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STUDENT SCHOOL DAY
School hours are 9:15 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Buses will begin drop off at school around
8:55 a.m. Breakfast will be served from 8:50 - 9:15 a.m. Drop your child off at school no
earlier than 8:55 a.m.; supervision at school begins at this time. Breakfast and
lunch will be served on Early Dismissal days.
EARLY DISMISSAL CHECKOUT
Classroom instruction takes place until the very end of the school day. We strongly
encourage parents not to pick up students early from school unless a medical
appointment has been scheduled, or unless it is an absolute emergency. Should your
child need to leave early, only parents or legal guardians will be permitted to sign
allowed to pick up a child, if he or she has a signed and dated letter from the parent or
guardian that indicates that this is requested. Please refer to Attendance section for
more information on early checkout.
CHANGES IN DISMISSAL ARRANGEMENTS
It is very difficult for us to change routines for 700+ students on a daily basis. As
much as we want to cooperate with family plans and circumstances, we would
encourage our families to stay with the same dismissal routine. If you must change
your child's regular dismissal routine, you must write a dated and signed note indicating
the changes necessary, or you may come to the office before noon to indicate the
necessary change. If absolutely necessary, we will accept the change request by phone
if the correct security code word is given; however, the parent or parent designee who
is listed on the emergency form must come in, show ID and sign the student out. The
request for a security code word is attached to the emergency form sent home with each
child or you may fill one out in the office. Under no circumstances can we reroute
children off buses if we have not been notified by noon. If the above procedures are
not followed, your child will be sent home in the usual manner.
EMERGENCY FORMS
Emergency Forms should be returned to your child's teacher as soon as all information
is filled out! From time to time we may need to be in touch with you without delay.
An unexpected illness or accident makes this critical. It is Citrus County Schools' Policy
that emergency contact numbers are on file for each student from the very first day of
school. Should you change your address or telephone information, promptly notify us.
Should it not be possible to reach you, the principal or their designee will take necessary
action in the best interest of your child. The principal or designee cannot administer any
medication or sign for any emergency treatment of a student taken to the hospital.
VISITORS
As always, we welcome you to IPS. For purposes of security, we no longer permit
parents or visitors to casually tour and wander about our facility. Parents are welcome
to visit specific classrooms for a specific prearranged period of time. All visitors must
check in and enter through the main office to obtain a VISITOR'S PASS.
CAFETERIA MEAL SERVICE
IPS offers breakfast and lunch service. Breakfast is $.50 and lunch is $1.50. Free and Reduced
Meal applications are available at the District Services Center or (Call 726-1931 and ask for Food
Service Department). Reduced rates are $.10 for breakfast and $.25 for lunch. Milk is $.30.
Adult lunches are $3.00. Weekly or monthly payment of lunches is encouraged to reduce daily
time needed to collect money. IPS offers no lunch charges.
MEDICATIONS
Any medication to be taken at school must be brought to the clinic by an adult. Students may not
carry any medications. ALL PRESCRIPTION OR NON-PRESCRIPTION DRUGS must be in the
original container. The parent or guardian will need to fill out an Authorization For Medications
form before clinic personnel can administrator medication. Parents or guardians of asthmatic
students who need to carry their metered dose inhaler or are severely allergic to insect stings
need to fill out a Permission to Carry Metered dose Inhalers or Epipen/Ana-kit for Severe Allergic
Reactions form.
SCHOOL RULES
All students at IPS are expected to be courteous and well mannered at all times in all areas of the
school. This can be accomplished by following these quite simple IPSville school wide rules:
We walk.
We listen and follow the directions.
We keep our hands and feet to ourselves.
We obey the adults at school.
We are kind and considerate.
Additionally, each teacher has developed with the class how students are expected to behave,
established definite consequences for students when they make inappropriate behavior choices,
and has developed plans for rewarding students who consistently set positive behavioral
patterns. Each teacher will make you aware of these classroom standards. In accordance with
state and school district laws and policies, IPS adheres to the accepted procedures and
guidelines regarding corporal punishment. In this instance, parents are always consulted.
BUS POLICIES
Safety rules must be followed on school buses for the safety and well being of all youngsters. A
child who breaks a bus rule will be given a white slip and reported to the assistant principal.
There is a 4-step procedure; however, any child can be referred without going through all steps, if
in the opinion of the driver, the offense affects safety. The white slip needs to be signed by the
parent and returned to school. Refusal to obey bus rules will result in suspension from the bus.
Students will not be allowed to ride a different bus than the one assigned, unless a signed and
dated note is presented to the main office by the parent or guardian.
ATTENDANCE
IPS awards yearly certificates to pupils having perfect attendance. While not every pupil can
achieve this, we know that excessive absence hinders a child's school progress. Please refer to
the Citrus County Schools Student Code of Conduct booklet for detailed information.
The following is a summary of the District's Attendance Policy:
1. Excused absences, tardies and early dismissals will be allowed only for the following reasons:
Illness of a student, major illness of an immediate family member, a student's medical
appointment, a religious holiday of a student's specific faith, a subpoena or forced absence by
any law enforcement agency, a major disaster in the family, 2 days for each occurrence of head
lice, and planned absences which have been approved in advance by the principal/designee.
2. Parents will be required to provide a written statement indicating the reason for an absence,
tardy or early dismissal within 2 days of the student's return to school, including the date, date of
the absence (or tardy or early dismissal), name of student, name of teacher, reason, daytime
phone number of parent or guardian, and the signature of the parent or guardian.
3. After 10 absences –excused or unexcused- within a semester, a parent will need to provide the
school with a written statement from a licensed health care provider for any further absences
within the school year. 3 unexcused tardies or early dismissals within the 9-week period will be
equivalent to 1 unexcused absence. After 15 unexcused absences within a 90-day period the
District Student Services Department will determine appropriate steps to enforce the Florida
Compulsory Attendance statute. This may be in the form of a Truancy case staffing.
4. Special Attendance Request form (Out of Zone request) may be revoked at any time (end
of the 9 week period) due to attendance, tardy and/or discipline issues.
DRESS CODE
Neatness and cleanliness should be observed at all times. Shoes must be worn at all times; no
shoes with cleats are permitted. On Physical Education days for your child's class, please be
sure that shoes suitable for running are worn. Shorts, skirts, or pants may not be worn below the
natural waistline. For reasons of safety, dangling earrings should not be worn at school as well.
Hats or caps will not be permitted indoors. Refer to the Citrus County Schools Student of Code of
Conduct book for county guidelines and information.
MONITORING STUDENT PROGRESS
A critical component of the instructional planning process is monitoring student's progress.
Report cards are issued four times per year. Mid-term progress reports will be sent home
midway of each grading period. A student will receive grades if he or she has been enrolled for
10 days of a nine-week period. Parents may request conferences with instructional personnel at
any time should you have questions regarding your child's progress.
The grading scale is as follows for Grades 3-5:
A 90-100
B 80-89
C 70-79
D 60-69
F 59 and below
If a student's grades are based on below grade level work or modified work, it will be indicated on
the report card.
The grading scale is as follows for Kindergarten - Grade 2:
P Performing successfully
I Inconsistent success
N Needs attention, little or no progress
E Extending/applying learning to other areas
M Modifications made in curriculum
REQUIRED ASSESSMENTS
Assessment of student progress is another of the critical components of any sound instructional
planning process. Content to be taught in the State of Florida is prescribed in The Sunshine
State Standards (S.S.S.). You are welcome to peruse copies of the S.S.S. in the Media Center.
In short, the Office of the State Commissioner of Education has previously determined what
students should know and be able to do at each elementary grade level. Citrus County Schools
have also developed matching aligned documents for Language Arts, Mathematics and Health
Education. These documents specifically help teachers know what the subject area expectations
are at every grade level. Our major responsibilities then, are to design classroom instructional
processes that will cause mastery to occur for each of our youngsters, to monitor and assess
each child's progress throughout the year, and to celebrate the academic success of each of our
children. Test dates will be announced later on by the DOE but should be scheduled around the
months of February and March. Please do not plan any family travel during these times. The
following tests that are directly matched to the Sunshine State Standards (criterion referenced)
will be given throughout Florida.
Grade 3 FCAT Reading and Mathematics Assessments
Grade 4 FCAT Writing, Reading and Mathematics Assessments
Grade 5 FCAT Mathematics, Reading and Science Assessments
Grades 3-5 SSS/NRT (Sunshine State Standards/Norm Referenced Test) Reading and Math
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