Procedures

Brighten Academy School Procedures

When your child is a student at Brighten Academy School, it’s important to understand and have access to school procedures, rules, and important forms. To help students and parents get the most out of their experience at the school, we’ve made information on school procedures easily and conveniently available below.

We welcome feedback—please contact us if you have questions or comments on school procedures.

Communication

CONTACTING YOUR CHILD: In order to protect the integrity of the learning environment, we ask that you not go directly to your child's class to deliver a message. If it becomes necessary to deliver a message to you child during the school day, please call 770.615.3680 or come by the school office. Please make arrangements for lunch, car pools, babysitting, etc., with your child BEFORE s/he leaves for school in the morning. In the event of an emergency or change of plans, the office staff will relay messages to your child's teacher. Please do not ask the office staff to contact your child or interrupt a class for messages that are not critical.

FORGOTTEN LUNCHES/HOMEWORK: Lunches and homework brought to school by parents should be left at the school office and office staff will contact the grade level paraprofessional to inform the child to get his/her lunch or homework. Please do NOT interrupt the smooth process of class to deliver a forgotten lunch or homework. Children will not be allowed to use the phone to ask parents to bring forgotten homework. Learning to take responsibility for getting homework to school is an important part of your child's growth. It is important for children to take personal responsibility and shoulder the consequences if need be.

STUDENT USE OF THE PHONE: The school phone is to be used for business and emergency purposes only. It is available for use only with permission of the teacher or office personnel. Students will not be allowed to use the phone for such reasons as asking permission to visit a friend, staying for a recreational program, etc. These arrangements should be made beforehand.

SCHOOL TO HOME COMMUNICATION: The staff of Brighten Academy School is concerned that parents are well informed about school activities. All regularly scheduled events and holidays are in the Calendar section of the website. In addition, classroom teachers have regular communication, which comes home with the students. Please check your child's backpack for newsletters and other school communication on a regular basis.

Student Emergency Forms

Emergency forms will be sent home with each child as part of the school packet at the beginning of the school year. Please fill out this card and return it to school as soon as possible. During the school year, please send a note immediately if there are any changes to the emergency information ... address, phone numbers, and/or change of responsible contacts. Unfortunately, your child is the one who will suffer if injuries or illnesses occur and we are unable to reach anyone.

Illness or Accident at School

In case of an accident requiring the services of a doctor, we request that parents keep us informed of any changes of address or phone numbers. We will make every effort to contact a parent before the child is taken to a doctor. If it is necessary for a student to go home because of illness, contagious health problem, or injury, the parent or person listed on the emergency card (if the parent cannot be contacted) will be requested to pick the child up in the office. Please remember that we cannot keep a seriously ill child at school. In the event of a serious illness or accident, Grant School personnel will:

Contact parents when possible.
Contact other authorized persons listed on the child's emergency card, if possible.
Contact child's physician if above persons cannot be reached.
In extreme emergencies, an ambulance will be called, and the child will be taken directly to the hospital. The parents will be contacted.
We will keep an Authorization to Consent to Treatment of a Minor signed by you at the school. This allows the hospital to treat life threatening and non-life threatening conditions, i.e., x-rays, sutures, etc.

As you can see, it is ESSENTIAL that contact numbers be CURRENT so parents or their designated substitute can be contacted immediately for decisions regarding illness or injury. If parents have special requests for the emergency plan for their child, they should contact the school office.

Immunization Records

Current law requires all children to be immunized against diphtheria, whooping cough, red measles, tetanus and polio, mump and German measles, prior to entering a classroom. State law also requires entering kindergarten students to have Hepatitis B vaccine. Children entering first grade must show evidence that they have received a complete health assessment within 18 months prior to entry or 90 days after entry to first grade. Pupils may be exempt from these rules for medical or religious reasons. In these cases, a physician's statement or a waiver is required.

Student Medication

Medical treatment is the responsibility of the parent and the family physician. Medications are rarely given at school. The parent is urged to work with the physician to plan a medication schedule for non-school hours. If it is an absolute necessity that medication be given at school:

We MUST have a written statement from the doctor "detailing the method, amount, and time schedule by which medication is to be taken". (Education Code 49423)
A signed release from the parents for the school to assist in administering medication.
Medication must be in a pharmacy container, labeled with the student's name; the name of the medication; proper dosage and instructions; name of the prescribing physician; name of the pharmacy or manufacturer who dispensed the medication.

Forms are available in the school office. (This is also the policy for over the counter drugs, such as aspirin, eye drops, cough drops, etc.) These forms must be renewed each school year.

Exclusion from School for Health Reasons

State law requires that children be excluded from school for the following reasons:

Contagious health problem.
Lack of immunizations except when having a waiver.
Children with head lice will be excluded from school until the hair has been treated and ALL of the eggs (nits) have been removed.

Meals - Lunch, Breakfast and Snacks

As part of the health movement in our state, Brighten Academy School joins the State Department of Education in stressing the need for healthy kids. Please see that your child comes to school with a good, nutritional snack. We discourage sending sweet treats with your child for snack and encourage to send "brain food"...fruit, cheese, vegetables, and complex grains. It is important that you and your child communicate about lunches and snacks so that your child does not waste food and is able to have a good nutritious snack to help sustain concentration during the school day. If your child is throwing food away or bringing snacks home at the end of the day, perhaps you should consider changing the foods you send.

It is the parents' responsibility to make sure that children come to school properly nourished and ready to learn. Children may bring their lunches from home or buy them at school. Brighten Academy provides a nutritional hot lunch program. For more information about the school lunch program, please see "Lunch Program" information under the "Parents" tab.

Homework Guidelines

Brighten Academy School has developed guidelines for a school wide homework policy in order to clarify general expectations for students, parents, and teachers. Each teacher will develop a classroom homework policy based on the following guidelines in the fall.

Homework is an important part of each student's educational program. It provides a means of teaching necessary skills of independent study and learning outside the classroom. It helps to promote good study habits and encourages students to share classroom experiences with parents.

Other reasons for homework:

To build interest in reading and learning.
To increase learning.
To establish self-discipline and independent study skills.
To encourage parent awareness of student learning.
To make up work due to an absence.
To provide an opportunity to pursue special interest of ability areas.
To complete work started in class.
To expand and/or enrich regular class work.

For Students

It is important to develop good study habits at school and at home.

Be sure you understand the assignment, and ask your teacher if you need help understanding the assignment.
Set aside a regular time to do homework.
Study in a quiet place.
Complete your work and hand it in when it is due.
Do your best on each assignment.

For Parents

Parents can support a child's interest in lifelong learning by providing an environment at home in which homework is a high priority:

Provide a quiet, well-lighted place for the student to do homework.
Help the student budget time so that a regular schedule for study is set up. Take an active interest in what the student is doing at school. Ask for an explanation of a particular assignment. Make constructive suggestions, but avoid severe criticism and undue pressure. A positive attitude by parents will encourage the student to do the best work possible.
Encourage and guide your child with assigned homework. Under no circumstances should you actually do the work for your child.
Regular school attendance is important for your child's continued academic growth.
Consult your child's teacher as soon as problems arise.
Let your child take full responsibility for doing his/her homework and getting it to school on time, including accepting the consequences of not getting it to school on time.

Conferences and Progress Reports

REPORTING STUDENT PROGRESS: Home/school communication is extremely important, particularly in regard to student performance. We feel that the teacher and parent share joint responsibility for this communication.

The formal reporting procedure includes:

Back to School Night: This is an evening set aside for parents to familiarize themselves with their child's classroom and school. Classrooms are open to explain the curriculum that will be undertaken by the students during the school year. Grade level expectations, classroom expectations, classroom daily schedule, discipline and homework policies will be discussed.
Conferences will be scheduled for all parents of each child. This is a very important opportunity for you to discuss your child's academic and social growth with the teacher. If the scheduled time is inconvenient for you, please contact the school to reschedule.
A report card will be issued at the end of each school session. Conferences for selected students may be scheduled as necessary.

Informal reporting may take place any time. Please check with the teacher any time you have questions or concerns. It may save time if you call to make an appointment with the teacher ahead of time.

Inclement Weather Days

During extreme weather conditions, please check your local radio station or television news channel for announcements of school closures.

Click here to access WSB Radio for the latest closings.

Para nuestras familias que hablan espanol: En caso de emergencia, por favor ponga su radio en una de estas estaciones para recibir un mensaje reference a las escuelas de su ciudad.