Student Handbook 2022-2023

OUR MISSION
Pardes Day School focuses on creating a loving Jewish-based learning environment, where students are taught with caring, warm, and nurturing love that defines Judaism and where every child and family feels important and respected.
Our curriculum reflects a core base of knowledge and skills in both General and Judaic Studies which will serve as a foundation for their continued learning.
Our guiding principles are based on a love for Hashem, Torah, Mitzvot, Eretz Yisrael, and every human.
We recognize the uniqueness of each of our students and thus aim to provide an environment where each child is given the opportunity to flourish in his or her own way and at their own pace. Blended groups and hands on learning allows the children to be given the attention and focus that they each deserve, as this methodology serves to ensure proper social emotional behavior as well as academic success.

Student Expectations
Respect oneself and others
Be honest in all interactions
Be sensitive toward others
Communicate appropriately

Parents Expectations
Be a partner in your child’s education
Be supportive of the teachers
Be supportive of your child/ren

SCHOOL HOURS
School starts PROMPTLY at 8:30AM every day. DROP OFF starts at 8.20
School ends at 3:55 PM Monday through Thursday.
School ends at 2:00 PM on Fridays

Unless you are signed up for early care please wait until 8.20AM before entering the building. You may NOT leave your child in the playground with the guard.
The afternoon carpool begins at 3:50PM.
Repeated lateness will have to be financially compensated ($5 for every 5 minutes past dismissal billed at the end of the month after an initial verbal warning)
Half days (for fasts etc) will finish at 12 NOON, before lunch.

Attendance, Tardiness and Absences
Regular attendance is essential for effective learning! For the proper functioning of the school and in order to ensure your child’s success, it is crucial to bring your child to school EVERYDAY and ON TIME (within the drop off time window). Being on time teaches respect for oneself and others, accountability, obligation, responsibility as well as the importance of promptness. When a child misses learning time it can be detrimental to their academic, social and emotional success.
If there is a scheduled early pick or late drop off, school must be notified.

Health and illness
Here are the illness policies followed at Pardes Day School. We ask that for the health of your child and all the children in the school that you read this and adhere to it honestly.
If you suspect that your child has ANY contagious illness please call us right away so we can take preventative measures to stop the spread of any such illness.

• Fever: Children will be sent home if their temperature is 100.0 or higher and must stay home the next day for observation. Children must be free of fever (any temperature above 98.6 degrees) for at least 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medication. The same policy applies if your child develops a fever at home. They must be fever free (any temperature above 98.6 degrees) for at least 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medication.
• Rash: Any rash other than a common skin irritation will require that child to be sent home for an evaluation and diagnosis from their doctor of exactly what it is. They may return to school based on that doctor’s evaluation, and clearance that it is not contagious.
• Conjunctivitis (pink eye): Children will be sent home if there appears to be an unusual amount of discharge from or irritation to their eye(s) and must stay home the next day for observation. Before returning to school they will need an evaluation and diagnosis from their doctor of exactly what it is.
  If the diagnosis is BACTERIAL CONJUNCTIVITIS children must have received at least 24 hours of treatment.
  If the diagnosis is VIRAL CONJUNCTIVITIS your child may return AS LONG AS THERE IS NO DISCHARGE.
  If in fact they do not have “pink eye” we need a doctor’s note with a diagnosis and a clearance that it is not contagious.
• Diarrhea: Children will be sent home if they have two or more loose bowel movements in one day and must stay home the next day for observation. Before returning to school (after the day of observation) children must be free from diarrhea for 24 hours with at least 1 regular bowel movement. If your child has one or more loose bowel movements on their first day back they will again be sent home.
• Vomiting: Children will be sent home if they vomit and must stay home the next day for observation. Before returning to school (after the day of observation) children must be symptom free with no vomiting for at least 24 hours.
• Lice: We keep a close eye out for lice by checking the hair of children periodically and also watching carefully for any child persistently scratching his/her head. Children will not be readmitted until 24 hours after treatment and must be nit free.

Common Cold Policy
Children suffering from a common cold will be assessed on an individual basis. Factors of consideration include the developmental level of your child in congruence with our ability to limit the spread of germs.

Medication Administration Policy
Medications both prescription and over the counter are rarely given at school; the only exceptions involve special or serious problems where it deemed absolutely necessary by the physician that the medication be given during school hours. The parent is urged, with the help of your child’s physician, to work out a schedule of giving medication at home, outside school hours whenever possible.
Weather permitting; students go outside to play every day. If you feel your child is too sick to go outside, please keep him or her home from school.

Emergency Care
In the event of an emergency, the school will call 911 first, so your child may be transported by ambulance to the nearest medical facility. Parents will be contacted immediately following the 911 call. A teacher will accompany the child in the ambulance, in the event the parent does not arrive in time.
Please remember to keep your emergency contact information up to date. We must be able to reach you at any time during the school day.

FOOD
FOR SAFETY REASONS, STUDENTS MAY NOT SHARE FOOD WITH ONE ANOTHER! Each child should come to school with:

• A fruit or vegetable for a morning snack
• A lunch in a lunch box or backpack
• A carb snack for the afternoon (cookies, granola, crackers, cereal, chips …)
• A water bottle

We are a candy free school including birthday parties and shabbat party treats. Please keep lunch as healthy as possible. We give fresh water every day in their individual cups, so please no juice boxes. On a case by case basis we may ask that you not bring certain food as per an allergy in that specific class. More details on this closer to school.

We offer a healthy, fresh and nutritious hot lunch option which was very successful the last 4 years and was even able to get the pickiest of eaters eating new foods and plenty of vegetables! The hot lunch is available at a cost more details will come before the start of school, we also offer the option of only taking hot lunch (pizza) on Fridays for $4 a week.

UNIFORM
Your child is required to wear a uniform.
Boys can wear royal blue or white polo shirts with the school logo. Bottoms can be of any style and color. Boys need to wear a KIPPAH and TZITZIT
Girls can wear royal blue or white polo shirts with the school logo or a navy polo dress with the school logo. Bottoms must be skirts and can be of any color/style.
Shoes must be closed toed and firm fitting (sneakers are recommended)
All uniforms are available to purchase through the school. Morah Sharone will be in charge of collecting your orders via text.

BIRTHDAYS
We would LOVE to celebrate your child’s birthday, let us know and we will P.A.R.T.Y!!! We set aside a lunch time on Friday to dance and sing together making a fuss of the birthday child and then give out a birthday treat sent in by the birthday child. The treat must be pareve or Chalav Yisroel and store bought. We encourage you to donate on the occasion of your child’s birthday a gift from our Amazon wishlist.

HOMEWORK
We will not be sending homework! However we will be sending reading practise which we need you to partner with us to make sure your child is completing. Studies show that daily reading practise (which we will of course be doing in school also) has a significant impact on their reading ability.

COMMUNICATION
In addition to face to face contact we will communicate occasionally via text message, email, as well as a What’s app group for collective use. Please also follow us on instagram @pardesdayschool for daily stories and posts. There will be a weekly newsletter where you will get information on your child’s week and what to expect for the following week.
Please feel free to come to us with any comments or concerns we are always open to discussing any issues and we would also urge you to make us aware of any changes in your child’s life (parent away, not sleeping well at night, change in routine ..) as this can have a big effect on ones behaviour and it is important that we take this into account!
Please refrain from texting your child’s teacher during school hours and if you have an important message please use the main school phone number to get the communication through. In addition please be respectful of the staff’s time and do not contact them at anti-social hours (before 8am or after 9pm) and be mindful of their response time.
Progress reports will be completed twice throughout the school year at the end of the first and second semester.

Leaving School
Students are not permitted to leave the school premise. A parent who wishes to pick up his/her child during the day should notify the school administrator via email or phone call.

Discipline
In our school, the children shall not be subjected to discipline which is severe, humiliating or frightening. Discipline shall not be associated with recess time, food or toileting. Any form of physical punishment is prohibited.
We do not judge or categorize our students as good or bad, rather, we focus on acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. We will not use physical or verbal responses which would demean a child. When necessary, we may decide to remove a child temporarily from a situation in order to calm him down, regroup and discuss the issue. We will allow him to return when he can cope with the situation in an acceptable manner.
We have a ZERO tolerance policy towards inappropriate physical contact (like hitting, pushing, biting, profane gestures) AND inappropriate language (profane words, cursing, insulting, swearing,…)