Our goal as Liaisons is to assist families and staff in creating home-school partnerships. We hope that school staff will find this portion of the website helpful. On this page you will find "housekeeping" including information pertaining to attendance, school libraries, PBIS and field trips.
In other pages throughout this section you will find tips and strategies on how to build strong relationships with families, how to effectively communicate with families and involve them in learning, as well as health and safety protocols.
Attendance - Teachers are required to take attendance at the start of each school day and when each new group of students enters the classroom. Accurate attendance is required for administrative purposes, as well as to ensure student safety in the event of an emergency. Staff is also reminded to take attendance in the event of a fire drill or other emergency evacuation.
When a student has accumulated five (5) unexcused absences, teachers must notify the student's parent/guardian of the unexcused absences. Building administration can provide additional details regarding this notification to families.
School Library - Each school has a procedure to allow students to borrow books from the library. Students who fail to return their borrowed book(s) within the allotted timeframe will be fined until the book is returned.
Northbridge Elementary School only - NES has a full-time librarian to assist with circulation of books. The librarian will monitor overdue books and may enlist assistance from teachers (ie. checking the student locker, desk, etc.). The librarian is also available to assist teachers and classes with materials. Teachers are asked to notify the librarian of topics/projects so that materials can be collected to assist.
Field Trips (Policy IJOA (also JJH)) - Field trips and student travel fall into three categories: school day field trips, overnight or extended trips, and international student travel. Specific guidelines and appropriate administrative procedures shall be developed to screen, approve, and evaluate trips to ensure that all reasonable steps are taken for the safety of participants.
The Superintendent will establish regulations to ensure that:
All students have parental permission for trips.
All trips are properly supervised.
All safety precautions are observed.
All trips contribute substantially to the educational program.
Trip approval process:
All school-day field trips must be approved in advance by the Principal and Superintendent using the appropriate district form.
Approval by the School Committee will be required for any student trip involving late night or overnight travel, including international trips.
The approval process will be completed prior to engaging students in fund-raising activities or other preparations for the trip.
Teachers and other school staff will be prohibited from soliciting privately run trips through the school system. The trip approval process applies only to school-sanctioned trips; trips will not be approved that are privately organized and run without school sanctioning.
Student Behavior System - PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention & Support) - NES and NMS both utilize PBIS as an effective behavioral model. PBIS puts emphasis on school-wide systems of support that include proactive strategies for defining, teaching, and supporting appropriate student behaviors to create a positive school environment.
Instead of creating individual behavioral management plans, a continuum of positive behavior supports for all students within a school is implemented in areas including the classroom and non-classroom settings (such as hallways, cafeteria and restrooms).
Positive behavior support is an application of a behaviorally-based systems approach to enhance the capacity of schools, families and communities to design effective environments that improve the link between research-validated practices and the environments in which teaching and learning occurs.
Attention is focused on creating and sustaining primary (school-wide), secondary (classroom), and tertiary (individual) systems of support that improve lifestyle results (personal, health, social, family, work, recreation) for all children and youth by making targeted behaviors less effective, efficient, and relevant, and desired behavior more functional.