455 Plymouth St, Abington, MA 02351
Excessive tardiness disrupts classroom procedures and negatively impacts both individual learning and the learning environment for the entire class. To address this concern, the following procedures will be enforced:
Definition of Tardiness
A student is considered tardy after the second bell at 8:05 a.m.
Sign-In Requirement
Any student arriving late must be walked into the building by a parent/guardian and signed into school for the day at the school office before proceeding to class.
Initial Step – Office Contact
After five (5) unexcused tardies per semester, the classroom teacher will contact the student’s home.
Parents/guardians will be notified that any additional tardies will result in a consequence, such as loss of recess or detention on that day.
Referral to Principal
If tardiness continues, the office will refer the matter to the principal.
The principal will contact the parents/guardians to schedule a conference to determine further action.
Parent-Principal Meeting
If the issue remains unresolved, the parents/guardians will be required to meet directly with the principal to discuss the situation.
Chronic Tardiness
Continued and chronic tardiness is unacceptable.
Failure to resolve the matter may jeopardize the student’s enrollment as a member of the student body in accordance with state laws and Archdiocesan policies and regulations.
Important: A parent/guardian call or note explains the absence but does not automatically excuse it. A medical note is required for an absence to be considered excused for illness. The principal reserves the authority to determine whether any absence is excused, based on individual circumstances.
In compliance with Massachusetts law, parents must provide a doctor’s certificate if a student is:
Consistent attendance is crucial for mastering the curriculum. The school requires a minimum of 85% attendance for promotion or graduation unless valid medical documentation is on file. Excessive absenteeism may be reported to authorities for legal action.
Truancy, defined as missing school without parental knowledge, is a serious violation of school policy and may result in suspension. Students cannot make up work missed during unauthorized absences.
In inclement weather, parents should listen to local radio and television stations for announcements regarding the closing of Abington public schools. Saint Bridget School will follow the Abington schools’ decisions. On delayed openings, full-day kindergarten will still be in session. Parents should use their best judgment in extreme weather conditions and are advised not to call the school.
We are committed to maintaining a safe environment for all students. Our bullying policy emphasizes prevention, education, and intervention to ensure that every student feels secure and supported.
If you have any questions about these policies or need further clarification, please feel free to reach out to the school office.
This Saint Bridget School Handbook, under the section dealing with newspaper articles, speaks of giving permission for student photographs to be used for publicity as well as the mechanism to rescind this permission. The policy as stated in the Handbook will apply to photographs posted on the website as well. The Handbook has been read, and the appropriate page has already been signed and returned to the school by the appropriate family members.
At this time, we want to remind you that we are posting photographs on the web site. This is to notify you that any child’s picture taken at a school event may be used on the school website. Your child may or may not be identified by his/her first name and/or first name with a last initial, depending on the photograph. At no time will any child’s last name be used. As these photographs will be updated frequently, you must understand that you will not receive a specific notice that your child’s photograph may be used on the website.
This year we’ve tried to add another layer of protection for our students with regard to photographs. Photographs on the St. Bridget School website are copyright-protected and will not be available for downloading.
As we all know, there are a lot of great websites available on the Internet, many of which are educational in nature. Unfortunately, there are also sites which are not appropriate for elementary/middle school students. At Saint Bridget School, the primary purpose of the Internet connection shall be education. It is vital that everyone who uses this connection understands that purpose.
Because of its enormous size, the Internet’s potential for research/education is great. With such potential for academics also comes potential for abuse. Online safety will be taught and stressed. Our goal is to promote intelligent use of computer/media technology. To that end, it is necessary to implement policies/practices designed to teach the appropriate use of media and information sources on the computer.
A copy of our basic policy will be kept in the homerooms of grades K-8. The most recent written policy will be kept in the computer room for your perusal. Consequences for misuse of the Internet or disregard for school policies may range from immediate removal from the Internet to suspension/revocation of all Internet privileges. Depending on the severity of the infraction, the principal may determine a suspension and/or an expulsion is necessary.
Saint Bridget School respects and supports the right of each family to decide whether or not their child should have access to the Internet at school. Parent/Guardian permission, through a signed acceptable use policy (A.U.P.), is required prior to access. Every student will need to return the last page of this form, even if the student is to be denied access by his/her parent. An A.U.P. which is not returned or is left unsigned shall have the same effect as an A.U.P. which denies access. Parent/Guardian signatures shall be checked with those on file; serious consequences will apply to students who choose to sign for their parents. Access will only be given to those students who have a current, signed A.U.P. and who agree to follow the rules as laid out in the A.U.P. as well as basic classroom rules. Access is a privilege, not a right, and as such entails responsibility.
All users of the Internet at Saint Bridget School, whether they be students, staff, or volunteers, must sign the A.U.P. and agree to abide by its rules prior to the granting of access. Communications on the Internet are often public in nature. Users are therefore expected to remember to act in a considerate and responsible manner as they are representing the school. Users should not expect privacy for files stored on school computers.
Individual student/adult users of any school computer, especially those with Internet access, are themselves responsible for the use/abuse of the computer and its programs or software. The use of information obtained via the Internet is at the user’s own risk. The school is not responsible for any damages suffered while on the computer. These damages may include, but are not limited to, loss of data, non-deliveries or misdeliveries of information.
Parents/guardians must understand that it is expected that students will only have the use of the Internet at school with the explicit permission of the teacher. Every effort will be made to provide adequate supervision, including the use of appropriate filtering software. Internet access can not be gained “by accident.”
Students who access, or attempt to access, the Internet at Saint Bridget School without the explicit permission of the teacher risk losing Internet privileges. For older students, computer room access outside of scheduled computer class time may also be lost. Repeated or severe infractions may result in a loss of user privileges. There are some uses of the internet, used by students on their home computers, which are not acceptable in a school setting. The principal is the final determiner of the appropriateness of any computer activity while on a school computer as well as the consequence for the misuse of this resource.
Students are responsible for good behavior on school computers, just as they are in the classroom, the hallway, the lunchroom, or the playground. In addition to general behavior rules, there are other areas of concern which will be addressed in this document. These areas are roughly organized into the following categories of Online safety, computer ethics, and “netiquette”:
Behavior:
Online Safety:
Netiquette:
If you don’t know how to do something on our computers, ask for help; don’t guess at how to do things. You are responsible for what you do on the computer!
Do remember your actions will reflect on the school as a whole and act accordingly.
Other policies will be added as necessary.
Classroom Internet Assignments
From time to time, students may be assigned a specific assignment which is to be done on the school computer. Regardless of which teacher, classroom or computer, is assigning the work, students are expected to complete the assignment to the best of their ability without intentionally wasting the limited resources of the computer/Internet. Students who can not do this may be forfeiting their use of the Internet. Students may be required to complete a worksheet based on a specific web site or series of sites. They may need to do a search of possible web sites centered on a specific topic. They may need to use the Internet as part of their research for a term paper for a classroom teacher.
Keypals Projects
If an individual teacher chooses to use the Internet for a keypals (i.e. pen pal) project, the following rules shall apply unless further parental permission is sought. Students are reminded that they should not expect that work stored on school network/computers will always be private.
Each student is reminded to never give out his/her whole name, address, telephone number or other identifying information while on the Internet.
Computer Ethics:
