August

27th: Back to School Night @ 6:00-7:30PM

28th: August Birthday Celebration

September

7th: NO SCHOOL - Labor Day

16th: NO SCHOOL - Professional Learning Day

21st: Picture Day

24th: September Birthday Celebration (Thursday) **due to no school on Friday, September 25th**

25th: NO SCHOOL - Teacher Prep Day (K-8 only)

Detailed information will be provided below closer to event date.

Click the link below for the West ADA 2025-2026 Student Calendar:

District Calendar | West Ada School District

Dear Families,

Thank you for all your patience these first few weeks of school as everyone gets used to their new school routines! A few reminders:

Every Wednesday is a late start day. The doors will open at 9:05. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday the doors open at 8:45.
We have free breakfast and lunch every day! There is one option for breakfast and two options for lunch. All menus can be found at West Ada's Nutrition Page.
Please follow all drop-off, pick-up, and parking instructions. This keeps all of our students safe during those busy times. Staff will be in the drop off/pick up and parking areas to support and guide traffic flow. Please follow their instructions.
Make sure your contact and emergency contact information is up to date on PowerSchool. If you need help logging into PowerSchool, please call the school office at 208-855-4335.
When picking up a student, make sure you bring your identification.

Thank you again! We are looking forward to another great week!

Sincerely,

Principal Parker

A friendly reminder-we have a procedure for setting up a meeting or a phone call to talk with our assistant principal, principal, and counselor.

We understand that any concerns you have about your student are very important and we want to help you as soon as possible. Like most professional offices, our administrators and counselor have regularly scheduled meetings, classroom lessons, classroom observations, and school duties. We are unable to facilitate walk-ins.

To ensure we are able to help you quickly and efficiently, we have a form in the office for you to fill out for a meeting or phone call request. You can also call the office and request that they fill out the form for you. This form will ensure that you can get your problem handled quickly and you don't spend unnecessary time waiting for at the school.

We thank you for your understanding and patience.

Absence Reporting

If your child is going to be absent from school, please let the school know.

Call the ATTENDANCE LINE at 208-855-4337. Your message should include:

The student NAME and GRADE
The REASON for the absence
YOUR NAME and PHONE NUMBER

Fill out the Absence Reporting Form online. You can also find this form by clicking on the Attendance button on our website here.

If the absence is due to medical, dental, or other professional appointment, please provide the office with a note. Notes can be brought into the office by parents/students, faxed to 208-855-4344, or emailed to fenton.julia@westada.org. Once documentation is received, please allow 48 hours for PowerSchool Attendance Code updates.

Coming to Campus & Check-In/Check-Out Procedures

Safety is a high priority at Meridian Elementary School. Please make sure you are following the procedures below when checking a student in or out.

Adults that come onto the Meridian Elementary Campus and need to come into the building will need to push the white call button to the right of the doors. This will call the Front Office. When the Front Office answers, please let them know how they can assist you (here for a meeting, picking up a student, etc.) and they will let you in.

Check In/Check Out Procedures

Late Student Check In: If your student is late for any reason, they can push the white button to the right of the doors. The front office will answer and let the student in. You are welcome to walk your student to the office if they are late.
Early Student Check Out:

Walk up to the front doors and push the call button to the right. Let the front office know you are here to pick up a student.
Bring your photo ID with you each time when picking up a student. Please communicate this to any emergency contacts that may be picking up your student.
Only parents/guardians and emergency contacts listed on PowerSchool will be allowed to pick up a student. Please make sure anyone picking up your student is listed on PowerSchool.
The front office will call the student down to the office once you arrive in the office. The front office is not able to call students down to wait in the office before a parent, guardian, or other pickup person arrives.

Our yearly Attendance Race is starting in September!

Each classroom is a team in our race!

Every student helps their team! When students are at school and ready to learn, they help themselves and their team. As students come to school, they help their entire class move closer to the Winner's Circle and the Attendance Cup!

Help your kids get excited about the race! Encourage strong attendance whenever your child is healthy and able to be at school. It's a whole-class, whole-school effort.
Rewards:

The top three classes earn a spot in our Winner's Circle.
The 1st Place class will receive the Golden Attendance Cup Trophy to proudly display in their classroom for the month.
If our whole school reaches its attendance goal, students will earn a lunch recess dance party!

READY...SET...GO! We can't wait to see which team takes home the trophy first!

West Ada School District is using Talking Points this year! Talking Points is an easy, safe way families can communicate in their home language with their child's teacher.

Download the Talking Points app for the best experience. The app can be downloaded on the App Store or Google Play.

Talking Points is connected to the phone number listed in PowerSchool.

If you update your phone number in PowerSchool, please allow 24 hours for updates.
If your app does not update, please fill out a Technology Support Ticket here.

WHEN SHOULD I SEND MY CHILD TO SCHOOL?

You may send your child to school if they:

Have a runny nose or just a little cough, but no other symptoms.
Do not have a fever over 100 degrees. They must be fever-free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medicine.
Have a mild stomachache. Sometimes, a child may have a stomachache due to anxiety. If you think this may be the case, please contact the school nurse or counselor by calling the office at 208-855-4335.
Have not thrown up for 24 hours.
Have a mild rash with no other symptoms.
Have eye drainage WITHOUT fever, eye pain, or eyelid redness.

Thank you for your patience as our families get used to drop off and pick up routines up front! A few important reminders:

No parking in the drop off loop! The drop off loop is for parents who are staying in their vehicles and dropping their student off. Parking in this area disrupts the flow of traffic. If you would like to get out of your vehicle with your student, please use the parking lot or street parking and walk your student to the front doors of the school.
Pull forward in the drop off loop. Pull forward all the way to the sign. This allows for smooth flow of traffic.
Do not pass vehicles in the drop off loop. Wait to pull forward. This is for student safety. Vehicles should not be parked here. If a vehicle is parked here, please inform a staff member.
Students should exit on the passenger side. Please arrange your vehicle so your student can exit on the passenger side. This is for student safety. Students should not cross in front of vehicles.

Using Car Loop

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CAR LOOP DROP OFF:

Drive past the yellow X before stopping.
Have your student get out on the passenger side. Do not let students out on the driver side.
Do not park in the drop off loop.

CAR LOOP PICK UP:

Please drive past the yellow X before stopping. This allows us to load more students at once and speeds up the process.
For the safety of our students, we will not load students passed the yellow circle. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Walking/Parking

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WALKING/PARKING DROP OFF:

Parents may walk students up to front doors and drop students at the front doors.
Students may not walk across the parking lot without a parent.

WALKING/PARKING PICK UP:

Please stand within the right side of the blue cones on the blacktop.
This area is for children who need to use the sidewalk to walk home or head to the car loop. This also allows for safety for our students heading to the Boys and Girls Club.

Pick Up Area

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Please keep this area clear during pick up time, beginning at 3:50PM. We ask that you do not sit or stand in this area at that time. This helps keep the sidewalks clear during pick up time.

No Parking Areas

DROP OFF:

No parking in the drop off loop. If you need to come into the school, please park in the parking lot or park in off street parking.
Any area with red lines is a No PARKING zone. Please do not park in these areas.
Please do not use the handicap parking as a drop off space. There are parents and students that need to use this area.

PICK UP

Any area with red lines is a No PARKING zone. Please do not park in these areas.

Please do not use the handicap parking as a drop off space. There are parents and students that need to use this area.

Parking Lot

DROP OFF:

Park in a designated spot and walk your student up to the school.
Do not drop off students in the parking lot. This is not a drop off location.
Students may not walk across the parking lot without a parent.

PICK UP:

Park in a designated parking spot and wait in the designated areas for your student.
Students may not walk across the parking lot to your vehicle.

All transportation is handled by the West Ada School District Transportation office. Click here to go to the transportation site.

Please remind students to be at the bus stop 5 minutes before the scheduled arrival time. Drivers cannot wait for late students.
The deadline to register students for the bus was July 29, 2026. Students that registered by July 29 will have a bus assigned for the first day of school. Families that have not registered for bus transportation should go to the West Ada Transportation Page for more information on how to register.
No new bus stops will be added for the first 2 weeks of school.

We love to celebrate our student's birthdays! Birthday Celebrations are held the last Friday of the month per district policy. Please read below for some rules & suggestions so your student's birthday celebration at Meridian goes smoothly.

Birthday celebrations are only the last Friday of the month. We are not able to make exceptions.
No balloons allowed at school due to allergies. This is a district policy.
Healthy snacks and non-food items are suggested. All food items must be store bought. We cannot accept homemade food. For more information regarding birthday celebrations, please contact your child's teacher.

West Ada School District policy states, " Cell phones and other personal devices may not be kept on a student's person during the instructional period, which is defined as the start through end of the school day."

If you feel like your student needs to bring their phone/device to communicate with you before or after school, please make sure all devices, smart watches, etc. are turned off and kept in their backpacks during the school day. Students can turn their devices on as they are leaving for the day if they need to communicate with you.

If a student needs to contact home during the school day, these calls are handled through the nurse, classroom, or office.

If a student is found using their cellphone or device during the school day:

1st Time: Phone is brought up to the principal's office. Principal will contact parent/guardian to discuss phone use. Student will receive cellphone/device at the end of the day.
2nd Time: Phone is brought up to the principal's office. Principal will contact parent guardian to discuss phone use at school. Parent/guardian must come to school to pick up the cellphone/device.

Thank you for helping make Meridian Elementary a great, distraction-free place to learn!

Click here for the district cell phone policy.