational activities.
-if they might spread a contagious disease to other children

As a rule of thumb, a child should stay home if there is:
-fever of 100F or higher
-vomiting
-diarrhea
-frequent cough
-persistent pain
-widespread rash

Drop-Off and Dismissal
Drop Off
We appreciate your cooperation!
Children who come after school has begun have a more difficult start; they don't get time to get their minds and belongings together before they tackle the day, not to mention how disruptive it is for everyone else in the class.

Morning arrival is anytime between 8:00-8:15 each day, but classes start at 8:15 promptly. New parents may want to park and walk their child to her/his class for the first few days of school. If you choose this, please enter through the front doors as we have student greeters who can escort you to the classroom. If your child prefers to be dropped off, the student greeters can escort them to the classroom for the first few days of school. Please refrain from parking in the lanes in front of the school. Please only use designated parking spots.

Dismissal
When picking up children, you have only TWO options:

Option One: You can park in the Finer Building or Brick Building parking lots, turn off your engine and go to the classroom/s to pick up the kids you are taking home. After making sure they say goodbye to the teacher, you can escort your charges safely back to your car and depart, watching out for children entering vehicles around you. For PRIMES and MUPS parents or carpool drivers this is a popular option.

Option Two: Drivers begin lining up at about 3:05, and wait in one of the two dismissal lines (a third lane farthest to the left is kept open for traffic) with your ENGINE OFF (idling cars are illegal because they are a major health and environmental hazard). Teachers on duty will radio the children, who will come to the pathway in front of the Brick Building where they will wait until they are told they can go safely. They then walk down the center aisle between the two lanes of waiting cars, get in their car and shut the door, so others can pass. This process takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes, ending officially at 3:30 (Wed at 12:40).

Waiting in one of our lots for children to come to you is NOT an option, NO exceptions. We cannot account for the safety of your child if they are allowed to cross the busy street to walk home unsupervised. Be advised that all students leave GCS accompanied by an adult. If an unauthorized person is picking up your child, send a note to the office, or that student will NOT be released.

Uppers parents can join the car line, which is efficient and safe, or they can park in the Finer Building lot and carefully cross the road to pick up their children from inside. Students ARE NOT permitted to cross the road during dismissal without their driver or a teacher accompanying them. The road is too busy. Please DO NOT stop in the road in front of Finer to retrieve children. This causes major traffic issues.

These and other policies can be found in the GCS Handbook, a copy of which can be requested through Amanda in the office. E-copies of the Handbook can be found here.