General Information
In this section:
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 Services 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:
- Follow directions and use proper manners while eating.
- Enter and leave the cafeteria in an orderly manner.
- Remain seated during lunch.
- Talk in a conversational tone. Excessive noise is not permitted in the cafeteria.
- Remove all trash from your lunch area.
- Return trays to designated areas.
- No fast food lunches or drinks are allowed at school.
Food Distribution
Any outside food brought into the school for distribution to students (i.e. birthday treats, holiday food celebrations, etc.) must be store-bought and sealed.
- AEC
- K-3
- OSHS
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- OSUE
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 schools 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.
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- K-3
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OSSD believes that communication between parents, students, the community, and the school district is important in providing the best-possible learning experience for students. 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.
Primary methods of direct communication include:
- School newsletters & Tuesday folders (K-6)
- Email - OSSD uses the primary email address submitted during registration
- SchoolMessenger - OSSD’s mass notification system used for sending emails, recorded phone calls, and text messages
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. Please allow at least 48 hours for your child’s teacher or administrator to respond to emails.
NOTE: Issues or concerns should first be addressed to your student’s classroom teacher prior to administration.
Parent Portal
This is where you will find your student’s class schedules, attendance, report cards, and transcripts, and where you can view your contact information on file with OSSD. Parents are encouraged to check Parent Portal routinely. If you have trouble accessing your account, please reach out to OSSD Technology at (228) 875-6654. You can access the page at pschool.ossdms.org/public.
Mass Notification System
We use email, text messages, and recorded phone calls to communicate with parents and staff members during routine communication, as well as emergency communications. Please make sure your contact information in PowerSchool is current so you do not miss important messages. If you need to update your contact information, please contact your student’s school.
Websites & Mobile App
The district website is a valuable resource for students, parents, staff, and the community. There, you can find information relating to any policies, procedures, calendar events, and much more. Parents and students are strongly encouraged to familiarize themselves with the school district and school-specific websites. Visit OSSD’s website at www.ossdms.org.
Social Media
OSSD and all of its schools also maintain official social media pages that provide another avenue for communicating updates, accomplishments, and upcoming events to the general public.
Photographs/Video of Students at School
It is the district’s desire to share the achievements and recognition earned by students with the broader community. This effort can be aided by the use of photos or video footage showing students involved in classroom and school-related activities. Some examples of how OSSD may publish a student’s name or photo/video are listed below:
- School-affiliated social media pages
- School-affiliated websites
- Local news (print, online, & TV)
- School yearbook
NOTE: Parents have the opportunity to opt-in/opt-out of their student’s photo or name being published by OSSD during the registration process.
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- K-3
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OSSD follows a comprehensive Emergency Operations Plan (EOP), which includes procedures for a wide variety of emergencies. Student safety is the priority in every phase of the EOP and we remain in constant contact with local emergency management officials throughout any emergency.
Communication is a major component of our EOP. OSSD utilizes several communications methods to keep parents informed, depending on the nature of the incident and the actions we may need parents to take. These include the all-new OSSD mobile app, website, social media, an automated notification system (text, e-mail and/or telephone messages), and when needed, the news media. In order to focus our attention on student safety during an emergency, communications efforts are coordinated at the district level through OSSD Communications.
In a true emergency, events happen fast and situations can vary from campus to campus. We will do our best to keep you informed in a timely manner, especially as it pertains to early or delayed dismissal times, transportation issues and any other changes to your child’s instructional day. Below is the order of operations in which we communicate during an emergency:
Step I: Ensure Student/Staff Safety & Campus Security
- Our first priority in an emergency situation is to ensure the safety of our students and staff, and secure all campuses and facilities. It is the responsibility of every district employee to ensure student safety.
Step II: Gather Information & Establish Event Timeline
- School and district leadership work closely with the OSSD PD, The City of Ocean Springs Police Department, and other partners when a critical incident affects a school. We do not make decisions based solely on rumor or conjecture. Each threat is swiftly and thoroughly investigated to determine its credibility. That process can take time, because it can involve search warrants, interviews, home visits, and more.
- This can be a difficult time for families. You may have heard of a situation from your student or rumors online, but as it is investigated, you likely will not receive much information from official sources like the school, district or police department. This is intentional, because communicating before we have all of the facts can delay or impede the investigation and unnecessarily escalate a situation. We rely on you to trust us, and have patience, during this time.
- While it can be tempting, please avoid speculating or participating in the spread of misinformation online and in messaging. This creates unnecessary stress and concern for others, and it can put your student, our staff, and campus in danger.
Step III: Create Messaging that Adheres to Legal & Ethical Guidelines
- State and federal law, as well as district policy, restrict what information is public about students and investigations. When it comes to students, very little information can be shared publicly — and districts must comply with data practices and investigatory requirements. That means we are often unable to share any information about a student who is involved in an incident, including whether they are a student at our school, whether they are attending on a certain day and any disciplinary action they will receive.
- In a moment when you don’t have all the information you want to have, please know we are making decisions to keep our students and staff safe, hold people accountable for their actions, and when possible, help them to learn from their mistakes. To do this most effectively — and legally — we cannot share most of the details that could make some families feel more fully informed.
Step IV: Distribute Messaging
- Once we gather facts and develop appropriate messages for each unique situation, we begin a second period of reviewing those messages for any inaccurate or misleading information, having them reviewed by partners and our legal advisors to be sure we comply with legal requirements, and determine who should receive a message. At times, it is only a small group of individuals directly impacted; other times, it may be the entire school community.
- If a message needs to go to the entire school community or a large group of people, it must be loaded into our mass communication systems and sent. While you wait to receive a message, there are often dozens of school leaders, district administrators, law enforcement and legal professionals working as fast as they possibly can to get information to you. It matters to us that you are informed quickly, and we ask for grace and understanding as we make that happen.
- OSSD will first notify staff and parents via email and/or phone call. The district will then publish information on social media and communicate with local media, if necessary.
Here are our requests for students and families:
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Trust us to keep your children safe. We all receive extensive training and practice emergency response so we are prepared to manage these situations. Our decisions are based on facts and deep situational understanding.
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Remember: OSSD employs a full-time police department, which consists of nine sworn-in police officers that are lawfully armed and will use necessary force to protect our students and staff.
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Avoid spreading misinformation or speculation: in today’s world, news travels fast but misinformation travels faster. Please avoid speculating or participating in the spread of misinformation online and in messaging, as it creates unnecessary stress and concern for others, and it can put your student, our staff, and campus in danger.
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Have conversations with your children about social media and their digital citizenship, and actively monitor their online activity.
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Continue to keep us informed any time you learn of information that could affect student or school safety. We take all reports seriously, investigate them, and take appropriate action.
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Show grace and practice empathy. Being a school staff member can be one of the most rewarding and the most challenging careers — and our faculty and staff go far above and beyond for our students, families, and one another. In critical situations, we ask for our community to support our staff members just as they support our students each and every day.
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- K-3
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OSSD makes every effort to ensure a safe learning environment for all students and staff members, 180 days each school year. We are fortunate to have some of the most structurally sound buildings in the city of Ocean Springs and all of our schools are located in areas safe from flooding. Closing schools is the absolute last resort for any school district, and OSSD will only close schools when we do not feel we can keep our students and staff safe.
Ultimately, parents make the final decision about whether or not to send their children to school if they believe weather conditions present a safety issue. Parents may use a parental-excused absence (up to two per nine weeks) to allow their child to miss school and make up missed work later.
How Parents & Staff Will Be Notified:
We will contact families using our mass notification system if we plan to delay opening school or if we plan to close schools for the day or have an early release due to impending weather.
As we consider this an emergency notification, we will communicate this information to families in three ways: email, phone call, and social media. It is imperative that everyone keeps their contact information current in order to receive notifications.
Throughout the school year, unless we announce otherwise, assume that school will be in session. When schools are open we know that our students and staff are safe.
For more information on OSSD’s severe weather protocols, visit the dedicated severe weather page on our website at www.ossdms.org/severeweather.
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- K-3
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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.
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- K-3
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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.
NOTE: Field trip fees are nonrefundable.
- AEC
- K-3
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Counseling services at OSSD elementary schools exist to facilitate the growth and development of students as they progress through school. These services are designed to help students in their educational planning, decision-making, and personal-social development. Counselors are committed to working with parents as well as with students to assist students in gaining the greatest benefit from school experiences. Counseling services, which complement both instructional and administrative operations, provide opportunities for students to develop self-understanding, self-evaluation, and self-direction.
The counselor’s goal is for the student to mature as an individual who understands the responsibility for making decisions and living with the consequences of those decisions. Elementary school counselors will be available throughout the day for individual and group conferences. Teachers are expected to refer students to the school counselor and students are urged to ask the counselor for assistance in any issue that concerns them. Parents are also encouraged to contact the counselor to discuss any areas of concern.
- K-3
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.
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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.
- K-3
- OSUE
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.
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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.
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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.
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- K-3
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OSSD has entered into an agreement with Nexcheck for the collection of all returned checks issued to all locations and requires that the following information is on all checks accepted by OSSD:
- Full name and street address
- Home phone number and a second phone number
- Student’s name
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, they may represent your check to the bank electronically along with applicable collection fees.
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The sale of any item for personal profit by students is not permitted on school grounds.
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- K-3
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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 form may be requested from the school office.
- K-3
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:
- 2nd and 3rd grade students
- Leadership
- Classroom performance
- Attendance
- Citizenship
- K-3
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.
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Students are not permitted 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 school office.
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- OSUE
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.
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- OSUE
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.
See OSSD BOT Policy JBCD - Transfers and Withdrawals of Students.
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