Thank you for your interest in The Schoolhouse. The staff is excited and committed to making your child’s first school a safe, positive, and self-esteem building experience. Our goals are:

• To encourage the development of the whole child through integrated, hands-on activities and projects which make learning meaningful.
• To allow children to explore and experiment with their world at their own level of development.
• To enhance creativity in thought and action.
• To encourage problem-solving and higher-order thinking skills.
• To strengthen each child's sense of self.

We do not discriminate with regard to race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, physical handicap or sex in accordance with K.S.A. 44-1009.

Class Times and Tuition

Pre-K class

• MWF: 9:00-11:30 AM
• Monday thru Thursday: 9:00-11:30 AM
• Monday thru Thursday: 12:30-3:00 PM

3 and 4 year olds

• T/Th: 9:00-11:00 AM
• T/Th: 12:30-2:30 PM

Summer Schedule (June & July)

• T/Th 9:00-11:30 AM

Tuition is due the first school day of each month. The fees are:

• Mon-Thurs 4 day rate: $160 per month
• MWF 3 day rate: $140 per month
• T/Th 2 day rate: $110 per month
• Summer rate: $120 per month

A reminder note will be sent home if the payment is not received by the third school day of the month. A $10.00 charge will be assessed to all returned checks. Due to fixed monthly expenses, there are no credits or make up days for classes missed.

Tuition is divided into nine (9) EQUAL payments throughout the year for your convenience. Holidays, breaks, and professional days are considered when determining the annual tuition of each of our offered programs. There are no prorated months allowed. We must have a 30-day written notice if for any reason you need to withdraw your child from any of our programs, or you will be obligated for the next month's tuition payment.

Arrival / Dismissal

Arrival time is the first ten minutes of class. Dismissal is the last ten minutes of class. Parents or a designated driver must sign in and out each child. If on a specific day your child is to leave with someone other than you, car pool person, or the day care provider, a written note must come from the parent stating the details. This note should be given to one of the teachers when your child arrives at school.

If you or your daycare provider has a car/van load of children and needs help with drop off or pick up, please call the office ahead of time so we can assist you.

Late Pickup Fee

If possible please call if you are going to be late in picking up your child. A late fee will be assessed of $10.00 after the first fifteen minutes past class time and then an additional $1.00 per minute. Payment will be given to the teacher who is in charge of your child and should be paid by the next class session.

Supplies Needed

The child’s belongings should be clearly labeled (coats, hats, gloves, school bag). A LARGE school bag or backpack labeled with your child’s name ON THE OUTSIDE is essential to store the child’s belongings and school projects. Small bags are cute, but not very functional.

Enrollment Forms

IMPORTANT

All preschool enrollment forms must be completed and returned by the first day of class. Enrollment forms include: 1) Registration Form, 2) Health Form w/ doctor's signature & Immunization Record, 3) Emergancy Medical w/ notarized signature. The doctor's health assessment must have been made no earlier than March 1st of the year your child enrolls. If your child was enrolled the previous year, your forms are still current for this year.

Discipline

Discipline will be carried out in a positive way with explanations given for the correct behavior to be displayed at school. If misbehavior continues, the child will sit in the time-out chair for no longer than five minutes. When time-out has been used the child’s teacher will notify the parent and discuss the situation. The most common tool we use at The Schoolhouse is redirection. By keeping a watchful eye on the classroom, the teachers can anticipate potential confrontational situations and give children alternative play. Punishment, which is humiliating, frightening or physically harmful, is prohibited.

Relationships & Interactions among Teachers and Families

Teachers work in collaborative partnerships with families, establishing and maintaining regular, ongoing, two-way communication with children's parents to build trust and mutual understanding and to ensure that children's learning and development needs are met. Changes in a child's physical or emotional state are reported to parents regularly. The teachers would appreciate parents notifying them of changes at home.

Staff or parents may request individual meetings throughout the year to discuss any difficulties that arise. Teachers and parents work together to make decisions about how to best support children's development and learning or to handle problems or differences of opinion as they arise.

Children enrolled in our three and four-year-old classes are not "formally" evaluated. We feel this puts unnecessary pressure on a child of this age and their parents! However, during October your child’s teacher will contact you by phone to tell you how your child is adjusting in school. Your child’s teacher will also have a phone conference in February to maintain communication on your child’s progress. If you have questions at other times during the year please contact the teacher. Maintaining good communication is very important to a successful school experience.

Scheduled contact with parents of the Pre K groups is as follows:

1. A parent/teacher conference in November to tell you how your child is adjusting accompanied with a written evaluation on your child’s social/emotional growth.

2. A conference with the parents in March accompanied by a written evaluation of the child’s social, motor and cognitive development.

3. An occasional short note from the teacher telling you how your child is doing.

Again, if problems develop at other times during the year you will be contacted.

Parent Participation

If you have an interesting career, hobby, or talent that you would like to share, we encourage you to do so. As you receive the newsletter perhaps you’ll think of something that could enrich our themes.

You are encouraged to visit the school anytime. Most parents want to see what their child does at school and how he/she relates to other children and teachers. You might visit on your child’s Happy Helper day or just stay someday when you bring him/her to school. But . . . we caution you that your child may act differently when you’re here.

We also have a parent night. A letter will be sent home notifying you of the specific date and time. During parent night students and parents will be invited for an exciting evening of preschool. The main purpose of this night is for you to enjoy your child in his/her school environment and meet your child’s new friends and their parents.

Toilet Trained

Your child must be toilet trained to come to The Schoolhouse. (Pull ups count as diapers!) We realize children at this age sometimes have potty accidents. If your child has a consistent problem, we will notify you and work together for a limited time. In the office we have a selection of pants, socks, underwear and shirts. The teachers will change a child’s clothes as discreetly as possible.

Newsletter / Calendar / Snack Time

Our main line of communication with you is through our monthly newsletter and calendar. It will be filled with important information. Please read it carefully and post the calendar in a convenient place for you and your child to review during the month.

Included on the monthly calendar is the activity for the day, and the "Happy Helper," a child assigned to bring snacks and juice. This is a "job" the children love. We provide napkins, and cups. Kansas State Law K.A.R. 28-4-434 B requires that 100% full strength fruit or vegetable juice must be served. I realize children love Squeeze-Its and other fruit flavored juices but your teacher must serve the 100% juices and will send home fruit flavored drinks. The Schoolhouse will keep a day worth of 100% juices on hand to serve at snack time. A friendly reminder note will be sent home if you forget to send the snack or juice that will ask you to replenish our supply closet.

Every year it seems the number of peanut allergies incrreases. Therefore, we ask that you do not send any peanut products. We recommend the Happy Helper bring a nutritious snack for the class. Some suggestions are graham crackers, pretzels, bite-size fruit, and animal crackers.

At snack time we practice good manners. We begin each meal with a transition song and the "God is Great" prayer. Children are asked to say "please" and "thank you" when it's appropriate.

Birthdays

Birthdays are special at The Schoolhouse. These special days will be worked into the snack schedule as close as possible. We don’t forget summer birthdays either. We call them "half birthdays". On the calendar the birthdays look like: Susan BD or Susan HB. Treats for birthdays may be more festive and you may send appropriate cups and napkins if you like. Please don’t send cupcakes for the three-year-olds as they are sooooo messy!

Holidays

The Schoolhouse observes all Olathe Public School holidays. These are: Thanksgiving, Winter Break, Martin Luther King Day, President’s Day, Spring Break. Please check our monthly calendar for these scheduled school closings. On bad weather days, we will be closed if the Olathe Public Schools are closed.

Illness

We appreciate knowing when a child will be absent. We need to know about illness, especially infectious diseases. We follow the Kansas State Child Care Licensing policy. Therefore, your child should remain home if:

• Child's fever has been above normal in the previous 24 hrs.
• Child has been on antibiotics for less than 24 hrs.
• Child has a rash or infected areas on the skin.
• Child has liquid stools or has vomited in the last 24 hrs.
• Child has heavy green nasal discharge.
• Child has a constant cough.
• Child has red, watering or draining eye

If you have any questions, please feel free to call us.

Pets

Because some children have allergies to certain pets and other children are fearful of animals, we don’t allow pets inside The Schoolhouse. An alternative we recommend is arranging with the teacher to have a parent or guardian waiting outside the school with the pet at the time of dismissal. Teachers can announce this to the class and allow the parents and children to make the decision together to see the pet.

Field Trips

The Schoolhouse has in-house "field trips". We invite the Olathe Police Department, the Olathe Fire Department, local dental hygienists and eye doctor to The Schoolhouse. These groups have put together very age appropriate and informative presentations, which the children enjoy.

Class Directories

Each year the The Schoolhouse sends home a class list containing the names, addresses, parents names and phone numbers of each student in your child’s session. Because we live in the information age, this personal information is sometimes too readily available. For this reason, I would like to give all parents the opportunity to choose whether or not to list their phone number and address. Please contact Sharon Steinhauser by phone or in writing if you DO NOT want your child’s address and phone number listed in the directory by September 18.