Monthly Update #1

Email: tosha.wright@dcssga.org
Website: fses.dcssga.org
Location: 2375 Mount Vernon Road, Lithia Springs, GA, USA
Phone: 770.651.3900
Facebook: https://facebook.com/Factoryshoalselementaryschool

We are so excited to welcome you and your child/children back to Factory Shoals Elementary School!

As a reminder, school drop begins at 7 AM. Students should not be dropped off before this time.

Your Dolphin Splash Newsletter will be provided to you on the first Friday of each month. Be sure to read the newsletter as it contains important information for you and your scholar.

Our school-wide theme this year is We Are Better Together! This emphasizes the power of collaboration and unity within our school community. It highlights the idea that when we work together, support one another, and leverage our collective strengths, we can achieve far more than we could individually. By fostering a culture of TEAMWORK, mutual RESPECT, and shared GOALS, we can create an environment where every student and staff member feels valued and empowered. Together, we will strive to make this year extraordinary for everyone.

• Wednesday, August 14th at 5:30 PM - Back to School Night
• Thursday, August 22nd from 3- 9 PM FSES Spirit Night at Chuck E. Cheese - see flyer HERE
• Thursday, August 29 at 6:00 PM - Title I Parent Advisory Council Meeting - Virtual link is HERE
• Monday, September 2nd - No School | Labor Day Holiday
• Tuesday, September 3rd - No School | Teacher Work Day

Week of August 1, 2024 | Character: The mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual

Week of August 5, 2024 | Empathy: The ability to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from their frame of reference

Week of August 12, 2024 | Active Listening: The act of hearing someone’s words includes understanding views and feelings of the person speaking.

Week of August 19, 2024 | Inclusion: The act or state of including or of being included within a group

Week of August 26, 2024 | Honesty & Integrity: Being truthful, fair and adhering to a code of values

Please complete this FORM if you are interested in joining our PTA. We hope to hold a PTA Meeting in September so we gain an active PTA.

As instruction and student safety are our top priorities, we hope to limit the reduction of instructional time disruptions and the decrease in office chaos in the afternoons. When students are consistently checked out of school early, they are missing valuable instructional time with their teachers. We respectfully ask that all families refrain from office check-outs after 1:45 PM each day. In addition, we can no longer pull children off the bus once we have began our dismissal process as this becomes a safety issue for students. Of course we understand that emergencies happen but we do ask that you work with us as we ensure all students get home safely in the afternoon.

The Georgia Compulsory Attendance Law holds parents responsible for making sure that their children attend school. According to this attendance law, the only legal excuses for absences are

1. Personal illness

2. Death in the immediate family

3. Religious holidays

Although attendance at school is very important, students with a contagious illness or fever should be kept home. Upon returning to school after an absence, a written excuse must be given to the homeroom teacher within three days. Students who are absent miss instruction that is vital to the mastery of the standards. Students are tardy to school after the 7:40 AM bell. Students who are tardy miss valuable instruction and disrupt the class. If a student is late, a parent must escort his/her child to the office for a tardy pass before the student goes to class. Again, students who are repeatedly checked out prior to the end of the instructional day (2:10 PM) miss valuable instructional time.

Here you will find the FSES Student & Family Handbook.

Here you will find the DCSS Elementary Student Handbook.

All afternoon dismissal and transportation changes must be made in writing; we cannot accept changes made by a child or over the phone. Please send notes in with students in the morning. If you need to send an email, those need to be made prior to 1:00 PM to our transportation team. The transportation team email is fses-transportation-dcss@dcssga.org.

Do you want to shout out a teacher or staff member for the amazing job they're doing?! Well, now you can! Use this form to recognize a teacher or staff member. All recognitions will be shared with the appropriate staff member and may also be posted on our Facebook page. Please submit one form per teacher.

Complete the FORM here.

Here are the district approved calendars for the next two years. [2024-2025 and 2025-2026].

Our school code for Remind is: @fsesga

Join our school on Class Dojo using this link.

We will use Remind for all communication with families. We will use Class Dojo as our school-wide behavior management tool. Please be sure to sign up for both. Our staff is also available via email (first name.last name @ dcssga.org) or via phone at 770-651-3900.

GoGuardian is a Chromebook monitoring and teacher facilitator application that helps students learn safely, stay focused, and get engaged. Administrators and teachers can see everything your child does on their school issued device and when they are logged into their DCSS portal. Administrators get alerts when students search inappropriate or explicit content on their device. Students will lose device privileges if their account is flagged for inappropriate content.

Parents are required to complete a Free and Reduced Meal Application in order to qualify for free or reduced meals. Meals will no longer be free. Parents will be required to send money for breakfast and lunch until the free/reduced meal application is approved. You can use schoolcafe.com to load money to your child's account or send cash for meals.

If your child has a negative lunch balance, they will not be accepted into any FSES extracurricular activities until that balance is cleared.

Here is the link for directions on signing up for the Parent Portal for our Student Information System, Infinite Campus. We use Infinite Campus school for student's grades, attendance and other important data.

Here Comes the Bus is available for parents and students to download now. To sign up, visit the Apple or Android store, or visit www.herecomesthebus.com.

Students are still encouraged to arrive at their stop five to ten minutes early and to follow any additional instructions given by drivers. Please sign up for Here Comes the Bus. You can use code 79003.

As your children board the bus each morning, please help us and remind them of our bus rules. Students should stay seated in assigned seat, there is to be no eating or drinking on the bus and students should use their inside voices. Students should also keep their hands and other objects to themselves while riding the bus.

School bus transportation is a privilege afforded pupils by the Board of Education. It is not a right. To protect the safety and well-being of all involved, pupils must adhere to established bus conduct rules. Bus transportation privilege may be revoked if the pupil does not observe bus conduct expectations.

There are some days that your child's bus may be late due to busses being combined or a substitute bus driver driving a new route. If you would like to know if your child's bus will be late, you may locate that information here. Our school is abbreviated as FSES. This information is updated each morning and each afternoon.

Morning Arrival to FSES

• Car riders may only be dropped off and picked up within the designated car rider zone.

• Morning student drop-off begins at 7:00 AM in the car rider lane.

• As the car approaches the drop-off location, students should unbuckle themselves, have their bookbag on, and place any materials being carried in their hands.

• Please move forward until directed to stop. Once stopped, please remember to unlock doors. In the morning, we typically unload three to four cars at a time.

• Students MUST wait until FSES School Staff opens the car door in order to proceed from vehicles. Students should not get out of the car by themselves. This is for the safety of all students.

• If possible, all students should be loaded and unloaded through passenger side doors- Curb Side.

• Do not drive around or pass cars that are still unloading. Vehicles will wait until all children have exited their vehicle before proceeding to the exit. Like school bus loading and unloading zones, violators will have license plates turned over to the DCSS Police Department.

• Vehicles NOT in line when the clock turns 7:40 AM will be directed to sign the child in through the front office.

• Students coming in through the front office must be escorted into the building by a parent or guardian.

Afternoon Dismissal from FSES

• The afternoon car rider line begins at 1:50 PM.

• Afternoon dismissal of car riders begins at 2:10 PM.

• Please do not use cell phones once the car pick-up line begins to move.

• The school-issued car rider tag is required for pick-up. (Even if we know who you are. You must have a car rider tag to pick up a child.) If you do not have a tag, you will be directed to the front office to get one. Additional tags are $2.

• A staff member is responsible for radioing your child's car rider number. Please wait until they have done so before moving on in the line.

• Move all the way forward until directed to stop.

• Vehicles should be placed in park.

• Normally, three students are loaded into cars at a time.

• Children will enter the car on the right-hand side.

• Parents or Guardians should remain in the vehicle at all times.

• Once the child is loaded, you may proceed to the exit.

• If a child needs assistance with getting buckled in, your vehicle should move forward towards the exit. Do not assist while in the line.

• Vehicles need to be in line by 2:35 PM. After 2:35 PM you will need to pick your child up from the front office.

• Students waiting after the car rider line ends will be placed in the After School Program and a fee will be assessed.

If you or the person who is picking up your child in the afternoon does not have the hanging FSES 2024-2025 Car Rider Identification card, they will have to pick up the child from the front office and have their ID available for our front office staff to check. This is for the safety of your child. Thank you for your understanding.

We thank you in advance for adhering to our rules as they all help keep your students safe around moving vehicles.

We recognize that electronic devices are an important part of our everyday world and are increasingly being used in teaching and learning. However, we want to be sure that any devices at school are being used as an appropriate instructional tool, and their use does not interfere with our students’ learning environment.

Factory Shoals is proud to provide student access to Chrome Books in all of our classrooms. Students should only use electronic devices under the direct supervision of their teacher, so there is absolutely no need for students to bring their own devices from home. This includes cell phones, smart watches, iPads, and tablets. We believe that elementary school students are not equipped to deal with the responsibilities of having unsupervised access to technology, and their brains are not quite ready to handle such distractions at school.

If your child must bring a device to school in order to communicate with you after school hours, then please remind them of the following:

Electronic devices brought from home will be kept in the backpack turned off during the school day and will not ring or cause disruption to the instruction in the classroom.

Thank you for helping us to make Factory Shoals an amazing place where students value their education!

We do not allow birthday parties during lunch, whole birthday cakes or any birthday treats that are not individually wrapped.

We enjoy honoring our students on their birthday. We announce the birthday child’s name on the morning announcements and allow families to bring in treats within the guidelines below.

Cupcakes/snacks must be store bought AND prepackaged/individually wrapped.

Also, you may want to think about non-food items. The items listed below will still make your child feel special and they will last a lot longer than a food item.

• A game for the classroom
• A classroom book (A nice touch would be having your child pick it out, sign it, and date it.)
• A classroom set of items for each child to keep such as pencils, pens, erasers, markers, etc.

Mr. Hector Cotte is our Bilingual Family Liaison. He speaks Spanish and is here to help parents improve their understanding of the school and the school system, while maximizing their involvement in school activities and helping to minimize any linguistic barriers. You can reach Mr. Cotte at hector.cotte@dcssga.org or 770.651.3937.

Ms. Lizzy Kilgore is our District Bilingual Liaison. Please contact her if you need help with translating or interpreting.

Phone: 770.651.2223

Email: lizzy.kilgore@dcssga.org