Attendance and Bus Notes
The attendance phone number is 315-826-7900 (Ext. 3 for secondary).
Below is information about arrival and dismissal, attendance, and transportation change requests.
Understanding Arrival and Dismissal
Drop Off and Pick Up at PCS
At Poland CSD, our primary goal is to keep all students safe. In order to do this, we have established procedures for morning drop-off and afternoon pick up from school.
Morning
All students who walk to school or are transported to school by a parent or guardian, should enter the building at one of two sites, unless the parent is accompanying the student inside the building. Parents who have a meeting or other business inside the building shall park in designated Visitor Parking and enter at the Main Entrance.
- Site 1 / Elementary Parking - This entrance is open at 7:35 AM each day and is for students in grades PK-5. Students who are eating breakfast should walk directly to the cafeteria. The only serving line is located near the vending machines in the hallway. Students who eat breakfast remain in the cafeteria dining room until the 7:45 AM bell rings. Students who enter at the Elementary Parking entrance who are not eating breakfast and who are in grades PK-5, should walk straight into the building and into the side door of the Main Library. Students are supervised by a school employee in this location until the 7:45 AM bell rings and students move on to classes.
- Site 2 / Outside the Cafeteria Doors - This entrance is open at 7:35 AM each day and is for students in grades PK-5 who are in the presence of older siblings and all students in grades 6-12. Students who are eating breakfast should walk directly to the cafeteria. For all students, the only serving line for breakfast is located near the vending machines and Scholarship Hallway. Students who eat breakfast remain in the cafeteria dining room until the 7:45 AM bell rings. Students who enter at the entrance closest to the tornado statue , who do not eat breakfast shall report to the Trzepacz Gymnasium. Students are supervised by a school employee until the 7:45 AM bell rings to announce the start of school.
Afternoon
All students who walk home from school or are to be picked up from school shall be picked up in two sites, unless the parent is entering the building. We use two sites to accommodate the volume of traffic. Students who do not specifically meet the grade level criteria noted are allowed access to the building; however the waiting sites are intended to place the students closer to the homeroom grade levels noted.
- Site 1 / Elementary Parking This pick-up is the designated exit for students in grades PK-5. Students who are walking home may leave the building unless they are detained by a PCS employee at the exit who has questions. Students in PK-5 should present a note to alert the supervising employee that this is the dismissal plan in place.
- Site 2 / Outside the Cafeteria Doors This pick-up is the designated exit for students in grades 7-12. Students who are walking home may leave the building at the end of the school day without a note from the school.
All students not using district transportation should be picked up by 2:45 PM. When a parent or guardian has contacted the school to alert us he/she will be delayed in picking up a student in grade PK-5, the student will be escorted to the Main Office for supervision needed beyond 2:50 PM.
Permission to Ride a Different Bus
When a parent or guardian seeks to request his/her child ride a bus other than the one assigned to his or her residence or his or her daycare site noted in the Transportation Office, the process has 4 steps. Questions about “assigned bus routes should be directed to Mr. Taylor, transportation supervisor at 315-826-0226.
- The parent or guardian shall write a note indicating that they seek transportation from a different bus route within our fleet. This note must include the date the note was written, the date of the intended change, the student's name, a phone number where the parent can be reached for verification (if this number is different than what the parent has communicated for use within School Tool , and the parent's signature. The district has established “Bus Notes” to make this process easier. These notes are available in print form from the school , or parents/guardians can click on "students/parents" at the top and click on "Attendance and Bus Notes" to print PCS Bus Notes at home. Any time a parent/ guardian comes to school, the parent/guardian may request “Bus Notes” from our sign in station. Parents/guardians may also send a note to school requesting more when the supply they have is close to depleted.
- Students in PK-5 are to present the “Bus Note” to the teacher who is designated as “homeroom” or where the student begins his/ her day. PK-5 notes are collected at 8:30 AM each day. The day the parent/guardian writes the note is the day the student should present the note to the homeroom teacher.
Students in grades 6-12 are to present the “Bus Note” to the the secondary office (Mrs. Rommel) before 11 AM. The day the parent/guardian writes the note is the day the student should present the note to Mrs. Rommel
NOTE: In all instances, we prefer students alert us when they forget to give a homeroom teacher a “Bus Note” or forget to leave the note with Mrs. Rommel than to wait until dismissal time.
- The school will review and verify the information received on the note. In most instances, if parents include the information in item #1, the note will be returned to the student.
PK–6 notes, once processed, are delivered to classrooms to allow students to know what to expect at the end of the school day. 7-12 notes, once processed, are most often delivered directly to students during the scheduled lunch period. When the school needs to clarify information, they review questions with PCS administrators or, more often, call the student’s parent or guardian.
- When the student has the verified note and dismissal occurs, PK-12 students must present the “Bus Note” to the bus driver.
At any time a student has questions about a bus route, which bus to board, or what the parent had planned for dismissal, we encourage them to speak with a staff member or request to call home.