New Family Guide

Summer Main Office Hours
9:00am – 3:00pm (office closed for lunch 12-1pm)

School Year Main Office Hours
7:30am -3:30pm

School Hours 2020-21

8:00am – 3:00pm

• 7:45am — students enter classrooms, after check in at Gateway
• 8:15am — Check-in Gateways close

Typical School Hours

8:00am – 3:00pm (8:15am-3:15pm Pre-K)

• 7:30am — Before School Care
• 7:45am — K-6th students enter classrooms
• 11:45am — 1/2 day Pre-K ends

Typical Beyond the Bell
3:00-6:00pm

Typical Vacation Care hours
8:00am- 6:00pm

General Inquiries during the Summer

• Contact the Main Office office@pmfs1780.org

Contact the Main Office (office@pmfs1780.org)

• To report an absence, by 9 am (note that parents need to also send a written note or email office@pmfs1780.org for the absence to be excused. Read the attendance policy for more info.)
• For all things related to transportation and dismissal:
  • By 1:30 pm to change daily dismissal plans
  • To communicate about daily or long-term transportation changes
• To leave a message for a child
• To leave a message for a teacher
• To get help with the website

Get Help with Beyond the Bell

• To register for Beyond the Bell, contact the Main Office office@pmfs1780.org
• To discuss Beyond the Bell monthly billing, activities, or curriculum, contact BtB Director Gladys McLendon at beyondthebell@pmfs1780.org

Get in Touch With your PTO

• For event information or volunteering, contact 2020-21 PTO Co-Clerks Trina Berk & Erin Schmitt 

Discuss tuition payments or other financial issues

• Contact Patsy Morningstar, Bookkeeper (patsym@pmfs1780.org or x233)

Discuss admission, re-enrollment, or financial aid, or increase Pre-k days of attendance

• Contact Joyce Colzani, Director of Admission (joycec@pmf1780.org or x226)

Discuss special events, gifts to PMFS or alumni relations

• Contact Ralph Henninger, Director of Development (ralphh@pmfs1780.org or x224)

Discuss matters of concern

• Contact the classroom teacher(s) (see the Faculty & Staff Directory)
• Contact Genevieve Schmidt Camacho, Coordinator of Student Care (genevievesc@pmfs1780.org or x254)
• Contact the Educational Care Team at edcareteam@pmfs1780.org
• Call Brenda Crawley, Head of School (brendac@pmfs1780.org or x250)

• Mark down the dates on the 2020-21 at-a-glance calendar (rev 11.6.20)
• Subscribe to the PMFS online calendar
• Read all about the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) … which you’ve just joined by joining PMFS
• Get ready to volunteer; read about Volunteer and Chaperone Requirements and get your clearances at pmfs1780.org/parents/school-forms

During the school year, buses from more than twelve school districts drop off and pick up children at PMFS. Also, many parents drive children to and/or from school. Moving all our students from home to school and back again, all the while knowing how, when, and where they are going, is a big job. It is a job that PMFS does well because we (PMFS staff, faculty, and parents) work together at it. Here is what you need to know to be part of this operation.

How It Works Day-to-Day

Communication is the key to daily safe and efficient arrival and departure for all PMFS students.

At the start of the school year, the school will ask you for your child’s regular transportation schedule to and from school. Using this information, PMFS makes a master list of all students’ transportation schedules. This roster is used to get children where they need to be at the end of each school day (to the appropriate bench to wait for a bus, the blacktop to wait for a parent, Beyond the Bell, a music lesson on campus…).  

This roster is modified daily based on information you give us by phone or email with any changes to your child’s regular schedule. (We cannot rely on a child’s verbal assurance about their plans.) Changes might include such things as an early pick-up for a doctor’s appointment, going home with a friend, or “dropping in” for Beyond the Bell. The information, contained in an email to the Office and their teacher or phone call to the Office, will go onto the class’s daily attendance and transportation report (at PMFS we call this the Blue Note). The class sends their Blue Note to the office, which maintains dismissal schedules for the day. 

• Busing Logistics
• Sign up for Busing (complete by June 10) –PMFS will request busing on your child’s behalf, and will be in contact with families with any additional requirements by your school district.
• Drop-off and Pick-up Procedures
• Beyond the Bell (Before and After School programs)

PMFS is currently reviewing these procedures, to adjust them for 2020/21 and best practices with COVID .

It is important to understand state and school requirements and complete required forms. Please note that, as per Commonwealth of Pennsylvania requirements, all students must provide the school with proof of up-to-date vaccinations by the start of the school year, or risk exclusion from school on day 6 of school.

• Read all state requirements, download all forms at pmfs1780.org/parents/school-forms (the Health & Medical section 🙂 )
• Read the PMFS 2019-20 Medication Policy and learn how to get permission for your child to take medication (over-the-counter or prescribed) while at school.