Attendance

Developing a regular morning routine is an important start to the school day. Parents/guardians are responsible for students arriving at school on time each day.

Children should arrive at the school playground not more than 10 (ten) minutes before the entrance bell rings at 8:00 am. There will be no supervision until 7:50 am. If you need to make other arrangements, breakfast is provided in the school gym before 7:50am. No student is allowed to enter the school building until 8:00am. The students are asked to gather at their designated line-up locations upon arriving. At 8:00 am the school doors open and the students will walk straight to their classrooms. During inclement weather or bitterly cold days, school doors will be opened at 7:50 am and students may enter the building. Students who arrive after 8:10am will be marked tardy. Please inform the office as soon as possible if a student will be late.

Our “Kiss and Go” Program is in effect during morning arrival. Parents are asked to cooperate with this important program by pulling up on Addison, Hermitage or Paulina to drop the students. Volunteer parents and school personnel help the students exit the car and enter through the campus gates. If parents need to park, they can use the school parking lot, east of the gym on Addison.

Regular school attendance is required for all grade school age children by the State of Illinois. All school absences need to be reported to the school office by 9:00 a.m. Call the school to report your child's absence. When returning to school students will be required to bring in a parent note to excuse any absence. Prolonged absences will require a doctor’s note to return to school. Students who are absent from school more than twenty-eight (28) days within an academic year may be retained in the same grade or asked not to return the following year. The student is responsible to make up the work missed while he/she is absent. Students are allowed as many days to make up the work as they were absent.

A full day's attendance at school is very important to the success of each student. If medical or dental appointments are necessary during school hours, a note should be sent to the teacher from the parent/guardian explaining the reason for early departure, the time the student will be picked up and by whom. The teacher will then notify the school office. A partial absence is recorded as a half day absence. Whenever possible, please make your child’s appointments after school hours or on days when the students are not in attendance.

At dismissal times, we ask parents to please park legally on the street or in the school parking lot. Vehicles may not block any of the crosswalks. Parking is not allowed on sidewalks. Violators will be ticketed. Students who have not been picked up by 3:05 p.m. will be sent to Extended Day and the parent will be charged at the current rate. All students in Pre-K through 5th grade must be picked-up from school by a parent/guardian, older child of the same family, or another adult designated by the parent/guardian. Special arrangements, for an alternate adult unknown to the child’s teacher, must be made in advance of dismissal time. No child in Pre-K through 3rd will be allowed to leave school alone. For safety and security reasons students may not re-enter the building after 3:15pm without the consent of a teacher or administrative staff.

Every Wednesday during the school year, students will be dismissed at 1:45PM. All other early dismissal days and times are scheduled and will appear on the school year calendar and in the weekly updates incorporated into the Parent/Guardian Memo. Please note these dates on your home calendar.

News of school cancellation due to bad weather or other emergency may be obtained by listening to radio or television stations: WGN am720, WBBM am780, WBBM fm96.3, WUSN fm99.5, WGN tv9 and WFLD tv32. Parents can expect a broadcast message announcing school closing. Also check our web site www.saintandrewchicago.com for updates as well.