School Hours & Attendance

School Hours

Kindergarten 8:00 – 10:50 a.m. / 11:40 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Grades 1 – 5 8:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Transportation and lunch are provided each day that school is in session from 8:00 – 2:30 p.m. The school office is open from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Arrival at School

School begins promptly at 8:00 a.m. Children may begin arriving at 7:50. Early arrival, prior to 7:50, is discouraged except in unusual circumstances, in which case special arrangements for supervision must be made with the principal or teacher prior to the child’s arrival. There is no adult supervision of students before 7:50 a.m. or after 2:40 p.m.

Students are to line up for their classes outside the door nearest their classroom. These areas will be posted along with the class lists at the beginning of the school year. Students are not allowed to enter the building before school.

During severe weather, when school is in session, children will be admitted to the cafeteria upon arrival and supervised until the bell rings.

Attendance Procedures

Regular attendence is an essential part of a student's education. Students are expected to be in attendence every school day as required by state law and district policy. All absences have a negative effect, regardless of the cause of the absence or the attempts to make up work missed. Teachers cannot teach students who are not present, and instruction cannot be replicated with assignments to be completed outside of school. However, there are times when students must be away from school. Parents will be notified of excessive excused absences by letter. If excused absences continue, parents will be required to provide medical documentation to excuse student's absences. Further absences will involve a conference with the Attendence Advocate for Boulder Valley Schools and an attendence contract. An action plan will be developed to ensure more regular attendence.

Excused Absences as Defined by BVSD

If your child is absent, please call the Heatherwood attendance line at 303-447-5276 by 8:15 a.m. If your child is absent for a number of successive days, please call the school each day. A message may be left on the recorder from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. If the student’s parents or guardians will not be available for a period of time, a trip for example and alternate care arrangements have been made, please write a note to that effect for the office in case of any emergency. Please always notify the attendance clerk in the office of an absence, not just the classroom teacher.

Tardies

When a student is late in arriving at school, they need to sign in at the office and explain their reason for being late. Any student who accumulates three or more tardies in a trimester will be required to stay after school for 20 minutes on the day of the tardy arrival. During the day of the third (or more) tardy, the parent will be contacted to make arrangements to have their child picked up at 2:50 p.m.

Visitors to Campus

Adult visitors are welcome on the school campus. The safety of our students is our number one priority. For that reason, any adult wishing to visit the school, drop something off for their child, talk to the administration, or volunteer in the school, must sign in on the clipboard in the office upon arrival on campus and visibly wear a "Visitor" or "Volunteer" badge at all times. Adults not wearing a badge will be asked to sign in at the office. Adults should contact individual teachers to arrange appropriate visitation times. School administration reserves the right to determine the appropriateness of visits from individuals other that a parent/guardian. Students are not permitted to bring school age or younger guests to school.

Early Dismissals

When a child needs to be dismissed early for personal reasons, please send a note to the teacher including the date, time, reason for early dismissal and the name of the person picking up the student. Please sign the child out at the office prior to picking him/her up. The teacher will need a pass, obtained by the parent at the office, before he/she can release your child.

Regular Dismissal

School is dismissed at 2:30 p.m. Students who do not ride the bus need to be picked up by 2:40 p.m. There is no supervision after 2:40 p.m. and unusual circumstances require prior arrangements with the principal.

Going Home with a Friend

When a child has a parent’s permission to go to another person’s home after school, please send a note that is signed and dated, that includes your child’s name and their destination. If riding the bus, the note must be signed by someone in the school office or the child will not be permitted to ride the bus. Also, play plans must be made and confirmed before the child arrives at school. Telephone calls for this purpose will not be permitted.

Snow Closures

Stations notified in the event of school closings are as follows:

T.V. CHANNELS 4, 7, 9

BVSD Website

Please listen and watch the school closings carefully. The BVSD district announces two types of closures: Partial Closure (which mainly affects mountain schools) and Total Closure.

It is the responsibility of parents to decide if their child should attend school during extremely bad weather. A note or call from a parent to the school will always excuse late arrival or absence under such weather conditions.

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