Our School Day

School Day

The official hours for CPE II are 8:20 to 3:10 daily.

Students may enter the school cafeteria beginning at 7:40 for breakfast. Breakfast ends at 8:10. Our students have a morning recess from 8:00 am until 8:20. Our younger children line up in the 104^th Street yard. Our older children go up to their rooms unescorted. During inclement weather, students should enter through the main entrance to the cafeteria.  Our morning meetings start at 8:30. Arrival after 8:20 is considered late. All absences and latenesses are recorded in a child’s permanent record.

Dismissal is at 3:10. CPE II students exit through the 104^th Street Yard. A staff member will open the door for parents to pick up their children.  Please enter and stand to the left of the door until you see your child.  CPE II has several bus routes and after school program pick ups and it is easy to create traffic jams at the door.  We request that you keep conversations with other adults brief and out of the way, and that you remove your child quickly, in order for us to maintain a safe dismissal.

Extended Day

Students who are invited to participate in the extended day program will remain in school for an additional 50 minutes on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. They will be dismissed at 3:30 on these days. Parents will be notified if their child is in this program.

Attendance & Lateness

         Regular attendance is critical to successful achievement in school.  Conversely, poor attendance is one of the most significant indicators of potential risk. Lateness is disruptive to the school program and prevents a child from participating in our morning meetings and morning lessons. Every absence and lateness represents a loss of instructional time and is recorded in the ATS (Automate the Schools) system of the Department of Education (DOE). Your child’s attendance becomes part of your child’s permanent record. This is also one of the main criteria middle schools use to assess applicants. A Form 407 Attendance Follow-up and Outreach Referral is automatically generated for excessive absence.

• Students should not miss school except in the case of illness. Please send in a note for each absence. A doctor’s note is required after 2 days. A code is included in the ATS system to indicate the reason for an absence and the type of documentation included.
• Please do not schedule vacations during school days.
• Please make every effort to schedule doctor’s appointments after school hours. If this is not possible, please have your child attend for part of the day. If a child is scheduled for an afternoon appointment, an adult must pick the child up from school. Please make sure that all adults with permission to pick your child up are listed on the emergency card.
• If a child wakes up late, it is better for them to arrive late then miss an entire day of instruction.
• If your child arrives late, you must accompany him or her to the main office, where he or she will receive a late pass. Do not take your child directly to class.

Lunch

This year we will continue to have an early lunch. The students in PreK eat lunch in their room. K/1 children have a 10:30 recess and eat lunch at 11:00. Children in grades 2 and up have a 10:45 recess and eat lunch at 11:15. We have found that having recess before lunch works well. Students are not running around after eating and they do not have to rush through their food in hopes of getting outside quickly.

Because we are part of the Universal Free Lunch program, all students receive a free school lunch. Students may bring a nutritious home lunch if they choose to do so. But all students must eat lunch. Student who cannot drink milk can bring a note from their doctor and receive juice with their lunch.  Other dietary restrictions can also be accommodated based on a doctor’s recommendation. Please note that all lunches and snacks must conform to our Healthy Food Policy.