School Handbook

Riding the school bus is a privilege. The District is responsible for students while on the bus, and our first concern is for the safe transportation of each student. Not following posted instructions governing riding school buses may result in the loss of a student's privilege to ride District provided transportation and may result in additional disciplinary actions. The safe transportation of students is a responsibility the District and Cedar Mill take very seriously. 

Students and passengers are under the authority of the driver on the bus. Students who violate bus rules may initially receive a verbal warning.  Further or serious violations may result in a formal bus citation.  Parents will be contacted and the principal will determine the consequences of the citation.The driver may assign seats at any time and refusing to follow the driver's directions may result in the loss of bus privileges.

BUS PROCEDURES

• Students are to get on and off the bus at the stop designated by transportation.
• If a student plans to ride a bus other than their assigned bus, or get off at a stop other than their assigned stop, they must have a written note from a parent/guardian.  This note must also be signed by the school office.
• Be on time for the bus. Students should arrive at their assigned bus stop five minutes before the scheduled time.

BUS BEHAVIOR EXPECTATIONS: 

• Be respectful to the driver and others on the bus. 
• Uses proper language at an appropriate voice level.
• Be inclusive and caring to others.
• Use your manners
• Keep feet, hands and belongings to self and use them safely and appropriately.
• Enter and exit one at a time
• Take your seat quickly and safely
• Stay seated: Seat to Seat & Back to Back
• Stays in the same seat until you arrive at your stop. 
• Save food and beverages for when you are off the bus.

Staff members will be stationed to greet and supervise students from 8:15am until 8:30.

• Please DO NOT drop off children earlier than 8:00am.
• Parents must pull forward to the designated drop off area at the north-east end of the parking lot before dropping children off.
• It is extremely helpful if students are ready to exit the vehicle as it pulls into the designated drop off area. If extra time is needed please pull through and locate a parking space.
• After 8:15am, parents MUST park and walk their children to the office. 

At the beginning of the school year, a parent or guardian must provide a written record of each student's dismissal plan.  Any time there are changes from the normal routine, written notification from a parent or guardian is required. Please do not email same-day changes to the teacher or office.  If there is an emergency change to a child's dismissal plan, please call the office before 1:30pm.

• For "office pick up," please park in the lot and wait outside the main entrance of the school.  Students will be released to an authorized adult starting at 2:50pm.
• For "drive-through pick up," please allow busses time to load and depart.  Students will be escorted to the designated pick up area at the north-east end of the parking lot at this time.
• Parents may not wait in the hallways outside of classrooms as this leads to unnecessary congestion in the hallways during dismissal.

• Students who walk to school should only cross Cornell Road and NW 102nd at the intersection with the school crossing guard.  Crossing guards are on duty 7:55-8:20am and 2:50-3:05pm.
• Students may ride bicycles to school.  Once on school grounds, bicycles must be walked directly to the bike rack and locked securely.
• We strongly discourage students from bringing roller blades or scooters to school because they cannot be stored in the school building.  They must be locked to the bike rack.
• Shoes with roller skates in the soles (eg. Heelys) are not allowed.
• Skateboards are not allowed on school grounds by district policy.
• All students using bicycles, scooters or roller blades MUST wear a helmet at all times.

The safety of all children is our number one priority at Cedar Mill.  EVERYONE must do their part to assure the safety of our students.  Because the size of our drop-off and pick-up area is so limited, parking lot rules designed to minimize safety issues must be strictly followed.  Staff will always be available to assist individuals unfamiliar with our drop-off and pick-up routines.

RULES OF THE ROAD

• Students must be dropped off and picked up ONLY at the north-east end of the parking lot, near the red gate at the entrance to the playground.
• Do not park, drop-off or pick-up children along NW 102nd, Cornell Road, or as you first enter the parking lot.
• Do not park in the BUS PARKING ONLY section.  This includes the entire bank of spaces at the north end of the parking lot, facing the field.
• Do not stop in the middle of the driving lanes.
• Cars entering the parking lot before 8:00am must park to allow for buses to enter the lot.
• Parents should not walk along or through the sidewalks in the bus-loading zone while busses are loading.

Snow days - school closure or delayed opening

In the event of inclement weather, an announcement of a school closure or a delayed school opening will be made between 5:00am and 7:30am on local television and radio stations.  The District will also call or text all ParentSquare subscribers and post the information on the BSD website. Please do not call the school office phone with unnecessary calls.  In the event of a two-hour delayed opening, school will start at 10:15am.

snow routes

In inclement weather, some busses will make limited runs and some routes will be cancelled. Snow Routes will be updated and posted on the Beaverton School District Transportation website. Please familiarize your family with the Snow Routes before the need arises.

Any early dismissal due to inclement weather or for any other reason (power outage, etc.) is considered an emergency school closure. Cedar Mill will follow the Emergency School Closure Plan that parents indicated in their online enrollment verification at the beginning of the school year. This plan includes information about how children will leave school and where they are to go in the event of an emergency closure. Parents should share this information with children in advance to help reduce anxiety.  Parents will be notified of any emergency closures through SchoolMessenger.

Beaverton School District has adopted the Standard Response Protocol for responses to emergencies and critical incidents that occur in our schools. The Standard Response Protocol is utilized for students from Kindergarten through twelfth grade. Please take a moment to review the four actions as they are crucial for all Beaverton School District stakeholders.

• Secure – The threat or hazard is outside the of the school building. Secure the perimeter.
• Lockdown – The threat is inside the building. Locks, lights, out of sight.
• Evacuate – Evacuate students and staff from one location to another.
• Shelter in Place – Shelter is called when the need for personal protection is necessary.

Fire and evacuation drills are practiced monthly. All other drills are held two or more times per year.

More information on the Standard Response Protocol can be found in the BSD Student and Family Handbook and on the District website.

To view adult and visitor meal pricing, please visit the BSD Meal Pricing, Payments, and Refunds webpage.

Breakfast and lunch menus for the current month are posted on the Nutrition Services Webpage.

Breakfast is served daily from 8:00-8:15am

Lunch is served daily between 10:50m and 12:35pm depending on grade level. 

Health department regulations stipulate that students should wash their hands before eating and are not allowed to share any portion of their meal. Students are expected to clean up after themselves, return trays to the proper location, recycle appropriate items, and dispose of garbage in the waste bin.

BSD Nutrition Services

BSD Meal Pricing, Payments, and Refunds

It's normal for children to get sick from time to time. But when should a parent keep a child home? 

Home is the best place for a child who is ill. If your child is sick with a diagnosed communicable disease, please notify the school as soon as possible. This notification will greatly assist others who, due to medical reasons and/or treatments, have weakened immune systems and may require immediate and specialized care.

Please visit the BSD Too Sick for School Guidelines for some guidelines to help you make the decision about when to keep your child home from school. The recommendations are based on the guidelines provided by the Communicable Disease Program of the Washington County Department of Health and Human Services. They were developed to help prevent the spread of potentially contagious disease.

State Law requires students entering Oregon schools to have certain immunizations (see the link below).  Kindergarteners and 1st graders must be immunized before starting school; older students must provide immunization records upon enrollment. If you have questions, contact your child's doctor or the County Health Department at 503-648-8881.

Immunization Requirements

Immunization Resources

Home is the best place for your child to receive medication. If possible, spacing of medication dosages should be arranged to allow for home administration. If home administration is not possible and a child will need medication during the school day (including things such as eye drops, medicated lotions and throat lozenges), please observe the following guidelines:

• A parent must bring medication to the school office in person.  Students may not transport medications.
• Prescription medication must be in a pharmacy container that states the student's name, dosage and frequency, prescription number, and doctor's name.
• Over-the-counter medication must be in its original packaging.
• Parents must complete a Medication Administration Authorization Form (available in the school office).
• A parent must pick up, in person, any left-over medication at the end of the school year.

If a student is injured or becomes ill at school, every effort will be made to contact parents or other designated persons. Please keep your emergency contact information up-to-date with current phone numbers. In case of an emergency, the school will call 9-1-1 and emergency treatment will be pursued.

Parentsquare

The Beaverton School District is now using the ParentSquare platform for district, school and teacher communications, primarily with email, text and app notifications. ParentSquare automatically generates an account for each parent/guardian, using their preferred email address and phone number. Download the app or log into the ParentSquare web portal.

ParentVUE

ParentVUE is a web portal that allows parents and guardians to access real-time information related to their students. It is also used on annual basis during the start of each school year to verify student enrollment information.  Information that can be found in ParentVUE includes:

• Attendance
• Calendars
• Course history
• Emergency contacts
• Grade Book information
• Report cards
• Schedules
• School information

Online Payment System

The Beaverton School District has implemented a new Online Payment System for all schools.  Using a Visa, Discover, or MasterCard​ debit or credit card, you may make secure online payments for your students with no transaction fees.  You can access the Online Payment System to pay:

• Student fees – athletic, student body, band, field trip, etc.
• Fines – lost library book, lost textbook
• Donations to programs and activities

Information and registration for all of these electronic resources can be found on the Parent Apps & Resources Page:

Parent Apps & Resources

Parent-Teacher Conferences are scheduled in the fall and spring. A conference provides an opportunity to discuss your child's academic achievement and social-emotional learning and are typically 20 minutes long.

Home-School Communication is an integral component to each child's success. If you have concerns at any other time during the year, please call or email your child's teacher as it is better to deal with small concerns than to wait until they become large ones.

All Beaverton School District elementary schools operate on semesters and have two grading periods. Report cards are distributed in February and June. Parents can view report cards through their ParentVUE accounts.  Hard copies can be sent home upon request.

Only emergency messages can be relayed to students by the office staff.  Students will NOT be called out of class except in emergency situations.  Please discuss after-school plans with your child before they leave for school in the morning.

Students are allowed to use the school telephones in the case of emergencies.  Going home with a friend after school or staying for activities does not qualify as a critical situation and must be pre-arranged so that telephoning from school is not necessary.

At Cedar Mill Elementary, we are committed to providing our students with an exceptional learning experience where every student belongs, believe and achieves. Students spend the school day engaged in learning activities. Classroom teachers do not assign homework assignments to students. Classroom Teachers may give tips for at home learning and/or occasional special assignments.

However, it is strongly recommended that students read each day outside of school for building a strong reading life. This reading could be independent, family reading, being read to, or listening to audio books. The grade level reading recommendations are as follows:

• K-1st:  at least 10 to 15 minutes 

• 2nd:  20 min

• 3:  30 min

• 4:  at least 30 min

• 5:  at least 30 min

Students may arrive after 8:00am when morning supervision begins.  Students are not permitted on school property before 8:00am without adult supervision. 

A list of childcare centers in the area is available in the school office.  A fee-based before-school care program from an outside provider is available at Cedar Mill.  The Beaverton School District and Cedar Mill do not screen or endorse any childcare services.

School ends at 2:50pm and students are to be picked up promptly from school.  Please make arrangements for dismissal changes in advance of the school day.  A note from home is required when there is any change in a student’s after-school routine, or students will be sent home according to their regular dismissal plan. 

Changing after-school plans at the last minute should be reserved for emergencies only.  Phone calls into the classroom at the end of the day are disruptive to the learning environment.

A list of childcare centers in the area is available in the school office.  A fee-based after-school care program from an outside provider is available at Cedar Mill.  The Beaverton School District and Cedar Mill do not screen or endorse any childcare services.

The office hours are from 7:30am to 4:00pm Monday through Friday.  Classroom teachers are typically available from 7:45am to 3:45pm.

School hours  for students are 8:15am to 2:45pm.

Dress and grooming are primary responsibilities of students and parents/guardians. However, students may be directed to change dress or grooming if it interferes with the learning process or school climate, is unclean, or threatens the health or safety of the student or others. Clothing, jewelry, or wording/graphics on clothing or on the person that is sexually suggestive, drug or alcohol-related, vulgar, which depicts violence, insulting, gang membership related, or ridicules a particular person or group may be prohibited.

Past practice has prohibited the wearing of hats during the school day, with the exception of religious or medical exemptions. In an effort to be inclusive of cultural differences as well as allowing students the right to self-expression and identify, students are allowed to wear hats and head coverings, so long as it supports respect for self, others, and an atmosphere of learning. Hats and other headwear (including hoodies) must allow the face to be visible to school staff. Should there be questions or concerns about the appropriate wearing of a hat or headwear, parents will be contacted before privileges are revoked unless a direct safety concern is presented. Thank you for partnering with us to support a safe and respectful learning environment while also supporting student identity and self-expression.

While we prefer that party invitations be distributed outside of school, we recognize that this is not possible for all families. As a result, invitations can come directly to classroom teachers to distribute in a way that is discreet. The expectation is that students do not open invitations at school or on the bus to avoid hurt feelings and a disruption to the learning environment.  

The opt-in family directory is another way for families to connect for this and other reasons. 

We know that many great things are happening at Cedar Mill; we invite and encourage you to visit the school and/or your child's classrooms to share in his/her experiences. Please contact the teacher to make arrangements for visits.

Visitors who will have a limited onsite visit, not student supervision responsibilities and who are within sight and sound of a staff member are not required to undergo a background check. However, they must be accompanied by a student's parent or guardian or appear on a student's emergency contact list.

We discourage other students from visiting during school hours.

To help with the safety and well-being of all Cedar Mill students, we must know who is in the building at all times. Please check in at the office and let us know you are here. We will provide you with a visitor's badge.

Please help us respect and not interrupt the important work that takes place in the classroom.  If special circumstances arise, parents need to get approval from the principal.

At Cedar Mill Elementary, we are committed to providing our students with an exceptional learning experience where every student belongs, believe and achieves. Students spend the school day engaged in learning activities. Classroom teachers do not assign homework assignments to students. Classroom Teachers may give tips for at home learning and/or occasional special assignments.

However, it is strongly recommended that students read each day outside of school for building a strong reading life. This reading could be independent, family reading, being read to, or listening to audio books. The grade level reading recommendations are as follows:

• K-1st:  at least 10 to 15 minutes 

• 2nd:  20 min

• 3:  30 min

• 4:  at least 30 min

• 5:  at least 30 min

At Cedar Mill, we empower students to demonstrate 6 Kindness Concepts as our school-wide behavior agreements: 

• Respect
• Caring
• Inclusiveness
• Integrity
• Responsibility
• Courage​

These concepts and expectations are modeled, explicitly taught, discussed, and reinforced in the classroom and in all settings of the school.  Expectations for all settings will be taught at the start of each school year and reteaching will take place after winter and spring breaks.  Reteaching may also be needed at other times during the school year to reinforce expected behavior.  

Our belief is that misbehavior is an opportunity to teach a child how to make different choices in the future, to understand why their choices are important, and how their choices impact others.  This happens through explicit instruction, self-reflection, problem solving, use of logical and instructional consequences, and restorative practices. 

Our approach to school discipline is:

• Explicitly teach behavior expectations

• Understand emotions, manage feelings, and promote responsible decision making through skill building and instructional consequences

• Build community through healing with restorative practices

Problem-solving are important life skills. When students experience difficulties with others, students are learning about what problems they can try and solve themselves and those they might need additional support from an adult to solve. 

When children experience difficulties with others, we encourage them to try at least TWO of the following ideas to resolve "small" problems:

• go to another game
• share and/or take turns
• walk away
• ignore it
• tell the other person to stop
• apologize
• wait and cool off

When students experience difficulties with others that are "big" problems, they are asked to tell an adult they trust. 

Students should make an immediate report to a trusted adult if they feel unsafe or threatened at any time.

Learning to differentiate between various levels of conflict is an ongoing process which is supported in the classroom as well as ongoing guidance lessons. Partnership between the home and school also supports the ability to support student learning and growth in this area. 

Quick Rules to a Safe Playground

• Students will show respect for others by always using good sportsmanship.

• Toys from home are not permitted on the playground.

• Students can play with wood chips as long as they stay on the ground.

• Students must receive permission from a staff member before entering the building. For example, to use the bathroom or go to the classroom.

• Two tag games are allowed: Foursquare Switch or Foursquare Line Tag. No tag games permitted on the play structure or bark chips.

• All games will be safe, kind, respectful, fair, and inclusive.

• During games, all students will abide by the decisions made by the judge. Disagreements will be solved by rock paper scissors or with help from an adult on duty.

• At the end of recess, three whistles will be blown and students will freeze. On the fourth whistle, students will promptly gather and return all the equipment to the recess carts. Then line up at their classroom lines. For indoor recess, students will clean up materials and snack trash before lining up.

• Use all equipment in a safe and respectful manner.

• Students are never to be on top of the play structures, rails or swings.

• All recess balls and equipment need to stay on the blacktop.

• One person on the slide at a time.

• When using the slide go feet-first, bottom down, facing forward.

• Always sit on the swings with your back to the fence, and one person per swing only.

• When using the swings, students are to swing back and forth and not jump off. Swings should not be twisted to make them higher.

• All activities or running must be a safe distance from the swings.

• When waiting your turn in line for the swings, count slowly to 100, or sing the ABCs 2 times.

• The playground is for FUN! Help others to have FUN!