Attendance Protocol
Absences:
Family vacations should be planned with the school calendar in mind to prevent children from missing classroom instructional time. When a student is absent, he/she must reply to the CTLS notification, provide a written excuse and/or a doctor’s note within 3 days upon returning to school. Please include the following information:
- Child’s name
- Teacher’s name
- Date(s) of absence
- Reason for absence
- Parent’s signature
State law governs excused absences. If a child needs to be out for an extended period of time, please notify the teacher and the school registrar. Please make every effort to schedule medical and dental appointments after school hours to avoid interruption of the instructional program. A CTLS notification will be sent to you each day your child is absent.
If a child comes to school after 11:05 am or leaves before 11:05 am, he/she will be counted absent. A child must be here for a minimum of half the school day to be considered present.
Attendance Referral Process:
- Three (3) unexcused absences: Teachers will communicate with parents regarding student attendance via e-mail, phone or parent conference.
- Five (5) unexcused absences: A school generated letter will be sent to the parents.
- Seven (7) unexcused absences: A school social work referral will be generated by principal or principal designee listing specific school-based interventions (phone calls, letters, conferences, etc.) that have occurred prior to making the referral.
After School Program (ASP)
- Register for A.S.P. online at Eleyo at https://cobbk12.ce.eleyo.com/. The fee is $10.00 per day with a yearly registration fee of $20.00.
- A new registration packet must be completed each school year, even if a student attended ASP the previous year.
- The hours are 2:20 pm – 6:00 pm Monday-Friday on the days that school is in session.
- During early release days, ASP will be open from school dismissal at 12:20 thru 6:00 pm.
- Photo ID is required for student pick up by approved adults on the registration form.
- Late fees accrue at the rate of $1 per minute beginning at 6:00 pm.
- A nutritious snack is provided daily and is included in the fee.
For additional information about the ASP program, please visit the ASP page on our school website.
Birthday Celebrations
Please visit the Cafeteria Celebration Form for ordering information. The Cafe will identify students with allergies or special dietary needs. Balloons and fast food are not permitted in the cafeteria.
Car Pool Procedures
Whenever possible, please allow your child to ride the bus to school. This helps with traffic congestion around the school in the mornings and afternoons. If you must bring your children to school, please follow our carpool procedures by pulling up to the drop off zone in front of the building where your child may exit safely. There will be staff available to assist your child in exiting the car if necessary. In order to ensure the safety of all students and to assist with traffic flow, we ask that students be dropped off ONLY at the front of the school and not at any other entrance. The side parking lot is reserved for staff and school bus loading and unloading.
Dismissal begins at 2:10 on regular school days and 12:30 on early release days. If you are picking your child up through car pool, you must have a Sope Creek carpool tag displayed in the passenger side front window. If you need a carpool tag, please park and come inside with your identification to receive a number. Carpool ends at 2:45. Students not picked up by then will be checked into ASP where you will be required to pay the daily fee plus registration if not previously registered.
Changes in Transportation
For the safety of ALL our students, students will be dismissed based on what the enrolling adult puts into ParentVue. If you need to make a change to dismissal in ParentVue, it must be done by 1:30 p.m. Teachers and substitutes will open ParentVue at the end of the day and will be able to see any changes that were made throughout the day. We DO NOT accept faxes, e-mails, texts, or word of mouth as transportation changes. ALL changes must be made through ParentVue. Refrain from using the “notes” section when changing your child’s dismissal. That is not what teacher’s see when they pull up ParentVue. Also, do not email the teacher because if they have a substitute that day, the substitute will not see the email. However, every substitute will open ParentVue at the end of the day and dismiss students according to that.
Communication
Our front office staff is here to assist you in any way we can. We post a lot of school information on our website (https://web.cobbk12.org/sopecreek) and CTLS Parent. We encourage you to sign up on CTLS to receive texts and emails pertaining to time sensitive information. On the website, you will also be able to access emails as well as information about PTA, the Sope Creek Foundation and after school activities. Please refer to the calendar on the website for important dates and scheduled events.
If you would like to get in touch with your child’s teacher, the best way is to send an email. Phone calls will be directed to voicemail in an effort to protect instructional time in the classroom.
The district website, www.cobbk12.org, is a great resource for general information about Cobb county schools.
FAST
The Sope Creek Foundation offers after-school enrichment programs known as FAST programs. Detailed registration information is sent home through your child’s backpack. Please refer all questions regarding these programs to: sopecreekfast@gmail.com
Inclement Weather
When the Cobb County School System is going to close due to inclement weather, you will receive a CTLS notification. Be sure you have set your communication preferences as “real time” and to receive messages both via email and text. If a decision to close is made during the school day, you will also receive a message via CTLS. We will then dismiss students based on what you entered in ParentVue as their “emergency transportation mode”. We cannot accept transportation changes in the event of early closures. Each parent cannot be called, so please discuss with your child what should happen if school is closed during the day. There is NO ASP in the event of early emergency closures.
Lunch
Student breakfast - $1.75
Student lunch - $3.25
Guest lunch - $4.25
Class lunch times and table numbers are posted outside the cafeteria. Links to menus and nutritional information can be found at https://www.cobbk12.org/foodservices. Also, visit www.mypaymentsplus.com for information on making online payments. A student ID number is required for online payments.
PTA
Membership in Sope Creek’s PTA is strongly encouraged. An online student directory is made available to PTA members. Please visit PTA link on the Sope Creek website for more information.
School Assignments/Homework
You are welcome to drop off school related items to your child before the bell rings at 7:50 am. After that, no late assignments or personal items will be accepted except the following: glasses, coats and medicine. This policy allows us to protect classroom instruction time and limit unnecessary interruptions. Special circumstances do arise and the front office will use appropriate discretion at that time.
Students will not be allowed back into the school following dismissal for forgotten items, such as homework, backpacks, etc. This is in an effort to protect teachers’ planning time.
School Hours
Sope Creek Elementary school hours are 7:50 am to 2:20 pm. Students may enter the building starting at 7:15.
Student Checkouts
Student checkouts must be completed by 1:45 p.m. on regular school days and 11:45 a.m. on early release days. It is important that the 1:45 deadline is enforced as the front office staff begins dismissal procedures at 1:45 p.m. Various reports are run which need to be distributed before 2:00 p.m. Identification will be checked for all student dismissals. Students will be released only to those authorized, unless the school has been notified otherwise in writing.
Tardiness
Students who arrive to class after 7:50 am are considered tardy. Students must be present, in their classrooms when the bell rings at 7:50. Students who arrive to school after 7:50 am must be signed in by an adult.
It is very important for student(s) to arrive to school on time. The classroom teacher begins daily instruction at 7:50 am. When a child enters the class late, it is highly disruptive to his/her educational program and a distraction to the other students. Tardiness should be an unusual circumstance. A habitual pattern of tardiness is a serious problem requiring the attention of the school administration and the school social worker.
Visitors
All visitors, including parents and volunteers, are required to show identification and must check in with the front office. All visitors must wear a visitor or volunteer badge while in the building. If you are in the building without a badge, please do not be offended if a member of the staff asks you for your identity and purpose in the building. This is to protect our children from unauthorized visitors.
