General Information

The school operates a cafeteria that offers students a hot, nutritious breakfast and lunch each day. We encourage all students to purchase the well-balanced meals provided by the cafeteria. Money to be used for meals is placed in the student’s account and as money runs out, students and parents are given notice to replenish the account. Parents are encouraged to keep a balance in their student’s lunch accounts. Money should be sent in a sealed envelope with the child's name, teacher, and amount enclosed written on the outside of the envelope or paid online using MySchoolBucks. Students who are full-pay or reduced-pay category may charge up to but not more than 5 days. After the fifth day of charges, parents/guardians must pay the charges or send a meal from home. Accountability in the school and the collection for these charges are the responsibility of the Cafeteria Manager with the assistance of the Director of Child Nutrition and the Principal. Parents/Guardians may fill out an extra food permission purchase form for students to buy additional food items from lunch accounts.

 

Soft drinks and other carbonated beverages are not to be consumed by elementary students in the cafeteria. Students who bring lunch from home may purchase water and milk products. No food items will be sold on the school campus one hour prior to any meal service period. No commercial business food deliveries may be received or consumed in the cafeteria dining room during serving periods.    
    
The meal prices are $3.00 for lunch and $1.50 for breakfast. Federal assistance is available for income-qualifying families. Applications for free and/or reduced meals are online. Eligibility criteria are listed on the application, and parents are encouraged to apply for meal assistance for students. Several school programs receive funding based on the percentage of students who receive free or reduced-price meals, so it benefits the school as well as the students for applications to be completed. The Office of Child Nutrition protects confidentiality by personally notifying the parent of eligibility. Students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches will also qualify for free or reduced-price breakfasts.

 

Cafeteria Procedures:

In an effort to maintain a healthy school environment and to be in compliance with the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, the Mississippi Healthy Students Act, and the OSSD Wellness Policy, all food items and beverages sold at school for fundraising will follow the established guidelines in accordance with USDA Smart Snacks in Schools. Foods that do not meet the standards may not be sold or picked up on campus during the school day. These standards do not apply during non-school hours, on weekends, and at off-campus fundraising events. If the food or beverage being sold meets the Smart Snacks standards, it can be sold anytime at school except for one hour prior to any cafeteria meal service period. This includes student-accessible vending machines. Under no circumstances are students allowed to use teacher-accessible vending machines. 

 

Also, no commercial business food deliveries may be received or consumed on school grounds during serving periods. Teachers and students who bring competitive food and beverages from home may do so, but they may only consume these products in unidentifiable containers.

Communications between parents and school officials are important for successful school experiences. OSSD welcomes and encourages parents to contact teachers, staff members, or administrators with their comments and concerns about their student's progress or school activities. School newsletters are emailed/provided to parents in Tuesday folders as well as communication through Google Classrooms, teacher websites, email, PowerSchool, etc. Additionally, teachers send weekly newsletters and individual notes to maintain contact with parents. SchoolMessenger, our school-to-parent communication service, allows schools to send periodic and personalized messages. With the SchoolMessenger service, schools are able to deliver important school information in a timely manner. The system also supports the school’s ability to reach you immediately in the event of an emergency.

 

Email communication between home and school is a valuable tool for parents and teachers. Since teachers are involved in instructing our children during the academic day, teachers may not be available to respond to parental emails until after school. You should receive a reply from your child’s teacher or the administration within 48 hours. If you have an emergency situation or a situation that needs immediate attention, please call the front office at your child’s school.

PowerSchool provides the school with essential information about the student. It is extremely important that the school has this information in the event of illness or injury, an emergency at school, or a request to check a student out of school. Schools utilize PowerSchool to expedite student care. Parents should list home, work, and cell numbers so that they can be reached quickly if needed. Additional authorized adults should be listed on the card in the event a parent cannot be reached. No student will be released to any person not authorized by the custodial parent on the emergency portion of PowerSchool. Important information must be updated during the school year as numbers or emergency contacts change. This must be done in person at the school’s front office.

Field trips within our city and to nearby points of interest may be scheduled during the school year. These trips are designed to supplement different aspects of the classroom curriculum and to introduce students to the resources of the community. Parents will receive notices of field trips well in advance of the scheduled trip date and will be asked to sign field trip permission forms. OSSD permission forms are required by OSSD BOT Policy IFCB - Field Trips and Excursions. Therefore, notes and phone calls cannot be accepted. Sometimes a fee may be required from each student to help defray admission and/or transportation costs. All students are required to depart and return with the school group. Students are not permitted to travel in personal vehicles for school-organized field trips. Parent chaperones are not permitted to ride school transportation.

 

The school library is essential to academic development and high levels of achievement. The library/media center contains an organized collection of materials and equipment that represents a broad range of current learning media, including instructional technology. Students are encouraged to check out and read books from the library/media center. It must be kept in mind, however, that if a book is lost; the student is responsible for the replacement cost of the book.

All articles found in the school or on school grounds are turned in to the homeroom teacher or the school office. If a student has lost an article, he/she should check by the office to see if the article has been found. Throughout the year, many items are turned into lost and found and are never claimed. Proper marking of all personal property can reduce such losses, and parents are encouraged to mark all items such as coats, jackets, sweaters, sweatshirts, lunch boxes, book bags, etc. Students are urged not to bring large amounts of money or expensive personal items to school. The school assumes no responsibility for loss if it should occur. The school may also choose to donate unclaimed items after an extended period of time.

The education of your child is a cooperative enterprise. Close cooperation and understanding between the home and the school is most important. To help achieve this goal, there is a Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) in each OSSD school. In the interest of your child, you are urged to join and become an active member of this group. The PTO sponsors fundraisers throughout the year, and school-wide participation is encouraged. The money raised pays for additional school programs, educational opportunities, equipment, and supplies for classrooms.

Students are not permitted to possess personal communication or electronic devices which could disrupt a class on school property during the school day. Noncompliance with this regulation will result in confiscation of the device. Recording and/or posting content that can lead to the disruption of the school environment will result in disciplinary action. When any item is confiscated by teachers or administrators, the device or item will only be returned to a parent in the principal's office.

Faculty workrooms and restrooms are reserved for faculty and staff members and their guests. They are off-limits to students and former students at all times. To comply with state and federal finance laws, vending machines in faculty rooms are always off-limits to students. Students entering faculty workrooms or restrooms will be considered out of bounds.

No student will make a purchase in the name of the school or for the school. Requests for purchases must be made to the administration. The purchase will be made by school officials when the administration has given permission for such a purchase.

OSSD has entered into an agreement with Nexcheck for the collection of all returned checks issued to all OSSD locations and requires that the following information is on all checks accepted by OSSD:

If your check is returned by your bank, it will be automatically forwarded by the district’s bank to Nexcheck after the first presentation. Nexcheck will contact the person issuing the check in order to collect the face amount of the worthless check plus the state-allowed collection fee. The amount of the collection fee is currently $40 in Mississippi; however, this fee is subject to change as allowed by law. If you do not properly respond to Nexcheck or if they are unable to contact you, Nexcheck may represent your check to the bank electronically along with applicable collection fees.

The sale of any item for personal profit by students is not permitted on school grounds.

Each student is expected to bring the necessary supplies daily. Because of the extra materials involved in our programs, it is necessary to charge each student a $5.00 art fee to cover the cost of extra materials used in the art program. Students in grades K-3 may also be assessed a fee to cover the cost of language arts and math materials. If payment of such fees constitutes a hardship for a parent, a Request for Waiver of Fees may be requested from the school office.

Each elementary school will establish a Student Leadership Council. The purpose of this student group is to provide an avenue for student input. The criteria for this honorary group are as follows:

The purpose and desire of the office staff is to serve parents, students, and teachers courteously. Office phones are maintained for business and personal use of faculty and staff and are not to be used by students unless specific permission is granted by office personnel. In the event a student is granted the privilege of using a school phone, a professional staff member will supervise the call.

A Textbook & Technology Assignment Form will be completed by the teacher listing all textbooks and technology assigned to a student and the parent/guardian will be asked to sign the completed form.  Workbooks or supplementary materials that are used in school must be furnished by the parent/guardian. Parents/guardians and students must assume full responsibility for the books and technology issued to the student during the school year. If any book or resource is lost, damaged, or destroyed, such loss must be paid before the student will be entitled to further resources. Students should take proper care of textbooks and technology and see that their resources are not abused. A fine will be assessed for any state-owned book/technology that shows unnecessary wear. In the event a book or resource is lost or severely damaged, the list price of the item must be paid.

Students are not allowed to bring toys, cards, or games to school without prior written permission of the teacher. When any item is confiscated by teachers or administrators, the device or item will only be returned to a parent in the principal's office.

A folder containing important school information is sent home each Tuesday with every student. The most important items in the folder are the activities and assessments completed by the student. The folder may also contain work the student has completed, notes from the teacher, a school newsletter, or other school-related information such as progress reports and report cards. The parent/guardian should review all materials in the Tuesday folder, and then sign the folder for the student to return to school.

The parent/guardian must send a written request or come to the school at least one (1) day before the student can be withdrawn from school. Official withdrawal papers must be completed. If the record is not clear in the office, the student may encounter difficulties in enrolling in another school. The record is not clear until all library books have been returned, textbooks have been checked in, and all fees/fines have been paid.