Cherrydale Primary School

Building Access

Our school opens for supervised arrival of students at 9:00am. If you arrive earlier than the supervisory staff, then you must stay with your student(s) until the teacher’s exterior door and/or the front and back double doors of the foyer are open. If you arrive after 9:10 and the doors are closed, you must walk your student to the office for a Tardy slip.

During school hours, access to the building is restricted to Staff, Students and cleared Volunteers. Parents may not accompany their students past the front office at drop off. If you intend to chaperone field trips or otherwise be in the school while children are present, you must be an approved volunteer. The process can take a couple of weeks, so don’t wait until you need clearance to apply. If you want to register to volunteer, please click here.

Before/After Care

If you need to drop off your child earlier than 9:00am or pick up later than 3:35pm (2:35 on Wednesdays, 12:35 on Half Days), you may want to enroll them in the Before/After Care program called Right At School. For more information, you can contact Cherrydale Right At School at 253-349-8195, or by email at cherrydale@rightatschool.com.

Attendance and Changes to dismissal procedure

To help us keep attendance records accurate and ensure students get home safely, all attendance and dismissal changes must be communicated directly to the Office. You are welcome to let your child’s teacher know as well, but the Office must be notified.

You can contact the Cherrydale Office in any of the following ways:

ParentSquare: Send a direct message to the Cherrydale Office Attendance Secretary
Email: cherrydaleoffice@steilacoom.k12.wa.us
Phone: Call the school voicemail at 253-983-2500

When leaving a message, please clearly provide your student’s first and last name, teacher’s name, and the reason for your call. This information helps us respond quickly and accurately.

Whenever possible, please let us know in advance if your student will be absent, tardy, or leaving early. The earlier we receive the information, the better we can support your student and ensure our records are accurate. If your student is marked absent by their teacher and the Office has not received notification by 9:30 a.m., you may receive an Automatic Attendance Alert through ParentSquare.

For absences due to a medical appointment, please provide a note from the healthcare provider when your student returns to school so the absence can be appropriately excused.

If you know your student will be absent due to a planned trip or other planned absence, please complete the Planned Absence Request in advance.

Dismissal Changes

If your student will be going home a different way than indicated on their backpack tag, please notify the Office as early as possible. Dismissal changes should be communicated no later than 45 minutes before the end of the school day.

Whenever possible, please avoid picking up your student during the last 45 minutes of the school day. We understand that occasional circumstances are unavoidable, and we will do our best to accommodate them. However, the end of the school day is a particularly busy time for both the Office and classrooms.

For dismissal changes received less than 45 minutes before the end of the day, we cannot guarantee that the message will reach the teacher and student in time. Your child’s class may also be at a specialist such as Library, Music, STEAM, or PE and may not return to the classroom before dismissal.

There is never a need to wait to let us know. If you already know that your student will be absent, tardy, picked up early, or going home a different way, please contact the Office as soon as possible.

Thank you for partnering with us to keep attendance accurate and dismissal safe, smooth, and organized for everyone!

Lunch Accounts

Cherrydale has qualified for free breakfast & lunch for all students based on the applications submitted the previous year. Please make sure you apply every year, even if you don’t think you will qualify. For questions about Food Service and to apply for Free/Reduced Meals, click here.

Busing Information

Durham Transportation is the bus company that Steilacoom Historical School District has contracted with. Please call them at 253-584-1365 about problems regarding anything happening at the bus stop, on the bus to or from school, or problems with the Bus Zone app. We are happy to help in any way that we can, but your best first call is to Durham at 253-584-1365 option 1 for dispatch for urgent calls.

Lost & Found

Our Lost & Found area is located in a bin in the front foyer and periodically organized along the hallways for easy viewing. We diligently try to return named or initialed items to their owners. Please note that any unclaimed items will be donated to Caring for Kids during the upcoming breaks: Thanksgiving Break, Spring Break, and the last day of school.