As an educational facility, our school must strive to help each student to gain a better understanding of his/her relationship to the world in which he/she lives, and can best do so by providing an opportunity for each student to attain the basic learning tools, including an open mind, the ability to question and evaluate, and the desire to improve upon that which is presently accepted.

With this in mind, our school will work to provide a balanced program of general education based upon the characteristics, needs, and future plans of the students being served. Our school will also follow the curriculum guidelines (P.A.S.S.) set by the Oklahoma State Department of Education and by our district’s additional expectations and specific curriculum document.

Students at Sunset will be exposed daily to the life principles of GREAT EXPECTATIONS. This character building will place emphasis on the following tenets. Approximately 90% of our teaching staff has been trained in this positive program.

Citizenship – behaving in a responsible manner as a citizen

of a community

Commitment – the keeping of a promise or pledge

Common Sense – thinking before acting, using good

judgment

Compassion – ability to share another’s feelings or ideas

Cooperation – working together

Courage – strength to act even when afraid or uncertain

Curiosity – the desire to learn, to explore, to investigate

Effort – doing your best in an endeavor

Flexibility – the ability to make adjustments or alter plans

Friendship – caring for and trusting one another

Honesty – truthfulness

Humanitarianism – helping other humans

Initiative – taking action, originating new ideas

Integrity – acting according to a sense of right and wrong

Justice – being fair, right, and upholding what is right

Loyalty – faithfulness to another

Patience – the ability to wait calmly

Perseverance – the ability to persist or continue striving to

the end

Problem Solving – creating solutions, find answers

Respect – feeling honor

Responsibility – making the choice to be reliable and

dependable

Self Discipline – the ability to choose and control one’s own

actions

Service – giving of one’s time and energies to help others

Students that are eating breakfast may arrive at 8:00. They are to enter through the outside doors on the east side of the cafeteria. The doors will not be open prior to 8:00. Other students may arrive between 8:15 – 8:30 A.M. Kindergarten, Pre-K, and 1^st grade students will sit in the hallway by their classroom door. 2^nd and 3^rd grade students, and 4^th and 5^th grade students, will gather in their designated areas (to be announced on Information Day).

Dismissal is at 3:05. All students should be picked up by 3:20. Middle and high school students should wait outside to meet younger siblings.

Special arrangements with friends for after school should be made ahead of time so parents are well informed. Students will be unable to use the phone after school for such arrangements.

Oklahoma’s severe weather makes it necessary at times to close school. Area television and radio stations will alert the public when this decision has been made. Early dismissal is not a common practice in the Edmond school system due to the inconvenience it would cause to working parents. Occasionally when driving conditions are bad, the buses run late. Please have a plan that your child understands, so they will not remain outside in bad weather for an extended amount of time.

Attendance is an important factor in learning. Be sure your child is at school unless emergency or illness is an issue. Keep doctor slips for verification. Our district requires you to receive notification at 7, 14, and 20 days of absences. At 20 days, students may be considered for retention and contact with the District Attorney’s office will be reviewed. See District section for more information (pg. 12).

The double doors leading to the entry and office will be open 8:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M. All visitors will have to pass through the office area to sign in. This feature has been designed to maximize safety for our building.

Sunset has a phone system that allows for a phone in each classroom. Your teacher can give you the classroom extension number to allow you to leave a voice message.

The student phone located in the office should be displayed on your caller ID as 715-5028 (but may show "no number"). Please set your phone to accept calls from this number. This is an outgoing line only. Please use our main number (340-2990) if you need to return a call.

It is very important for the school and parents to have an excellent means of communication. Teachers are encouraged to contact the parents when they feel there is a need, whether it is academic, discipline, or other important information. Teachers also send samples of student work home for them to see. Students will bring home classroom and office information on THURSDAYS in our take-home folders. Please watch for these important messages.

School will be dismissed on Friday, November 2 for parent/teacher conferences. Please feel free to contact the school for an appointment if your feel there is a need for a conference between the teacher, parent, counselor, and/or principal. This will guarantee their availability. In grades 3-5, where letter grades are given, parents will be sent a progress report during the 5^th week of each nine-week period if a student has anything less than a "C" average.

Sunset PTA is an organized group of parents who work together with teachers and administrators to support educational activities at the school. The collaborative partnership between family and school provides a valuable resource of volunteers who augment the work of educators by assuming responsibilities that range from clerical work to tasks involving direct assistance with student learning. Underlying this program is the basic assumption that student performance, attitudes, and behaviors, are influenced positively by parental involvement. PTA votes to determine if fundraising activities will take place.

Parents whose children will be attending Edmond Public Schools during the next school year will be asked to update existing enrollment information and to provide a current utility bill as part of our continuing effort to verify student addresses. This process will assist your school district in many ways. First, it will assist in projecting our future enrollment. The verification of student addresses will also help us insure that your tax dollars are being used for the education of children whose parents are legal residents of our district. For new patrons, two proofs of residence will be required. Verification of residence will be shown on Information Day.

School: Our district policy allows a maximum of three parties per year. Sunset will host the following parties:

1) Winter party (in December, just before holiday break),

2) Valentine’s party, and 3) End of Year party. Homeroom parents will coordinate the party efforts. All treats will be donated by parent volunteers. Our parents must now include a healthy snack choice as a party option - eg. cheese, apple slices, veggies, etc (see district section about healthy snacks). Please do not send gum, suckers/lollipops, or balloons as treats. We also ask that party favors be limited to edible items and not items such as water pistols, whistles, yo-yo’s, etc.

Personal: We do not host personal birthday parties. However, if you would like to send a healthy class treat, you can make arrangements with the classroom teacher. We can not pass out unhealthy treats such as cupcakes. At Sunset we do not distribute party invitations at school, unless they include ALL students in the class.

Costumes: We do not wear costumes on Halloween. We will use announced spirit days for various dress – eg. crazy socks.

Our media center is a vital part of our school. It holds approximately 12,000 volumes, as well as computers, video equipment, and curriculum materials. In order that all students may have access to media center materials and share in the responsibility for those materials, the following guidelines will be followed:

Kindergarten – Students will be allowed to visit the media center with their class once a week, starting the third or fourth week of school. They may check out one book at a time. During the second semester, students will be able to go individually to the library with a pass to return their book and check out another one. Books are checked out for one week.

Media Center Hours - The library opens at 8:35 A.M. and closes at 3:05 P.M. A full-time media specialist and a full-time media assistant are on duty. Students are welcome in the media center any time the teacher will allow them to leave the classroom. Teachers also schedule time with their classes in the media center. The media specialist plans (with the teachers) curriculum-based literature and library skills classes for all grades.

Parent Volunteers – Parent volunteers play a vital role in the operation of the media center. The hours our volunteers work are 9:00-11:30 A.M. or 12:30-3:00 P.M., usually one day per week. Parents are needed to assist with checking books in and out to students, bulletin board displays, and with the annual Book Fair(s). Please contact the media specialist for further information.

Book Fair – This event is held annually. During the Book Fair, new paperbacks are available for purchase by students and patrons. Proceeds are used for additional volumes of books for the media center and to help defray the cost of special activities with students.

Phone – The media center may be called directly at 715-6665.

Students walking are expected to leave the school at dismissal time and go directly to their after-school location (home or sitter’s house). Students should not stop at a friend’s house to play without prior parental arrangements.

Students may ride bicycles to school. Bikes should be walked on sidewalks and across crosswalks and parked in the bike racks located on the south side of the school. Students should not be around the bike area except to put away or pick up their bikes.

The school will make every effort to safeguard bicycles, but cannot assume responsibility for them. It is strongly recommended that locks be used to secure bikes. Locks are not provided by the school.

Elementary students are eligible for transportation services if they live one mile or more from the school by commonly traveled roads. Students may ride only their regularly assigned bus and get off at their regularly assigned stop unless emergency arrangements have been made through the Director of Transportation. Food, gum, and soft drinks are prohibited on the bus. Damage to seats and other equipment must be paid for by the offender. Students are permitted to ride the bus as long as they abide by the bus rules they receive at the beginning of the year. Students should always get off at their bus stop and report home before going to a friend’s house to play. Students with three bus offenses will be unable to ride the bus.

Buses will pick-up and drop-off students on 9^th Street. City "No Parking" signs exist to keep these areas open.

The Transportation department can be reached at 340-2962.

Our commercial day care vans and cars may pick-up and drop-off students on the east side of the building in the parking area off Fretz & 9^th streets. This is not for private/home daycare or after- school babysitting.

A plan designed to insure greater student safety and facilitate a smoother traffic flow routes specific traffic to different loading sites around Sunset’s building.

Parents who wish to drop off or pick up their children should use the parking area at the front of the building off of Eighth Street. The lane adjacent to the curb is designated as a LOADING ZONE only. Those who need to wait for extended periods of time or need to leave their vehicles should pull into one of the designated diagonal parking spaces or should park along Eighth Street. The center lane serves as a THROUGH LANE. It is imperative that drivers not stop in this lane since doing so blocks it and makes it impossible to exit from the curb or parking area. Students crossing the parking lot unaccompanied by adults are instructed to use the crosswalk.

The 9^th Street side of the building is restricted to bus loading only. PLEASE DO NOT PICK UP CAR RIDERS IN BACK OF OUR SCHOOL OR OFF OTHER CITY STREETS! This interferes with our bus loading and daycare traffic, and can be dangerous to your child and others.

Hopefully with our additional parking you will be able to find space to park in a space or on the city street area. Please be aware of handicap signs, fire lanes, and staff parking. We have a few spaces marked staff/office. Please do not use these spaces.

Our neighborhood church allows us to use their lot, but never park on the lawn please.

Sunset participates in the National School Breakfast Program. A balanced breakfast is provided from 8:00 – 8:25 A.M. each day. Students may purchase breakfast for $1.20 (subject to change). Students eligible for free or reduced lunch will qualify for the same at breakfast (reduced breakfasts are 40 cents per day). Students may not charge breakfast, nor may they bring breakfast from outside (home, fast food, etc.) to eat at school. Menus for both meals will be sent home monthly.

Edmond Public Schools participate in the National School Lunch Program. Nutritious and balanced meals are served daily. Students may buy a lunch for $2.05 (amount is subject to change). Students are provided with three choices. There are two entries or salad bar. The Accu-Scan lunch accounting system makes it possible for lunch tickets to be purchased in daily, weekly ($10.25), or monthly ($41.00) increments. Milk may be purchased for a two-week period for $4.00 or for 40 cents per carton. Children from households whose income falls within the federal income guidelines are eligible for either free or reduced prices Applications may be picked up during enrollment or in the office at any time during the year.

The Elementary Student Lunch charge policy will be based on an individual student basis and will be administered at the building level by the building principal. The following guidelines will be considered when working with elementary students who do not have a sufficient cash balance to pay for a student lunch or have failed to bring money to purchase the school lunch.

A. An individual student will be limited to an unpaid cash balance equal to the cost of two student lunches.

B. Unpaid charges will be paid first upon receipt of new money from the student. Students who need to charge for lunch will receive the regular class "A" lunch.

C. Students who have two unpaid charges on their account and fail to bring money the third time will be given milk and a sandwich.

D. Students who have reached the unpaid balance limit and fail to bring lunch money sufficient to cover the unpaid balance will be given the opportunity to call a parent to bring money or lunch.

Any unpaid student account balance will be carried over to the following school year, even if the student moves to another school in the Edmond Public Schools district.

Parents are welcome to eat with their children. Please call the cafeteria at 340-2993 by 10:00 A.M. to make reservations. Cost of a guest breakfast is $1.40 and lunch is $2.65. Outside food may be brought for lunch.

The curriculum at Sunset includes an integrated study of reading, math, language arts, spelling, social studies, science, penmanship, technology, Spanish, health, physical education, music and art.

A copy of the P.A.S.S. skills mandated by the Oklahoma State Department of Education is available for review in the office or on the State Department of Education Web site.

Teachers use multi-criteria assessments when measuring student mastery of the stated objectives through projects, daily assignments, performances, tests, etc. Each child’s progress is observed and recorded at regular intervals. Results are used to improve and individualize instruction.

Our state requires all 1^st-5^th grade students not reading on grade level to be placed on a special plan developed by the school staff and parents.

State law allows a teacher to recommend that a student be retained at the present grade level or failed in a specific academic course. If a parent or guardian is dissatisfied with the recommendation, he or she may appeal the decision by complying with the District’s appeal process. The decision of the Board of Education shall be final.

Sunset does not take teacher requests, but does provide parents the opportunity to fill out an input sheet about their child each April. Information from these forms will be used in an attempt to make appropriate class placements.

Each teacher at Sunset will alter the curriculum to fit the needs of individual students. Students should not be held back in their learning or pushed beyond current potential.

At Sunset, teachers can modify* and adjust* curriculum as they deem necessary. It is the teacher’s responsibility to let parents know the plan and to document modifications and adjustments.

The definition at Sunset for these terms will be:

*Adjusting – The student is working above or below grade level. The student needs work that is more challenging and enriching OR the student needs to be placed in curriculum more accommodating to his/her level of performance below what is currently being taught.

*Modifying – The student is working on grade level, but needs work load to be slower or faster, less or more, or specific teacher guidance.

A. From time to time parents may request their child be moved to a different classroom. At Sunset the procedure is as follows:

Step 1 – Parent should have had contacts with the

Step 2 – Parent should visit with the counselor and/or

Step 3 – A meeting of parent, teacher, administrator,

Step 4 – A 30-day action plan will be written and

Step 5 – Parent, administrator, and teacher will meet

Step 6 – Final decision to change classroom

B. Change in classroom placement may also occur any time a change in enrollment causes our numbers to greatly increase or decrease. You will be notified in writing about such a change. This usually occurs within the first few weeks of school.

Many of the following services or special needs may be discussed with the school counselor.

Counseling – Our counselor coordinates all group and individual testing and placement activities. Classroom guidance sessions are conducted in all grades on a regular basis. Areas of emphasis include: study skills, responsibility, self-concept, friendship, cooperation, and decision-making. Small group counseling is done with parent permission only (e.g. divorce group). Individual counseling/therapy is not provided by our school counselor. Any additional counseling that may be provided year to year will be offered through parent contact and permission.

Elementary Art – An art teacher works weekly with all fifth grade students. Emphasis is placed on visual art techniques, appreciation, and understanding.

Enrichment Program – An enrichment program is provided for students who qualify as intellectually gifted. The class meets for one half day each week.

Health – The school health program includes various activities directed toward the promotion of good health and fitness habits. Approximately thirty minutes of health instruction per week is provided by the health teacher for students in 1^st – 4^th grades.

Indian Counseling & Tutoring – Personnel assist both teachers and children in meeting needs related to Indian education.

Resource Labs – Certified special education teachers work with small groups of students. Students who enter these programs qualify through testing and are placed on an individual education plan (IEP).

Music – Approximately 60 minutes (two 30-minute classes) of music instruction is provided per week for students in 1^st – 5^th grades. Emphasis is on general music, as well as vocal music.

Physical Education – Elementary physical education classes meet for approximately 60 minutes of instruction per week (two 30-minute classes). Emphasis is on motor skill development. The predominant activity focus is sports, movement, and lifelong recreational activities.

Speech Therapy – A speech/language pathologist provides services to designated children through a referral from teacher or parent.

Title I Program (Federal) – This program helps reinforce reading skills. Students are placed through teacher referral and testing. Students attend this program for 30 minutes per day. Grade levels utilizing this program may vary from year to year. Math will also be considered on a yearly basis.