Hamilton Elementary School

School Pictures will be made this Friday, September 8th at Hamilton Elementary School. Please dress your child accordingly! Thank you!!!

Enjoy your long weekend and stay safe!

September has officially been designated as School Attendance Awareness Month 2023. During this special event in our state and nation, real emphasis is being placed on building greater student engagement, public awareness, and family support for school attendance efforts.

Hamilton Elementary: HES parents/guardians/grandparents may setup an appointment with their child's teacher to come and have lunch with their child at school. There will be a limit of two children per class per day that will be allowed to have guests on campus for lunch. The home room teachers will be your contact to setup an appointment for lunch with your child. Each child will be limited to having two adult parents/guardians/grandparents join them for lunch. Each child will only be allowed guests for lunch one time each semester between September 15th and the end of school. Guests are asked to arrive at the beginning of their child's lunch period and to leave campus immediately when the lunch period ends. When arriving on campus, you will need to sign in at the office before going to the lunchroom. You will need to sign out through the office when your child's lunch period is over. It is perfectly ok for you to bring outside lunches as long as the items are packaged in containers containing no restaurant logos. Also, if you were to bring a soft drink or such, the label would need to be removed or covered up. These are USDA lunchroom guidelines that we have no control over but need you to adhere to. Thanks for your help and for taking the time to visit your child at school.

A Message from Superintendent Ann West: Due to the excessive heat forecast for the next few days, please help your child avoid dehydration by having them drink plenty of water.

💉Flu shots will be available to all Marion County students (except those with PEEHIP BCBS) on September 12th. Consent forms will be sent home soon. Please return them to your school nurse if you would like for your student to receive the flu vaccine. 💉

HES parents, we are off to a mostly smooth start to the school year! Thank you! We do need your help in the afternoons, however if you pickup your child from the car pickup line. For obvious safety reasons we need you to follow the school staffs' directions as far as pulling up and stopping. If you are the first vehicle in line to stop in front of the gym, we need you to pull on down to the cone located by the staff member who is located under the big tree in front of the gym. Don't stop at the awning where the kids are located, but pull on down if you are the first two or three vehicles. Also, for safety reasons, we need you to remain in your vehicles at all times during pickup. Your child should enter your vehicle from the driver's side as quickly as possible. Thank you for providing grace to our staff as we load your children as safely and quickly as possible!

HES Parents, thank you for a very smooth start to the school-year. We are looking forward to helping your children learn as much as possible this year. A few things that will be different this year in order to make our campus safer for both our students and staff: 1) The gates on the parent and bus drives off HWY 17 have been moved to the top of the hill. The gates will be locked during the day and opened each day at 2:30 pm. If you arrive before 2:30 pm, please line up only in the entrance lane on the Parent Drive on the right and keep the exit lane clear. Once the gates are opened at 2:30 pm, you will pass through them, veer to the right and start forming two lines just as you did in past years. Do not use the bus lane as it is for buses only. 2) PreK, Headstart, K students and their older siblings will be dropped off in front of the office area each morning beginning at 7:25 am. Please don't arrive before 7:20 so that teachers can get to their parking spaces. All other students will be unloaded in the back next to the lunchroom. For safety reasons, parents need to remain in their vehicles during both drop off and pick up. 3) PreK students will still be picked up next to the awning by the Annex Building. However, after today, instead of entering off of HWY 17, you will need to enter the area from 10th AVE, stay to the right and circle back down to the pickup location.

We are looking for substitute bus drivers!

Great news for the coming school year!!! Marion County Schools will participate in the Community Eligibility Program. The CEP program is a PILOT program for the 23-24 school year that allows all enrolled students to eat breakfast and lunch at no cost! CEP is based on the overall economic status of our regional area. NO free or reduced applications will be needed from parents this school year. No action is required by parents for students to eat free. Please note the first complete meal is free, however extra plates or items must be purchased. All visiting children, adults, and employees will be required to pay for meals. www.paypams.com is still available for anyone that wishes to add money to his or her child(ren)'s accounts. This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

Here are a few tips to get you back into a school routine!

School will resume for Marion County students tomorrow, August 9th, and motorists will be sharing the road with school buses once again. Please allow additional time in your daily commute to accommodate more traffic, including buses, on the roadways. Our Transportation Department operates with our children’s safety as its number one priority. Please help them keep our children safe by keeping a watchful eye for school buses and being mindful of the law which pertains to them.

Great news for the coming school year!!! Marion County Schools will participate in the Community Eligibility Program. The CEP program is a PILOT program for the 23-24 school year that allows all enrolled students to eat breakfast and lunch at no cost! CEP is based on the overall economic status of our regional area. NO free or reduced applications will be needed from parents this school year. No action is required by parents for students to eat free. Please note the first complete meal is free, however extra plates or items must be purchased. All visiting children, adults, and employees will be required to pay for meals. www.paypams.com is still available for anyone that wishes to add money to his or her child(ren)'s accounts. This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

HES students in K-3 who accepted the invitation to the ARI Summer Reading/Math Camp will begin on Monday, June 5th. The camp will run Mondays thru Thursdays from June 5--June 27. The school will be closed on June 19th. Drop off will be next to the gym each morning at 7:30 a.m. Pickup will be next to the gym each day at 12:15 p.m. Please be on time to pickup your child each day. Third grade students will attend on June 28 if they need to take the ACAP Supplemental Reading Assessment. The 4th grade students who accepted the invitation to attend Summer Math Camp will start on Monday, June 12th. No breakfasts or lunches will be served. Students may bring money to purchase a snack each day or they may bring their own from home. Most snack items cost $1 each. Chocolate candy bars cost $2 each. Thank you!

Sign up to be a substitute! Please follow this link for more information: https://www.mcbe.net/page/employment-information

Support Positions are available. Please follow this link for more information: https://www.mcbe.net/page/employment-information

HES Parents, we intend to start the Spring Fling Fun Jumps at 10:45 am (rain or shine if only light rain and no thunder/lightning). If you plan to attend, we ask that you bring a towel for your child to dry off in case he/she gets wet. In the event of moderate/hard rain at 10:45, we will start as soon as the weather allows. Thank you.

The HES Music Program is sponsoring a talent show tomorrow. Students will be able to attend during school for $3 each. Parents/guardians may attend for $5 each. There will be three performances: 11:30 am (PreK-1 will attend), 1:00 pm (2-4 will attend), and 6:00 pm. (Open to the community) Thanks for your support of the HES Music Program!

HES parents, we need your help and input! Please click on the link within this message and complete a short Title I Parent Survey. Thank you! https://tinyurl.com/3ufy75wz

We are aware of the social media post concerning a threat made to schools in a neighboring county. To our knowledge, there have been no threats made to Marion County Schools. However, our local law enforcement has been made aware of the situation, and our schools will operate on a soft lockdown today only as a precautionary measure.