Lexington Grade School-Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What are the school's office hours?
A. The school's office is open from 7:45 am until 4:00 pm.
Q. When can students arrive at school?
A. Students should plan to arrive at school AFTER 8:00 AM unless other
arrangements have been made with the principal or students are participating
in supervised activities. There is no supervision before 8:00 AM. The opening
bell rings at 8:10 and the students are expected to be seated and ready to
begin at 8:15.
Q. When is the best time to call and talk to a
teacher?
A. Please call the school office to leave a message for a teacher. Classroom
teaching time is protected thus, a classroom will be interrupted only if
necessary. The teacher will return your call after school or at their earliest
convenience. All teachers may also be contacted via email through the
Lexington website (http://www.lexington.k12.il.us/gsweb/faculty/default.asp).
Please do not enter a classroom unannounced and expect a meeting or conference
without prior notification.
Q. Which radio station should I listen to for school
closings?
A. WJBC 1230 AM, WBNQ 101.5 FM, or WBWN 104.1 FM provides school closing
information. The Lexington website will also have this information
http://www.lexington.k12.il.us.
Please do not call the school office or the Unit Office for this information.
Q. Which radio station should I listen to for early dismissals due to
inclement weather such as snow?
A. The decision to dismiss early due to inclement weather is made as early as
possible and the media will be notified at that time. WJBC 1230 AM, WBNQ 101.5
FM, or WBWN 104.1FM provides early dismissal information. The Lexington
website will also have this information
http://www.lexington.k12.il.us .
Please do not call the school office or the Unit Office for this information.
Please arrange with your children what they are to do in case of early
dismissal. It is difficult for last minute arrangements to be made for
students.
Q. Do I call to report that my child will be absent? Do I need to do anything
else?
A. Lexington Elementary School has an answering machine that you can leave a
message about your child's absence (365-2741). Anytime students cannot attend
school, their parents or guardians must call the school before 10:00 AM to
report the reason for the absence. A note from the child's parent/guardian
stating the awareness of the parents/guardians of the absence and the reason
for absence is required when the student returns to school. The note is to be
given to the child's teacher and turned into the elementary school office.
Sick children should not be at school. Do not send children to school until
they are free of fevers, vomiting or diarrhea for 24 hours. Students with
respiratory infections, head lice, unexplained rashes or any other illness
that may be spread to others should be kept at home. Students should be
symptom free for 24 hours.
Q. Can I call to request homework?
A. At the elementary level, requests for make-up work should be made by
10:00am for that day's absence. When you call the elementary office to report
your child's absence, please indicate at that time if homework is needed.
Homework can be sent home with a friend or family member or picked up in the
office no earlier than 3:15 p.m. the day of the request. Please indicate where
and with whom homework will be picked up. If junior high or high school
students will be picking up the homework, it will be in the elementary school
office.
Q. Are there any student fees?
A. Book Rental: Kindergarten : $40.00 Grades 1-6: $50.00
This fee may be waived or reduced for students who qualify for the
free/reduced lunch program.
Milk Fees: For K – 2 only: $40.00
Q. Who do I see about medical information pertaining
to my child?
A. The school nurse should be given necessary medical information with
registration materials or on a need to know basis.
Q. Where can students receive vaccinations?
A. Students can get vaccinations through the local health department or from
their doctor.
Q. When is physical exam and vaccination information
due?
A. All physical exam and vaccination information is due by the FIRST DAY that
the student attends school.
Q. What should I do if my child needs to take
medication at school?
A. There is a medication form that needs to be filled out for any medication
that needs to be taken during school hours. Over the counter medicines (cough
drops, aspirin, etc.) must also be taken at the nurse's office. If over the
counter medicines need to be taken at school, they must be supplied by the
parent and kept in the nurse's office. They must be in the original packaging
and must be accompanied by a signed parental consent form. Prescription
medicines must also be in the original prescription bottle and accompanied by
a consent form that has been signed by the doctor.
Q. Where do I find information about field trips?
A. All field trip information is on all permission slips, classroom
newsletters, and on our web page calendar.
Q. Under what weather conditions do the students have
indoor recess?
A. Students will be outside for recess unless it is raining at the time of
recess or the wind chill or temperature outside is 19° F or lower.
Q. Why did the district purchase an electronic school
lunch program?
A. An electronic lunch ticket program called Accu-Scan was added to our
cafeteria over the 2004 summer. It changed a few procedures that have been
done in the past to make the system run smoothly and correctly. First, the
tickets we purchased in the past are no longer available to us. Secondly, the
change occurred because our past system did not provideaccurate daily lunch
meal counts that are needed to be turned into the state. The state
requires that all school districts have accurate lunch information. Thus, a
new system was needed to comply with state regulations.
Q. How will the Accu-Scan system make the cafeteria run more smoothly?
By eliminating cash exchanges in the cafeteria, we will be able to move
students through the lunch lines quicker. Accu-Scan will also allow us to keep
track of all transactions in the cafeteria thus providing more accurate way of
obtaining information on the efficiency of our lunch program.
Q. How does the system work?
A. Like a debit account system that banks currently use:
o No cash or checks will be used in the cafeteria
o Each student will have an account that parents/students can credit in the
Elementary School and Junior/Senior High School offices.
o Students will bring money (cash/check) in a standard envelope, provided by
us, to their office of attendance and each secretary will credit his/her
account
o Students will use their student identification number on a card (kept by our
teachers for elementary students - Junior/Senior High School students will
memorize their numbers) that will be used as each student exits the lunch line
o No cash will be used in the cafeteria because accounts will be debited as
each student goes through the line
o If needed, students will be able to charge up to $10
o Reminders will be sent home periodically to let parents see what their child
has in his/her account
o If you have not received a payment reminder, your elementary child's account
had a $5 balance or above at the time the reminders were printed
o Parents can eat by using their child's pin as they go through the lunch line
thus debiting their child's account
Q. How much does a school lunch cost?
A. The cost of an elementary student lunch for this school year is $1.50 and
an adult lunch is $2.25. White or chocolate milk can be purchased for $.25 for
those eating cold lunch or wanting extra milk with their hot lunch. Please
take advantage of crediting your child's lunch account for purchasing milk on
a weekly basis ($1.25) for our cold lunch folks or those who would like to
have an extra milk with their lunch. This will avoid a daily crediting of a
quarter in the office.
Q. What should I do when my child needs lunch money?
A. Students/parents will bring cash/check to the child's teacher/office in a
district provided envelope and each secretary will credit the student's
account. Please make checks payable to Lexington Elementary School.
Periodically, we will be sending home reminders to let parents see if their
child's lunch account has $5 or less. If you want to check the status of your
child's account, please contact your child's office of attendance.
Q. What if my child has no money in his/her account?
A. Every student in 1st through 12th grades can charge up to $10. Once a child
has reached his/her maximum charge limit ($10), he/she will not be able to
charge after that point until the account is returned to positive status. It
is also helpful for our office if parents pay a minimum of two week's ($15) to
a month's ($30) worth of lunches at time. This will help us eliminate the cost
of sending payment reminders home with our students and forcing students to
charge lunches.
Q. What if our family qualifies for free/reduced
meals?
A. The system automatically knows free/reduced breakfast/lunch information
once all the proper paperwork is completed and turned into the offices.
Free/reduced students can purchase a second meal and/or milk at full price and
at their own expense. Reduced students may charge up to $5.
Free breakfast/lunch students will not have the ability to charge extra items
to their account unless they have credited their account to a positive
balance.
Q. What if my child's account is debited/credited in
error?
A. If you believe your child's account has been credited/debited in error,
please contact our office. The sooner we know of a concern/problem, the faster
we can help resolve the issue. If you have other questions or concerns, please
contact the elementary school office.
Q. What if my child wants to purchase a milk with his/her cold lunch or an
extra milk with his/her school lunch?
A. Please take advantage of crediting your child's lunch account for
purchasing milk on a weekly basis ($1.25) for our cold lunch folks or those
who would like to have an extra milk with their lunch. This will avoid a daily
crediting of a quarter in the office.
Q. What time do students eat lunch and have recess?
A. Lunch Recess
Grades 2 and 4 11:20 - 11:40 11:40-12:00
Grades 1 and 5 11:40 - 12:00 12:00-12:20
Grades 3 and 6 12:00 - 12:20 12:20-12:40
Q. Do you have a breakfast program?
A. Serving of breakfast in our cafeteria begins in early September. Students
in Preschool through 12 grades are welcome to participate. The regular priced
breakfast will be $1.00.Students eating breakfast should arrive no earlier
than 7:45 a.m. Bus students should go to the cafeteria upon arrival at school.
A student's account through Accu-Scan can be used for breakfast or lunch.
Q. How can parents become involved in the school?
A. Parent involvement is critical to the success of our students. Feel free to
work with our teachers to find times that you can take part in classroom
activities.We encourage our parents/students to check their teachers' WebPages
by going to the school's site @
www.lexington.k12.il.us, clicking on "Grade School" then "Faculty," and
going to the individual teacher's page.We appreciate your cooperation and
support with signing in at the elementary school office and wearing a
visitor's badge when visiting our school.
Q. What should I do if I have to pick up my child
early or during school hours?
A. Parents send a note with the child that is to be given to his/her teacher.
Students that leave during the school day are to be picked up and signed out
in the school office by their parent/guardian.
Q. When are students dismissed?
A. Students are dismissed at 3:15.
Q. What should I do if my child is arriving late to
school?
A. Students arriving late to school will be required to come to the office
with their parent/guardian to sign his/her student in and get a tardy slip
that will be handed to the classroom teacher. Likewise, if a student is
leaving early from school, a parent/guardian will be required to signed
his/her student out from the office. Students also leaving and returning to
school throughout the day will be required to get a pass from the office to be
handed to the classroom teacher upon their return to class. This helps us
ensure that students are accounted for and that unnecessary telephone calls
home are not made. Weappreciate your help and understanding.
If there are other questions that we have missed that you feel should be added
to our page,
please email Mr. Heidbreder at
dheidbreder@lexington.k12.il.us.