Student Handbook

Students who walk or are transported by parents should arrive at school after 7:20 a.m.  Supervisors are on duty at 7:20 a.m.  There is no supervision before 7:20 a.m.  Grades 1-5 students should enter through the main entrance and go directly to the cafeteria with their coats and backpacks and Grades 4K & K students will go to the library through the main doors.  If a child walks or bikes to school, parents or guardians will determine when their child has skills that allow their child to be ready for this responsibility.

Walkers and students who are dropped off should enter through the main entrance from the upper parking lot.  Please pull up to the curb and the Winnequah staff greeters will welcome students with friendly curbside service.  All bus traffic will be in the lower parking lot.

Students should go directly home when dismissed at 2:50 p.m.  Children who are transported by parents should be picked up at dismissal time in the upper parking lot.  Parents will be given a name plate to put on your car visor with the child's name.  Please use the visor at pick up time.  There is no supervision of students after dismissal times.  To ensure the safety of all children, we ask that you consistently follow these guidelines.

Changes in Dismissal Arrangements

To ensure student safety and clear communication, please call the office by 2:10 p.m. or send a note with your child if there is a change in transportation on a given day, (e.g. car pickup instead of riding the bus to designated address).  Students will follow their normal dismissal procedure unless a call or note is received.

School attendance laws of the state of Wisconsin require that children must attend school regularly.  By state law, regular school attendance is the joint responsibility of the parents and the school.  School authorities must enforce the law as cited in Statute 118.15.  Parents, at the same time, have the responsibility to see that regular school attendance is maintained.

You can help by making school a top priority.  By building the habit of daily attendance, you will help your child see that school is important.  

Please call the school office (608-221-7677), email ws.attendance@mgschools.net, or enter absence in Infinite Campus by 7:45 a.m. each day if your child will not be able to attend school or will be late.  Please give the following information: name of student, grade, name of teacher, length of and reason for absence.

Your call is important to help us protect the safety of your child and to ensure accurate attendance records. If a student is absent and we do not receive a call from home, we will call your home/work or emergency contact numbers to verify the absence as part of our safe arrival procedures.
 
When students are tardy, they must check in at the office before proceeding to class.  Please do not drop off your child in front of the school or take your child directly to his/her classroom.  Remember that school begins at 7:45 a.m.  Students arriving after that time will be marked tardy.

Parents will be notified if their child has been absent or tardy an excessive number of times. 
 

The Monona Grove School District is focused on practices to build and sustain positive and safe school communities. Winnequah School has adopted a school-wide positive behavior intervention and support approach that includes restorative practices with the goal of creating positive school cultures. Restorative Practices is a system of principles and processes that build and sustain a culture of respect, responsibility and accountability. This is achieved through emphasizing the importance of trusting relationships as central to building community and repairing relationships when harm has occurred. Restorative Practices include interventions when harm or conflict has occurred, as well as practices that help to prevent harm and conflict by building a sense of belonging, safety, and shared social responsibility throughout the school community. These include community circles, relationship building practices, and social emotional learning. 

The goal of our school-wide positive behavior intervention and support approach is building a solid foundation of proactive, prevention-based practices that support the development of a school culture that will meet the social-emotional and behavioral needs of the members of the school community. It is to be expected though that some students may require additional behavior support and behavior intervention at times. The system works to respond to harm, conflict, and behavioral challenges as they occur both inside and outside the classroom.

School sites may have their own additional interventions and strategies with the same goals:

• Support should focus on being productive and educational. 
• Practices should limit removal from the classroom or school community.
• Students should have the chance to reflect upon and learn from their mistakes.

Some Responsive Practices may include:

• Restorative Conversations
• Restorative Conference
• Accountability Plans  
• Responsive Circles

Progressive interventions and responses may be used in order to address one-time and repeated behaviors, in order to minimize the impact on the school environment, to prevent future incidents, and to address inappropriate behavior in a way that is fair, consistent, and promotes positive change and safety of the school community.

Other interventions may include: 

• Classroom and building agreements will be cooperatively established, reviewed, and enforced.  
• Conflict resolution and problem-solving skills will be taught. 
• Positive behavior will be recognized and encouraged. 
• Causes for misbehavior will be analyzed to facilitate prevention of behavior problems. 
• Alternative approaches for dealing with the child’s behavior will be developed based on the analysis of causes as well as the effectiveness of previous approaches.
• Logical and natural consequences for behavior will be applied.
• Communication among staff, students, and parents will be ongoing.
• The effectiveness of behavior plans will be continually monitored, evaluated and revised as necessary

Please be sure that your child has proper winter clothing - hats, mittens or gloves, boots, snow pants. All clothing should be labeled with your child’s name.   We do go outside for recess unless the temperature drops below  -10 (windchill).   We ask that you make sure your child brings the proper clothing to school to keep them warm and dry.  Students need to bring a pair of shoes in addition to their boots.  If you need assistance obtaining winter gear, please contact our student services team at 608-221-7677.

The following guidelines are used in regard to winter recess:
These temperatures include windchill.

• 10+ Degrees:  Outdoors
• -10 to +10 Degrees:  Supervisor’s Call
• Below -10 Degrees:  Indoors

The school has established appropriate dress and appearance guidelines as are necessary to promote discipline, maintain order, secure the safety of students, and provide a healthy environment conducive to academic purposes.