Drop Off
School starts promptly at 8:30 a.m. Free breakfast is served starting at 7:55 a.m. for all students who wish to eat, and there is supervision for students in the Lunchroom starting at that time. Parents of 2nd and 3rd graders may wait with their children in the Auditorium until 8:20 when students go up to their classrooms with their teachers. Families bring K/1 students to their classrooms, while 4th and 5th grade students go up on their own using the entrance on Hudson near Grove street.
Pick up
Dismissal time is 3:10 p.m. Kindergartens and first graders are picked up at their classrooms, 2/3 students are dismissed from the auditorium and 4/5 students are dismissed from the gym. Students who are not picked up promptly must wait in the Main Office for their parent or caregiver.
Parents who linger with children in the gym to play inside in cold weather must wait until 3:20 to play, and leave the school premises by 3:45. Parents who take their children to play on the roof after school must leave by 3:45, as the after school uses the roof starting at that time.
Late Passes
Those arriving late miss out on morning activities as the school day starts and disrupt the class. Also, attendance is an important factor considered by middles schools when evaluating students for admission so for many reason, it is important for children to arrive on time. However, if on occasion you child arrives after 8:30, he or she must go to the office and receive a late pass to bring to their teacher.
School Bus
Information regarding yellow school buses and public-transportation passes can be obtained from the Main Office. Children taking the bus home are dismissed slightly early by their teachers and gather in the Hudson Street vestibule. A school aide brings the K/1 bus riders down and is responsible for seeing that all children get on the correct bus. Please remember that it takes a while for the bus routine to stabilize and for the drivers to become familiar with their routes. Parents of younger children may prefer to wait a couple of weeks until routes and times become regular before using the service. Please note that drivers cannot wait for children in the morning, nor leave a child if there is no adult at the bus stop in the afternoon. You should get to the bus stop early. If possible, introduce yourself and your child to others at the bus stop, make sure that a parent will stay with your child if you are delayed, and offer to do the same. In recent years, drivers have been enforcing Bureau of Transportation rules which state that non-bus children will not be allowed on the bus to go home with friends after school, and that children carrying class pets will not be allowed on the bus. Also, any child who is issued a public-transportation pass will not be allowed on the yellow school buses. For more specific information on whether your child qualifies for yellow school busing, please speak to a staff member in the Main Office.
City Bus Passes
Depending on how far the family lives from school, students may qualify for a free metro card. Contact Raquel in the office for more information.
Lunch
Soon after the start of school, all families are required to fill out a Board of Education Lunch Form for each student. Please fill out the form even if you know you do not qualify (simply write “not interested” across the financial-information area and hand it in). For those who do qualify, lunches are free or discounted. The Lunchroom is on the basement level (accessible by stairs at the rear of the Gym and to the left of the stage in the Auditorium). It has long tables, a new washroom, and a complete kitchen where breakfast and hot lunch are available both on a regular and an occasional basis. Information on pricing and payment options are available in the Main Office. Breakfast and lunch menus are posted each month in the Main Office. If they prefer, children may bring their own lunches to school each day in a lunch box or bag labeled with their name. They may buy milk in the Lunchroom or bring their own beverage, which should not be in a glass container. Any child who forgets or loses his/her lunch will be provided with a meal in the Lunchroom. Check with your child’s teacher for snack policies, times and schedules, which vary from class to class. When a class is away on a field trip during the lunch period, the teacher will make advance arrangements for bag lunches to be provided for students who are signed up for hot lunch.
Lunch/Recess Period
Students have a 25-minute lunch period and a 25-minute recess period. Because the Lunchroom has to accommodate so many students, lunch periods stretch from 10:40 to 12:30. Children eat with their grade level. The Lunchroom is staffed with one or two school aides, and we rely on parent volunteers to provide additional help.Parents are strongly encouraged to assist at lunch and recess whenever they can, whether regularly or occasionally. The younger children need help learning the system, washing their hands and opening their containers. Older kids benefit too from the presence of additional adults. It’s also a good opportunity for parents to get to know a lot of kids fast and to become a familiar face.
During good weather, recess is held in the rooftop play area on the second floor. When the temperature drops, or when the surfaces are wet or frozen, recess takes place in the Gym. Here, again, parent participation is essential and appreciated. The Lunch/Recess Committee holds workshops to train parent volunteers.
Bullying
PS3 has a “no bullying” policy. We believe this behavior is best addressed by building a strong, respectful community. If your child experiences bullying, the first step is to consult his or her teacher who is usually in the best position to evaluate the situation. For more suggestions on how to deal with this serious issue, check out the “How to Bully-proof Your Child” page under the About tab at the top of this website.
Health Matters
- Families of all new students are required to submit the School Health New Admission Examination Forms, filled out by their pediatrician. Board of Health regulations state that any child who is not up to date with immunizations will not be permitted to remain in school. This is form NYC 205, and should come with the child’s registration package. Please make sure it is returned to the nurse’s office.
- When your child is sick, she or he must stay home for 24 hours after the last incident of either fever or vomiting. This helps your child, and all the kids at school, too.
- If your child has asthma or allergies, please notify the nurse so she can have medication on hand.
- If your child needs medication year-round (or emergency medication for allergies, for example), the family must bring the medication with a NYC Form for Medications (#504). You can get the form from the Nurse. The Nurse CANNOT dispense medications of any type with out this form.
- Temporary medications (antibiotics, for example) should be taken at home.
Emergency Forms and Contact Information
At the beginning of each year families are asked to complete a “blue card” for each student. This contains contact information and a list of adults permitted to pick the child up from school. It is extremely important to return this promptly and to notify the school secretary if any of this information changes.
Absences and Early Pick Up
If a child is absent, it is important to send in an absence note with the dates and reasons when s/he returns to school. If a child has a serious illness or is going to miss more than a couple of days of school for any reason, it is important to notify the school.
If a family needs to pick up a child before the end of the school day because of illness or any other extenuating circumstance, the child must be signed out in the Main Office.
Communication and School Contacts
There are many systems in place for disseminating information.
Backpack Mail – Most handouts regarding school matters (such as special school schedules, field trips, health advisories) are sent home via ‘backpack mail.’ Please be sure to check your child’s backpack daily and respond promptly when a response is called for.
Teacher emails - Many teachers now send home a weekly update or e-mail, listing the highlights of the previous week and upcoming events.
Class parents – In each class, several parents are designated to serve as liaisons between the parents of their child’s class and the PTA. They can be a helpful resource when you have questions.
Terry’s email home - In addition, the Parent Coordinator has instituted a weekly e-mail note home listing important dates and other timely information important to the PS3 community. if you want to receive this, CLICK HERE to add your name to this list or sign up through the link on the “News” page of this web site.
Posters – Notices of events and committee meetings will also be posted around school.
Bulletin Board – Times and locations of meetings that take place on a regularily are posted on the bulletin board in the lobby along with contact information for committee heads, SLT members and Executive Board Members.
Minutes of the monthly PTA meetings – A quick perusal of the PTA minutes will help keep you up to date on what’s going on around school as well as future events and important issues. They are posted on this web site on the Parent Teacher Association page under the Get Involved tab of this website.
Facilities
The exits on the Grove Street and Bedford Street sides of the buildings are for school bus access and emergencies only. All parents and caregivers enter the building via the Hudson Street lobby. You are asked to show your ID card to the School Safety Officer at the desk, even if the officer knows who you are. Cards can be obtained in the Main Office.
Though the facility is old, it has been upgraded and maintained, and the custodial staff works with zeal to keep the building clean and safe. In recent years we’ve seen major renovation of our auditorium and our playground. The exterior has undergone a major repair, some floors have been replaced, the exterior and the interior have been repainted, the front and back stairwells rebuilt and the climate control system upgraded. Currently we are undergoing renovations to our stairwells with more work replacing floor tiles continuing into the summer recess.
The Parent Room
Room 408 serves as a gathering place for parents, a meeting room, a mail room for PTA officers, the Afterschool headquarters, and a resource room. Our parent coordinator, Terry also works from this room when she isn’t out and about within PS3. Parents and caregivers are welcome to stop by to seek information or solutions to problems. If you need a space for a meeting, talk to Terry about availability.