Policies

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Anti-Bullying‍

The Board of Directors reviews this policy each year. A copy can be found here 2019 Anti-Bullying Policy.

Lice‍

After several decades of treating lice in school age children one way (sending kids home, chemical treatment, and obsessive house cleaning) there has been a radical shift in treatment. Recently a comprehensive study by Harvard School of Public Health was published that made everyone take a step back and put pediculosis into perspective.

While it is true that head lice are spread by head-to-head contact and somewhat by the sharing of hats, combs and hair accessories it is not as easy to contract as we have thought. It is far less contagious than the common cold. In fact, head lice rarely, if ever, can cause direct harm and should not be treated as a public health or medical problem. As of November 2008, Center School and an increasing number of schools around the world have cancelled their “no nits” policy. If children are found to have active lice and/or nits we will inform parents that day but will not send children home or do whole class lice checks.

Snow Days‍

Center School subscribes to One Call Now, an Emergency Notifications Service created especially for schools. For school cancellations due to weather or any kind of emergency we can reach you quickly on your home or cell phones (using numbers that you provide us), via phone call or text message. The notification method is a recorded message that begins when connected to a live voice response or to an answering machine. Remember to say “hello” if you pick up your phone so that you can hear the message.  It will leave a message if you don’t pick up. Most of the time, you will get the call between 5:30 and 6:15am, this is to accommodate our families who travel from far away.  If this is too early for you and you want to check for closings when you wake up, please consider turning your phone’s ringer down or subscribing to text messages instead of phone calls.

Illness‍

Early in the morning it is often difficult to make a decision about whether your child is sick enough to stay home from school. With minor symptoms, you often cannot tell if they will get better or worse during the course of the day.

The main reasons for keeping your children home are:‍

  • if they are too sick to be comfortable at school or participate in educational activities.

  • if they might spread a contagious disease to other children

As a rule of thumb, a child should stay home if there is:‍

  • fever of 100F or higher

  • vomiting

  • diarrhea

  • frequent cough

  • persistent pain

  • widespread rash

Drop-Off and Dismissal

Drop Off
We appreciate your cooperation! Children who come after school has begun have a more difficult start; they don’t get time to get their minds and belongings together before they tackle the day, not to mention how disruptive it is for everyone else in the class.

Morning arrival is anytime between 8:00-8:15 each day, but classes start at 8:15 promptly. New parents may want to park and walk their child to her/his class for the first few days of school. If you choose this, please enter through the front doors as we have student greeters who can escort you to the classroom. If your child prefers to be dropped off, the student greeters can escort them to the classroom for the first few days of school. Please refrain from parking in the lanes in front of the school. Please only use designated parking spots.

Dismissal

For Uppers—Park in Finer Building lot and go to your child’s classroom to retrieve them.

For Brick Building—Park in Brick Building lot or on either side of the drive and go to your child’s classroom to retrieve your child. Please wait outside the classroom for your child to come out, unless the door is open.

Car Line– You can use the car line if you are picking up a Mup, Middle, or Upper Middle. Join the car line, which runs parallel to the school in one line and wait for a teacher with walkie-talkie to radio for your student/s. If you have a carpool with a combination of Uppers and Brick Building kids, please park in the Finer lot and go to classrooms to retrieve the children in your carpool.

Picking up

For Uppers: Park in Finer Building lot and go to your child’s classroom to retrieve them.

For Brick Building: Park in Brick Building lot or on either side of the drive and go to your child’s classroom to retrieve your child. Please wait outside the classroom for your child to come out, unless the door is open.

Car Line: You can use the car line if you are picking up a Mup or a Middle. Join the car line, which runs parallel to the school in one line and wait for a teacher with walkie-talkie to radio for your student/s. If you have a carpool with a combination of Uppers and Brick Building kids, please park in the Finer lot and go to classrooms to retrieve the children in your carpool.

More Information

These and other policies can be found in the GCS Handbook, a copy of which can be requested through Amanda in the office. E-copies of the Handbook can be found here: