What is the best way to contact my child’s teacher?
If you want to get in touch with your child’s teacher, you can either phone the school and leave a message for him or her to call you. Alternately, a note in your child’s agenda is often a great way to communicate.
We advise not establishing contact with your child’s teacher via email, as important issues are always best dealt with in person, or at least on the phone.
What if my child needs to leave early?
Students are required, by law, to remain on school property unless excused by the principal, or with specific written direction from a parent. Given that, the following must be taken into consideration:
- A teacher may NOT excuse the student from school property. As long as the student is under the teacher’s care, the teacher is liable for the student’s safety.
- A student may NOT excuse him/herself from school property. As long as he/she is supposed to be under school supervision, it is not reasonable to expect the school to be responsible or liable if the school does not know the child has left school property.
- My mom said I could go out for lunch” will not be acceptable. Permission to leave school to go out to lunch on a day that a student normally remains at school must be received in writing every time this permission is granted by a parent/guardian. Since teachers do not have time nor opportunity to come to the office to field a phone call at any given moment, the only practical communication is a written note. Consider writing the note in the student’s agenda.
What do I do if my child is sick?
If your child is going to be absent from a day of school (yes, even if it is a Learning Community day, dance day, etc.), they will be marked absent, and this absence will be recorded to their Ontario Student Record. Please call the school at 905-383-3305 and leave a message stating your child’s name, teacher, class, and expected duration of the absence.
If your child does not show up for school, and we have not received a call from the parent, the Safe Arrival protocol says that we must assume that the parent does not know the child is absent, and that something may have happened to your child on the way to school. A phone call is made by the office to the home to let the parents know that their child has not arrived at school.
Please remember to call us before we call you. It makes everybody’s life easier!
Where can I find out if school is cancelled?
The board website at www.hwdsb.on.ca will have updates as will our Huntington Park website. Our experience, though, is that the following media have more up-to-the-minute information:
Radio:
- 900 CHML
- Oldies 1150
- 102.9 (K-Lite FM)
- 107.9 (Y108)
Television:
- CH Morning Live (Ch. 11, CHTV)
There is also a school cancellation hotline you can call at 905-521-2535.
Updated on Wednesday, April 25, 2018.