The Paradise Press

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We would like to welcome everyone to the 2025-2026 school year. A new school year is upon us, and we hope you view this as an opportunity for a positive and successful year for your child!

The Paradise staff anticipates a very successful year and is eager to guide your child’s continued growth and progress. Your interest, involvement, and encouragement throughout the year will certainly enhance your child’s school experience and development.

Please email or call me at the school at any time when you have questions or concerns. We look forward to the upcoming year of home-to-school connection for the best interest of your child.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Julianne Janusz

Paradise Elementary Principal

januszj@sgasd.org

(717) 225-2731 x 1500

Important dates:

• Tuesday, August 12, 2025 – Kindergarten Orientation 6:00-7:30 PM
  
  
• Wednesday, August 20, 2025 - Back-to-School Open House for Grades 1-4 - 6:00-7:30 PM
  
  
• Wednesday, August 20 2025 – First day of school for Kindergarten students
  
  
• Thursday, August 21, 2025 – First day of school for all students

The Paradise Elementary Office has an email for parents/guardians to use to alert the office to changes in their child's schedule. It is important to ensure the office is aware if your child will be leaving early, arriving late, or any other attendance related inquiries. Please note: Parent/guardian MUST bring their license when picking up their child early from school. This helps to ensure the safety of all students.

The Paradise office email is officePES@sgasd.org.

Hello SG Families,

As we venture back into school mode illness and injuries are bound to occur. Although we don't want to exclude any student from attending school, here are a few reminders to help guide your thought process on whether or not your child should attend school in the event of an illness or injury.

Illness or Injury Reminders...

Students who have a temperature of 100 degrees or more, a contagious illness, or have had repeated episodes of vomiting or diarrhea in the past 24 hours should not attend school. Students should be fever-free for 24 hours before returning to school. Parents/guardians will be contacted if your child becomes ill or injured at school. For this reason, the current home, work, and emergency phone numbers must be maintained in the main office. Please inform the school secretary whenever your contact information changes. Please refer to the following if you are unsure if your child should attend school today.

I Need To Keep My Child Home If They Have:

• A temperature of 100.4 or higher

• Vomited within the past 24 hours

• Had diarrhea within the past 24 hours

• A body rash with itching or fever

• An itchy head active with head lice

• An eye infection or presenting redness, itching, and/or crusty drainage from the eye(s)

My Child Is Ready To Go Back To School When They Are:

• Fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication, i.e., Tylenol, Motrin

• Free from vomiting for at least two solid meals

• Free from diarrhea for the last 24 hours

• Free from rash, itching, or fever/have been evaluated by a doctor if needed

• Treated with the appropriate lice treatment at home, and the proof is provided to the school nurse

• Have been evaluated by a doctor and have a note to return to school

Did your student go to the doctor or dentist over the summer?

• Physical exams are required for students entering into school, grade 6, grade 11, or entering a Pennsylvania school for the first time. Completed Physical Form from the doctor can be submitted to your child’s school office.

• Dental examinations are required for students entering into school, grade 3, and grade 7. Children transferring from other school systems must submit a dental exam form if the original school does not provide an adequate health record. If your child has received a dental examination, please have your dentist complete the Dental Form and submit it to your child's school office.

Does your student require medication during the school day? Students are required to have new medication orders from their provider each school year. The medication needs to be transported by an adult unless directed by physician. Forms for medication administration, as well as emergency action plan forms, are available on the district website at this link:

• Nursing Services - Spring Grove Area School District

As always please feel free to reach out your us if you have questions. Mrs. Wallet and Mrs. Hogan. 717-225-4731 x1588

Communities in Schools of Pennsylvania (CISPA) is a state affiliate of the national Communities in Schools network, which operates in 28 states and the District of Columbia and serves more than 1.8 million youth annually. Communities in Schools’ holistic approach addresses both the academic and non-academic needs of students and recognizes that if basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter are not met, children are unable to learn. Whether a child needs extra academic help, a mentor, a health check-up, additional food supplies, or even employment training, CISPA is there to make sure each child gets exactly what they need. A coordinated, individualized approach; it’s what makes us effective and makes our students successful!

Meet our CISPA Site Coordinator- Ms. Catie Wallace

Ms. Catie graduated from Shippensburg University with a bachelor’s of Social Work in 2019. Following graduation, Catie began her social work career at a residential treatment facility and continued her career working in mental health and behavioral support. In 2022, Catie graduated with her master’s in forensic psychology and is working towards her Master’s of Social Work Degree. In her free time, Catie helps with the local high school marching band as their color guard instructor. She also enjoys photography, gaming, and spending time with her Fiancé and their 2 fur babies, Appa and Pierre. Fun Fact about Catie: She has raised seven service dogs for Susquehanna Service Dogs.

Teacher assignments can be found by logging into your child's Sapphire portal. If you do not have an account set up for the Sapphire portal, please click the button below to be taken directly to the Sapphire portal log in page.

Arrival to School:

Car riders and bus and van riders will enter the building through the main doors at the front of the building. Please be aware students are NOT permitted to enter the building prior to 8:30 AM. Students must be in their classroom by 8:45 AM. They are considered “tardy” at 8:46 AM.

All AM car riders are to pull into the playground lot, as indicated by the picture. The flow of traffic shown is important to keep car riders out of the flow of our bus traffic. Please follow the cars into the playground area, as this provides room for you to move your vehicles out of the bus lane. Once the buses have exited, a staff member will direct you to the front of the building. Parents should pull up to the end of the sidewalk/building and place their vehicle in park. Students should quickly exit the vehicle on the passenger side and walk along the sidewalk to the main door. Once all students have exited, cars may pull away slowly. Under no circumstances should a car pull around a car in the drop-off lane. Doing so is a safety risk to students and parents. We appreciate your assistance in maintaining safety and efficiency.

Dismissal:

Dismissal time starts at approximately 3:15 PM. Buses will be staged at the front of the building waiting to load.

Occasional Car Rider:

If you plan to pick up your child at dismissal on any given school day, it is extremely important you send a note with your child (first and last name) indicating their teacher and the name of the person picking up OR call the school office (717) 225-4731 ext.1500 before 2:00 PM. ID/license must be shown to the teacher to verify the corresponding name on the pick up list.

Rocket Rider:

If you plan to transport your child at dismissal each day, please contact the school office to arrange a time PRIOR to the start of the school year to pick up your child’s 2025-2026 rocket rider tags. When picking up your child, please park in a parking space in the west side (Lake Road) parking lot and come to door #3 next to the kindergarten play area. You MUST show the 2025-2026 rocket rider tag to the teacher when you pick up your child. If you do not have your sign or ID you may be asked to wait until everyone else has been dismissed. We will contact the office for permission for your child to be released to you. Please plan to arrive by 3:10 PM. to help avoid bus traffic. Students not picked up by 3:20 PM will need to be picked up at the front office. For everyone’s safety, please do not permit children to run freely to the parking lot.

Avoid costly repair fees by purchasing the iPad Protection Plan. The plan covers any repairs due to accidental damage throughout the school year for all students in grades K-4.

The protection plan can only be purchased up to October 1 of the current school year. (The parent/guardian will not be charged if an iPad gets damaged before then). No payments will be accepted after October 1, and the repair cost will be invoiced to the parent/guardian.

Students enrolling in the school district during the year will have 30 days after their enrollment date to purchase the protection plan.

Please click the button below to be taken directly to the district website to learn more about the iPad protection plan and how to purchase the plan.

Excused Absence

Student absence excuse forms must be completed and submitted via the Sapphire Community Web Portal.

If your child is absent, please log into your Sapphire account and navigate to the Student Data Forms section to find the Absence Excuse Form. The building attendance secretary will be notified when you submit the form in Sapphire. Once the absence is approved, the documentation will be accessible in the Document Center of your Sapphire account.

Educational Trip

If you are planning an education trip during the school year, please submit an education trip form on your child's Sapphire portal. This must be submitted 5 days prior to the trip/absence.

Late Arrival/Early Dismissal

Please notify the office at officePES@sgasd.org if your child is arriving at school late or leaving early due to a doctor or dental appointment, please be sure to get a note from the physician and upload it to your child's Sapphire portal. The time will be considered unexcused if a note is not uploaded. You will find further information on this subject in the student handbook. If your child is arriving late, we ask that you sign your the child in at the school office. Please do not drop the student off and leave without accompanying him/her to the office.

Breakfast will be served grab-and-go this year and is free for all students. The cost for a student school lunch is $2.45. You may access your child’s lunch account through myschoolbucks.com. Please go onto the district website and apply for the free/reduced lunch program.

School Visitors/Volunteers

Please remember that all visitors are required to sign in at the office upon arrival. Everyone entering Paradise Elementary will be asked to sign in using our RAPTOR security system. You will need to have your driver's license/identification scanned at least one time to be in our system. We kindly ask that you have your identification with you at all times when visiting a district building.

ALL volunteers must complete the volunteer registration process before volunteering in any district school. You may find more information on the volunteer process by visiting Volunteer Services on our district website.

Paradise Communication

Paradise communicates mostly by email or posting information on the Paradise web page. Please be sure to include your email address on the student emergency form. For split households, please include both parent email addresses. We want to make certain that all parents/guardians are aware of Paradise news.