ORE VALLEY ELEMENTARY
Dr. Stephanie Ferree
Director of Elementary Education & Interim Ore Valley Principal
Principal Welcome
Welcome Ore Valley Students and Families!
I am excited to introduce myself to you as the Interim Principal at Ore Valley Elementary School. I have spent the last 29 years within the school district and actually started my teaching career as a 2nd and 3rd grade teacher at Ore Valley. I am excited to be returning home to support the Ore Valley community. I will be working closely with Mr. Smith and the Ore Valley staff to ensure that the opening of the school year and the months to come are efficient and smooth. Please reach out via email at stephanie.ferree@dallastown.net or by contacting the school office at (717) 505-5051, if you have any questions or needs.
I look forward to meeting you and working with you in the coming months.
Dr. Stephanie Ferree
Director of Elementary Education
Interim Ore Valley Elementary Principal
Mr. Brian M. Smith
Assistant Principal
Welcome to Ore Valley! My name is Brian Smith and I am the Assistant Principal at Ore Valley Elementary. I just want to take a moment to introduce myself. This will be my fourteenth year in the Dallastown Area School District, my eighth as an assistant principal. Prior to becoming an assistant principal, I worked at York Township Elementary as a long-term substitute in the first and fifth grades during the 2009/2010 school year. Then I had the pleasure of teaching third grade for five years at YT, from 2010 to 2015. During my five years of teaching third grade, I attended McDaniel College to earn my Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership. I graduated from McDaniel in the spring of 2015 and was hired as an assistant principal shortly after. I spent 2015 to 2020 splitting my time as an assistant principal at both York Township and Ore Valley Elementary Schools. During the 2020/2021 school year, I transitioned to the full-time assistant principal at Ore Valley. I am excited to continue as the full-time assistant principal at Ore Valley. This year we will continue our Choose Love Movement and Learning Through Play Initiative. Throughout the year, the students will engage in fun-filled activities focused on courage, gratitude, forgiveness, and compassion. Weaved into all of this, the students will also engage in time to play games, learning various life skills related to game playing. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out and contact me.
Thank you for your time,
Mr. Brian M. Smith
Assistant Principal
Student Handbook
Our Student Handbook has gone electronic. You can view all important information at any time throughout the school year. Please make sure you read the handbook and complete the parent sign-off in Skyward.
Car Rider Information
Arrival Time (PLEASE READ CAREFULLY)
Students are not permitted to be dropped off at school prior to 8:25 am.
Students are to arrive at Ore Valley between 8:25 am and 8:50 am. They will go directly to their classrooms. Students are not permitted in the classrooms before 8:25 am. Breakfast will begin at 8:25 am and end at 8:50 am. All students who wish to eat breakfast will enter the building and go to the cafeteria. They will eat breakfast in their classrooms.
All car rider students will enter the school through Door 20.
All bus rider students will enter the school through Door 16 located on the side of the gymnasium.
Students who arrive after 8:50 am will be considered tardy. By 8:50 am, students are expected to be in their classrooms and ready to start the day.
Student drop-off – Parents/Guardians will not be allowed to drop off their children in the upper parking lot by the flagpole. Please read the section, “Student Drop-off and Pick-up,” carefully.
Students who live in the adjacent neighborhood will be allowed to walk to school.
Dismissal
Car riders, van students, walkers, and latchkey students are dismissed at 3:25 pm (see the section below “Student Drop-off and Pick-up”)
Bus students – dismissed at 3:30 pm.
For security reasons, a note or email must be sent to the SCHOOL OFFICE by 2:00 pm on the day of student pick-up indicating your intention to pick up your child. Phone requests for a change in a student’s dismissal plan will not be honored.
Afternoon Appointments
For security reasons, students with afternoon appointments need to be picked up in the front office by 3:00 pm. A note needs to be sent to school with your child. We encourage that appointments be made outside of school hours when possible.
With the buzzer system and the fast pace at the end of the day, last-minute requests for dismissal compromise security for all students.
Student Drop-off and Pick-up (IMPORTANT)
Morning Drop-off
When dropping off your child in the morning, enter from SPRINGWOOD ROAD.
Buses will unload by the gymnasium parallel with Springwood Road double parked.
The Car Rider Line will begin immediately after entering the school property via the Springwood Road entrance. Cars and school vans will follow signs and cones directing them to pull up to the front of the building by the front lobby.
Prior to 8:25, cars will pull up to the front lobby area, starting at sign #1, and cars will begin to double park.
At 8:25, staff will begin unloading double-parked cars starting with the line of cars along the flagpole, followed by the line of cars along the sidewalk.
After all double-parked cars are unloaded, staff will begin unloading the remaining cars, no longer forming two lines.
All cars and vans will exit at the SECOND CHESTNUT HILL ROAD exit. Adults will be on the sidewalks to make sure your child safely enters the building.
Please note, that the car and school van line will drive across empty parking spots down by the gymnasium.
Parents are not permitted to drop off their child in the upper parking lot next to the flagpole. This is due to safety reasons and parking lot congestion.
IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT ALL CAR RIDERS ARRIVE BETWEEN 8:35 a.m. and 8:45 a.m. THIS WILL HELP TO AVOID TRAFFIC CONGESTION.
Prior to 8:50 am, all students will enter through Door 16 or Door 20. No students will be allowed to enter the building through the front lobby doors unless being escorted into the building by an adult.
REMINDER – Students are not permitted to be dropped off at school prior to 8:25 am.
8:25 am-8:50 am– Students enter the school through Door 16 or Door 20. ONLY DASD EMPLOYEES ARE ALLOWED ON THE ENTRANCE SIDEWALK.
After 8:50 am – Students enter the school through the front lobby. Parents/Guardians must escort the child INTO the school building.
Afternoon Pick-up (IMPORTANT)
The Dallastown Area School District’s elementary administrators have worked on creating consistent student pick-up protocols for the end of the school day. Although each K-3 building will be using these protocols as the foundation for its school’s procedures, each building is responsible for developing its own specific routines to meet its building’s needs. Therefore, Ore Valley has established these procedures for students who will be car riders at the end of the school day.
Afternoon Car Rider Procedures:
A note or email must be sent to the SCHOOL OFFICE by 2:00 pm on the day of student pick-up indicating your intention to pick up your child. The note or email must indicate the date, the student’s name, and the person who will be picking up your child. Emails can be sent to OVcarriders@dallastown.net.
The person picking up your child must arrive at school between 3:10 pm-3:25 pm and drive their car to the back of the school using the entrance from Chestnut Hill Rd (indicated on the diagram below).
**IMPORTANT FOR THIS YEAR – Due to congestion of cars backing up onto Chestnut Hill Road, as well as a fire lane and safety concerns, car rider parents/guardians are NOT to enter school property before 3:10 pm. The chain will be removed at 3:10 pm.
Cars will park in a designated parking spot.
When the door opens for dismissal, come to the door with your identification.
Staff will check your identification and release your child to you.
Carefully exit the parking lot.
IMPORTANT NOTES:
All people picking up their children must be in the back area by 3:25 pm, so we do not disrupt the flow of traffic. (It is a single lane coming into the back area.)
Unless there is a note/email by 2:00 pm, students will ride the bus. No exceptions!
If your child will always be a car rider, you can send one note/email indicating your desire for your child to always be on the car rider list. Please note the names of individuals who will be picking up your child.
No one will be admitted into the front entrance of the school starting at 3:25 pm until all students are dismissed. Please do not approach the front doors between 3:25 pm-3:45 pm unless there is an emergency.
Car Rider Map
Ore Valley Elementary car rider map
Diagram 1
Where to enter and exit – off of Chestnut Hill Rd (second entrance from Springwood Rd/Chestnut Hill Rd intersection)
Diagram 2
Back Blacktop Area
Choose Love
Our school, along with the other K-3 buildings in the district, will be incorporating fun, engaging, Learning Through Play activities and a program called Choose Love for Schools which plays an important role in promoting students' social and emotional well-being, and academic and personal success. It also enhances our classroom and school climate, making it a place where students are safe, compassionate, connected, and able to thrive.
The Choose Love for Schools Program is a comprehensive curriculum that supports, nurtures, and fosters the whole child. Students will learn skills and tools they will use throughout their lives, to be honest, trustworthy, caring and compassionate, self-disciplined, intellectually curious, fair, and respectful.
Students learn how to thoughtfully respond by choosing love. The program’s foundation is a formula: Courage + Gratitude + Forgiveness + Compassion in Action = Choosing Love. We use courage daily to choose love over fear. Practicing gratitude helps us focus on what we have. Forgiveness is the key to healthy relationships and compassion in action helps us connect with and help others.
We hope you will share in this journey with your children, asking questions about what they have learned and enjoying the benefits of the program as well. Please check out the Choose Love At Home Program for families and caregivers. You can learn alongside your children and incorporate these skills and tools to promote Social and Emotional Learning in your home, and even within yourself! www.chooselovemovement.org.