Attendance, Arrival & Dismissal

ATTENDANCE

Success in school is dependent upon regular attendance.  Good attendance and punctuality are encouraged from every student. Research shows a child who misses school in his/her younger years will also be absent from work as an adult. Journey Elementary abides by NCSD board policy.

If your child is going to be absent, please notify the school office at 253-3700. Please try to call before class convenes at 8:50 a.m. This allows us to respond more quickly to unconfirmed absences. The school will be notifying parents via the Infinite Campus messenger system to verify each unconfirmed absence. This is to make sure nothing has happened to your child from the time he/she has left home until the time the student should have reported to school. Please ensure all contact information is up to date so that you will get these messages when they are sent out. Please verify each absence with the office to avoid unexcused absences.

ARRIVAL AND DISMISSAL

Every student should know how they will be getting to and from school before they arrive each day. This creates stability and security for your child. We understand plans can change and our office staff will gladly get a message to your student in those instances. Pick the scenario below that best describes your student’s situation for more details.

My student gets dropped off/picked up:

It is district policy that students are not permitted on school grounds before 8:00 a.m. Students arriving before 8:15 a.m. will be sent back home until it is time for them to be at school. Do not drop off your children before 8:15 a.m, no supervision will be provided. After 8:15 a.m. students can be dropped off in the designated Drop-Off Area at the front entrance. 

We have two locations for pick-up. The West loop pick-up is for students Preschool, Kinder and 1st as well as their older siblings. The East Loop pick-up is for students in 2nd - 5th grades who don’t have younger siblings in P,K and 1st. Both the East Loop and West loop pick-up areas are a one-way drive thru circle (see link to map). Parents who are picking up students at 3:30 will need to park along the sidewalk OR park in the lot, leave their vehicle, and use the crosswalk to pick up their student. We will not send students out to their parent’s car in the parking lot. This safety precaution is to keep children away from traffic and to ensure students are dismissed to the correct adult. We realize that it is necessary for different parents to pick up children at different times.  It is extremely important for those parents to arrange with your child(ren) a delivery and pick up location that will not interfere with the buses or block local traffic.  After school playground supervision is provided for bus students only until their buses arrive. All other students must be picked up by 3:45 p.m. If children wish to play on the playground after school, they must wait and come back after 4:00 p.m.  No supervision is provided at this time and children play at their own risk.           

My student walks to school:                             

Students are asked to go directly home after dismissal at 3:30 p.m. unless make-up work is to be completed, or for disciplinary reasons. On several occasions, school personnel and parents have spent many hours searching for children who have gone to a friend or relative’s home without telling anyone.  We expect students to leave school grounds promptly. 

For safety, please discuss safe routes for travel.  Parents should advise children on traffic safety, pedestrian safety, and expectations of arrival and departure time. 

My student rides the bus:

Approximately 50% of Journey students ride school buses. Riding the bus is a privilege, not a right. Copies of written bus rules and procedures are distributed on the first few days of school each year. The rules established by the school district will be strictly enforced.

Our bus monitors supervise bus students before and after school. In the afternoon, bus students are not allowed to leave the school grounds and its supervision. If your student is a regular bus rider, we will have your student board the bus each afternoon unless we have heard differently from you that day. We often have students attempt to rearrange their plans after school for various reasons. In order to avoid this last-minute confusion for parents and to ensure that each child gets home safely, if a bus student has not been picked up when the bus arrives they will be instructed to board the bus. 

LEAVING SCHOOL GROUNDS

Students should never leave the school grounds without permission of the principal and knowledge of their teacher.  A parent or a designated adult must physically enter the building and sign the student out before a student leaves school grounds during the day.