School Policy Guide

The School Policy Guide is a supplement to the District Policy Guide, and is customized for each school. It may include important phone numbers, transportation information, and after-school childcare options. This guide was formerly known as the school handbook.

Child Care / After-School Information

Wisconsin Youth Company provides after-school child care on site, from dismissal until 5:00 p.m. Their phone number is 608-276-9782 and website is www.wisconsinyouthcompany.org.

The Lussier Community Education Center on 55 S Gammon Rd. also supports Muir students in a very supportive and inclusive after school program. They can be reached at 608-833-4979 for more information. This year, the Lussier Community Education Center will have a K-2nd grade setting in room 28 at Muir for our families who live at the Tree Lane Apartments. Please contact the Lussier Center for more information about this program also.

Emergency Situations

In the 2019-20 school year, we incorporated the Standard Response Protocol into our emergency procedures in line with guidance from the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Office of School Safety and national recommendations on school safety. It incorporates many of the concepts we already use but offers more clarity and consistency in terminology among schools and first responders across the country. Each school year, students will receive age-appropriate instruction on what to do in each of these scenarios through lesson plans, slide presentations, class discussions, videos, and more.

Attendance and Late Arrival

Attendance and timeliness is important at Muir! Our school bell rings at 8:40. Students who arrive after the bell are considered tardy. If your child arrives after the 8:45 bell, please check them in at the office. Students will be given a card to give to their teacher to let her/him know their attendance was recorded.

If your child will not be at school for any reason you must call the SAFE ARRIVAL number, 608-663-8173 or enter the absence in Infinite Campus (IC) for each day he/she will be absent. If we do not hear from you each day, we need to make a safe arrival call. The office staff would greatly appreciate the communication with you for each absence that occurs. It is also helpful if you contact your child’s teacher on Bloomz in regards to appointments, late arrivals, early dismissals, or absences.

Safety and Security

All Muir doors are closed and locked daily. The main entrance is the only door we use to welcome our community into the school. Staff utilize our pin pads during the day to move in and out from the playground, use of the garden or possible field trips. All visitors are welcomed through our main doors (#2) and need to be buzzed in by office staff. All community members, to include parents, then go directly to the office to communicate about their visit so our office staff can assist. All visitors who plan to go beyond our office are asked to sign in and wear a visitor badge. All volunteers working outside in our garden, flowerbeds, woods, etc... will be asked to wear an orange vest to identify themselves as school volunteers.

Families play a key role in school safety. We believe that it is beneficial for families and the community to engage in our students’ education. We also want to provide a safe and comfortable environment for our students to learn. If you plan to visit, please pre-arrange your visit with the classroom teacher. The teacher will communicate with the office about your visit. You’ll find more information on district safety and security, including how we communicate with you in an emergency, at mmsd.org/safety. Thank you for your partnership in creating a safe and positive school environment. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me for any reason.

School Hours

Classroom Visits

Classroom visits are scheduled 24 hours in advance through the classroom teacher and office staff. We ask that upon arrival, please check in the main office to sign in and receive a visitor badge. You will be given information and specific guidelines so that your visit is successful for all involved. We welcome individuals to view our classrooms and impress upon our visitors that the class’s normal routine and flow is a priority. Classroom visitors silently observe and are welcomed to share their experiences afterward by setting up a meeting with the teacher at a time outside of his/her day with our students.

School Support Services

Muir has a skilled Student Support and Intervention Team (SSIT) that is available to students, staff and families as a whole team or in their individual specialized roles. This team consists of the principal, social worker, psychologist, interventionist, advanced learner program support teacher, special education student support teacher, nurse and speech/language clinician. As a group, the team meets weekly to support and extend resources for identified students, staff and/or families who have needs in the areas of academic, social, emotional and/or behavioral support. Their work is to collaborate with classroom teachers and families to improve specific aspects of a child’s school experience.

For more information about available support services, please talk to your child’s teacher.

Traffic Safety, Parking Lot, Pick Up/Drop Off Information

Muir has a Traffic Safety Program that supports families to actively participate in walking, biking and scootering to school. While encouraging a healthy lifestyle, it also is the best way to decrease traffic congestion and improve student safety to and from school.

We want our families to know that drop off/pick up is NOT permitted in the Muir Staff Parking Lot for the safety of our school community. Our parking lot is only for staff and MMSD employees, along with special transportation vehicles for the students we serve.

Muir provides a curbside location right on Inner Drive for families to drop off or pick up their children. Look for the yellow signs that support this convenience for families. This is NOT a place where drivers can park their car or leave it unattended, so remember to make a plan with your child for pick up if you are waiting in this area.

For the safety of our community, we ask all families to always use the crosswalks by Muir and to NOT cross Inner Drive mid-street. This is dangerous pedestrian behavior before and after school with the number of people present. School Zones also do not allow for U-Turns. Please do not make a U-Turn to gain a parking space or when leaving from dropping your child off. Let’s keep Inner Drive a safe place for our community!

Picking up your child during the school day

To ensure the safety of your child, please send a note in advance to your child’s teacher or the office. We require parents to come into our office and sign out the student. We will call the classroom to have the student sent down to the office to meet the parents. Please remember anyone picking up a student must be authorized and listed in Infinite Campus. Once school is in session, no non-school staff (including parents) will be allowed to go to a classroom unaccompanied and pick up a child

Before and After School Outdoor Supervision

Muir’s before school process is changing this year and so is our start and ending times (by 10 min). All students will continue to go to the playground when dropped off at school. They will enter through Muir’s recess playground doors as they have in the past. School-based supervision begins at 8:20 (teacher contract time).

Muir’s four buses will arrive around 8:15 this year and will be greeted by a staff member in an orange vest to be able to exit the bus. Families who drop off their children are asked to wait until they see an adult in an orange vest prior to sending their child to our playground. At Muir, students arrive to school and go directly to our playground. This year, our first bell will ring at 8:20 to bring students in for breakfast and to settle into their school day. Children will not play on the playground this year after the 8:20 bell. Parents are welcomed to drop their children off up until our new 8:40 start time/bell. We will have staff supervision on the playground area to greet students and ensure they get into school safely. At 8:45, our staff supervisors will no longer be on the playground and the doors will lock. If you arrive after our 8:40 bell, your child will need to walk to our Main Door - #2 and check in the office.

At our 3:37 dismissal (2:05 on Mondays) all students are transitioned to the front of our school on Inner Drive by their classroom teachers. All students MUST be picked up by 3:47 in this location. Students are not allowed to go to our playground after school unless they are with a parent or supervising adult. Our staff in orange vests supervise students until our buses leave. At that time, if there are any students staff walk them to the office to phone their families.

Volunteers

School Policy Guide - English

School Policy Guide - Spanish

Note that many items in these guides are specific to teaching and learning within school buildings, and we know that adjustments will need to be made as we go. Please use this as a starting point and connect with your school if you have specific questions about how things will be handled in a virtual setting.

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