General Information

Regular communication between the home and school is an excellent way to support your student. Report cards are sent home at the end of each nine week period. Also, our Parent Portal allows you to review grades/attendance whenever you like – if you are not registered for this, please ask our receptionist how to register. At times, parent conferences are needed to provide more information. Conferences must be scheduled: if you would like to schedule a conference, please call the school, e-mail the teacher, or send a note. Every teacher maintains a website where class assignments and homework may be viewed. Our school website (sfms.fortmillschools.org) is regularly updated with information. Please make sure that your email address and phone number is correct so that you may receive email messages and phone calls from our school. You should also register at Peachjar.com for up-to-date information about school and district activities. Each team sends out a weekly email on Fridays letting parents know what is coming up the following week. Please help your child use these emails to plan their study time.

All visitors in the building, including parents and volunteers, must sign in at the office and receive a visitor pass. Students may not have school age visitors including out of town relatives. Any visitor other than a parent, grandparent, or guardian must be approved by the administration.

A student who is involved in school activities is a well-rounded student. We have many clubs and activities with which students may become involved. Sports, band, chorus, and academic activities are available. Students must be at school for at least half of the school day and not be on the ECU list in order to participate in an extracurricular activity that day. All sports are governed by the South Carolina High School League. Eligibility is determined by the SCHSL in conjunction with school board policy. Students must be picked up no later than 30 minutes after the termination of all school functions. Failure to abide by this policy may result in the student not being allowed to attend after school activities.

Listen to television and radio announcements for FORT MILL SCHOOL DISTRICT # 4 (not York County) schools. The school district website, www.fortmillschools.org will have information related to closing of schools. Please tell your child beforehand what he/she should do in case of early school closing. The FMSD and SMS will contact all homes when there is a closing with the aid of our district messenger system. Please keep phone numbers and email addresses current.

The safety and security of all students is of the utmost importance to our faculty and staff. Should a concern arise about a student being a danger to him/herself or others, Fort Mill School District protocols for conducting a risk assessment (suicide and/or threat) will be followed to the extent appropriate. These assessments may include interviews with students and staff, a review of student records, and consultation with district mental health staff, local law enforcement, or other community agencies that help support our schools and students. If, as part of its assessment and response, the school district determines there is an articulable and significant threat to the health or safety of a student or other individuals, it may disclose personally identifiable information from education records to any person whose knowledge of the information is necessary to protect the health or safety of the student or other individuals.

Class interruptions shall be limited to emergencies. During instructional time, general announcements and paging of students will not take place. Students will be paged to the office only at lunch and after school to retrieve items/messages. Non-emergency interruptions, such as visits from salespersons, or other unauthorized persons are not allowed. Parents may visit a classroom when invited by the teacher or after prior approval has been given by the principal. THE SCHOOL DOES NOT ACCEPT DELIVERIES OF FLOWERS OR BALLOONS FOR STUDENTS.

Telephones in the office are for emergency use only. Students should make arrangements for rides before they come to school. All school events are announced well in advance in order to make arrangements.

Each student is assigned a locker and must purchase a combination lock from the school (no personal locks allowed.). The combination and serial number to the student’s lock must be given to the homeroom teacher. Keep your locker closed and locked at all times - the school is not responsible for the contents in the student’s locker. Lockers are the property of the school and are subject to inspection by school personnel. All book bags/backpacks must be stored in lockers during the day; these items are not allowed in classrooms. Lockers are approximately 12” X 30” and will not accommodate larger book bags. A 12” high locker shelf fits our lockers nicely and helps with organization.

Students’ names should be on all personal articles including lunch boxes, jackets, gym clothes, etc. Items found with a name will be returned to students. We do maintain a lost and found in our cafeteria; however, items left over nine weeks will be donated.

Students riding the school bus must follow all district bus policies and rules which will be provided to them by the bus driver. Riding the school bus is a privilege and students may lose that privilege if their behaviors are disruptive and contrary to the safety of other students. Students may not ride a different bus to go home with a friend except in rare cases and then only with advance approval from the transportation department.

Students must take care of their textbooks. If a textbook is damaged, lost or stolen, it is the student’s responsibility to pay for the book. Also if the barcode on the back of the textbook is missing when the book is returned, the student will be charged the full book price.