OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL CELEBRATIONS At Levine Academy, we strive to teach and live Jewish values in everything we do. To that end, we expect all Levine families will adhere to the following guidelines when having a party for Levine students outside of school (including birthday parties and bar/bat mitzvah parties): - We ask that you invite all of the children in your child’s class, or all children of the same gender. - Party invitations should be mailed; it is our policy that they may not be distributed in school. Addresses and phone numbers are printed in the School Directory. - In order to be inclusive, we request that you do NOT schedule parties on Shabbat or any Jewish holidays. Be mindful that Shabbat and Jewish holidays begin at sundown the night before and end one hour after sunset the next evening. For questions about times of Shabbat or Jewish holidays, consult the school’s calendar. (Of course, we do encourage Levine students and families to gather for the traditional celebration of Shabbat and holidays, and it is appropriate to invite Levine Academy families to a Shabbat meal or holiday celebrations.) - We also request that you respect the dietary laws of Kashrut when serving food by following our in- school dairy/pareve policy. SECURITY AND EMERGENCY INFORMATION At Levine Academy, our children’s safety and security are of the utmost concern. These are a few of our security measure initiatives: - Self-Locking Doors: All perimeter doors of the school are self-locking and only accessible with the use of a staff-security badge. - Raptor: All parents, guardians and visitors must be processed through the school’s Raptor Technology System—Raptor is a visitor registration system that reads drivers' licenses, comparing information to a sex offender database, alerting campus administrators if a match is found, then (assuming no match was made) printing a visitor nametag that includes a photo. - Badges: Parents are issued badges once cleared through Raptor. These badges must be worn at all times. If your badge is ever lost or stolen, please report it to the school so that we can immediately flag it and reissue you another badge. - Cameras: Every entrance to the building as well as the playground areas are being monitored by a video surveillance camera. - Security: An armed officer will be on-site during all hours of operation. This officer will be stationed at the entrance to the EC. Additional security guards will move throughout the grounds maintaining high visibility while carrying a radio, which affords instant communication with the School office and others. Blackboard Connect In March of 2016, we implemented a new alert and notification service. This service is called Blackboard Connect and enables us to communicate via mass text notifications about any emergency or inclement weather situations, school events and other important issues that may impact your child(ren). We will be able to reach everyone within minutes. Additionally, it is vital that all families have up-to-date contact information in My Backpack and that families turn in their emergency contact form. We must have all of your current telephone numbers and e-mail addresses so that you will not miss any important communications via Blackboard Connect. To help us ensure that we have your current information, we will send a test communication via email and text message just prior to the start of the school year. Maintaining ongoing effective communication with our parent body is very important to us and we hope this addition to our parent-school communication will further this goal. Inclement Weather School Closing In case of inclement weather, the decision concerning closing the school will be made by the Head of School. When major area public schools close for weather reasons, Levine Academy will be closed as well. You will NOT be called by your child’s teacher. Announcements will be made via email if school is
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