School Hours
Students may arrive at school at 7:45am. Pick up is at 2:50pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. On Wednesday, pick up is at 1:50pm. There is no playground supervision prior to the start of school or after school. Children in grades K-3 who arrive before 8:08am without an adult need to attend the supervised breakfast program and/or Morning Champions. Students in fourth and fifth grade can gather in front of the school beginning at 7:45am. Parents may wait with their student(s) in the lobby, out front, or in the cafeteria prior to 8:08am. Please be aware that children may only wait in the lobby before school when accompanied by their own parent. CES does not provide after-school supervision; parents must pick up their children right at dismissal. Burlington Kids (B’Kids) offers a vibrant after-school program at CES from dismissal to 5:30pm.
Student Attendance
If a student needs to be absent from school due to illness, call the main office at 864-8477 by 8:30am. If there are changes to a student’s after-school arrangements, call no later than 1pm.
Among the top predictors of academic achievement is consistent daily attendance to school. When students are frequently absent (and do not have a medical condition requiring specialists’ attention), they lose both irreplaceable learning experiences and the habit of participating in our community every day. When elementary-level students lose ground by frequently missing school, when they enter middle and high school, their struggles can be insurmountable. They lack the foundational skills no longer taught at a secondary level and struggle with the social pressures adolescence always brings.
For these reasons, every school has an attendance policy based on Vermont State Law requiring students to attend every day. Students may be excused from school for the following reasons:
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Illness
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Medical appointment
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Pre-approved absence for educational purposes, such as college visit or family trip. Parents must submit the Request for Extended Absence form in advance (see below).
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Scheduled court appearance
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Religious holiday
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Death in the family
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Other family emergency, weather or traffic accident – at discretion of principal
CES may request third-party verification for a student’s absence, such as a doctor’s note, in order to excuse an absence. If a parent is uncertain whether or not a child is well enough to attend school, then please call a Champlain school nurse Ms. Pruitt or Ms. Neary at 865-5300 for a consultation. The nurse may ask the child to come in for a nurse’s examination, or may excuse the student from school. New American families are encouraged to contact their liaison for support with communication.
When is a child too sick to come to school?
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The child should be fever-free, which is a temperature less than 100.4 F or 30 C for 24 hours, without the use of fever-reducing medication, before returning to school.
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The child must be free from diarrhea and vomiting for 24 hours before returning to school.
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Coughs should be easily controlled by a drink of water and not excessive. Cough drops may not be used at school.
A physician’s note is needed for an illness related absence of more than three days.
In recent years, Vermont adopted a law (T.16§1123) allowing students to participate in an extraordinary opportunity that necessitates an extended absence from school. Parents may request up to 10 consecutive days for a pre-planned, extended absence during the school year. Only activities that are educational in the view of administration are accepted as excused absences. Students will miss classroom instruction; teachers will not provide alternate assignments or packets of instructional materials to parents. Parents must hand in the Extended Absence Request Form to the principal at least ten school days before their departure date. The principal will inform the parent as soon as possible whether or not the absences will be excused. The Extended Absence Request Form is required for three or more consecutive absences, and is available in the office and at this link. If questions arise, please contact me.
