5300 Highway 162 South Covington, Georgia 30016 | Phone:(770)784-4987 Fax:(770)784-4988

Only one item is more important to the staff at Rocky Plains Elementary than educating your child and that is the safety of your child. We wish to treat your child, with regard to safety, as we would our own. In order to enhance safety, everyone must abide by the following:

1. Only the front door to the school lobby will remain unlocked during the school day. All parents/visitors must enter via this door and report to the office.
2. When parents check students in or out of school, they must come to the office and bring picture identification. The office will verify the ID and then call for the student via the intercom. Check outs after 2:00 p.m. are not permitted.
3. Parents will not be permitted to phone the school to change a child’s afternoon method of transportation home. Instead, the school will need a signed and dated note, with phone number for verification. A faxed and signed note with a phone number for the Rocky Plains office to verify, will also be accepted. A phone call will be made to verify the home/business number given. All transportation changes must be made before 2:00 p.m.
4. Parents should be acutely aware that students dropped off prior to 7:15 a.m. will not be supervised and thus, the school administration prohibits this practice.
5. Tornado drills, fire drills, and lock down drills take place periodically.
6. Parents that are visiting in the building for any reason, including check-outs, must park in a parking space. Cars are not permitted to park in the front lanes of the school.

We believe that our learning environment should be free from any distractions in the classrooms. Therefore, we do not allow our students to wear extreme hair styles, baggie pants, tank tops, or pants with writing across the rear, as these distractions impede the learning process at Rocky Plains. Our students will also adhere to the dress code restrictions set forth by the Newton County School System.

Parents should accompany students arriving after 7 :45 a.m. to the desk in the lobby, to sign their child into school. Students will receive a tardy pass to give to their teacher. Parents/guardians or designated persons checking students out of school must come to the office and bring picture identification. The office will verify the identification with the parent’s “permission to pick-up form” and then call for the student, via the intercom, to come to the office. The person checking the student out must sign the check-out register. The person checking out the student may not go to the classroom to get the student. Students checked out after 11 :30 are not considered absent. In order for your child to be counted present for the entire school day, he/she must remain at school until 11 :30 a.m. or the equivalent of 3 hours and 30 minutes.

For safety reasons, check-outs after 2 :00 p.m. are not permitted. Five unexcused tardies and/or unexcused check-outs will result in an unexcused absence. Please refer to the Newton County Elementary School Handbook section of the agenda for detailed information concerning the attendance policy and penalties for tardies and check-outs.

Please contact your child’s teacher or the school secretary before your child’s last day at our school.
Also, inform the teacher or secretary of your future destination. All outstanding fees must be paid and your child must return all textbooks and library material before his/her withdrawal is complete. Rocky Plains would like at least 24 hours notice to complete the withdrawal form. Your child will take a copy of the withdrawal slip to his/her new school. All records will be forwarded at a later date, upon notification of enrollment from the receiving school.

Field trips are planned to enhance the instructional program of the school. A permission slip signed by a parent/guardian is required. Parents are invited to attend; however, seating on the bus is limited, so parents may have to provide their own transportation. To offset the cost of a trip, donations are requested. A child will not be denied access to a field trip due to an inability to pay. In the event the lunch hour falls during a field trip, a sack lunch will be provided by the cafeteria, which parents must pay for, as usual. For the safety of all, children must use school transportation to and from the field trip destination. Check-outs, after field trips are over, are not permitted. Siblings are not permitted to attend field trips and may not, for liability reasons, be transported on a school bus.

Rocky Plains Elementary has limited parties to twice each year, which includes one at the end of 1st Semester (Winter holiday party) and one at the end of the year. Individual student birthdays may be recognized with unopened store bought cupcakes, provided by parents during lunch, if so desired. Birthday parties are not to be held in the classrooms, in order to protect instructional time. Invitations to birthday parties are not given out at school. (Note: Food brought for special events must be unopened in store-bought containers. Homemade food, cake, etc. is not permitted.)

Students are responsible for the care and possession of the textbooks that are issued to them for the school year. If a book is lost or damaged, the student will be charged for the damage or loss based on the following:

New Book: Full Price
2nd Year: Deduct 25% from price of new book
3rd Year: Deduct 50% from price of new book
4th Year: Deduct 75% from price of new book

Our school has clubs (excluding clubs involved in competitive interscholastic activities), under the direction and control of the school which are organized, and meet based on common goals, objectives, and activities.
The school sponsored clubs that are or have been in operation are listed below and provide you with pertinent club information. State law requires that the parent/guardian has the right to withhold permission for their student to join or participate in any school sponsored club organization, with which they object. For your convenience, a form is included in this student handbook, for your completion, in regard to this purpose.
If, in the future a club is added, you will be sent information on the club and will be required to complete a form giving your permission for your student’s participation in the new club.

Students who are never absent, tardy or checked out early, for a full nine weeks, receive NBA All-Star Certificates and go to the NBA Party. Their pictures are displayed on the “Wall of Fame” in the school hallway. Students who are present all day, every day, for the first half of the year, get a free ticket to the Alcovy High School Basketball Game Event, where they are recognized for their achievement.

The school sponsored clubs (excludes clubs involved in competitive interscholastic activities) at our school are:

D.A.R.E.: Sponsored by : Newton County Sheriff’s Office/Covington Police Department
4-H: Sponsored by: Newton County 4-H
Jr. Beta: Sponsored by: National Jr. Beta Club
Student Council: Sponsored by: Rocky Plains Elementary Faculty

The purpose of each individual club is to build character, promote leadership roles, and to enhance civic and social involvement.

Newton County grading periods are nine week sessions. Please carefully review your child’s progress and contact the teacher if you have any questions. Please remember that report cards will be held due to student fees not collected for library books, cafeteria charges, textbooks, fundraisers, or student pictures.
Report cards will be sent home with your child on the following dates:

October 23, 2008    January 15, 2009    March 26, 2009    May 29, 2009

Students at Rocky Plains are recognized for A Honor Roll and A/B Honor Roll in grades 3-5, in accordance with the guidelines found in the Elementary Handbook for Newton County Schools. Honor Roll students are recognized each semester. Look for their accomplishments to be noted in the local newspapers.

Student agendas are an integral part of the process of communication between teachers and parents. Teachers and parents are expected to review the agenda daily. Teachers may make comments daily about a student’s performance or behavior in their agenda. Students will copy down the homework assignments. Parents are expected to sign the agenda each day and check their child’s homework. Agendas will be given to students in grades K-5. Lost agendas cost $5 to replace.

In the event of an illness, injury, or emergency, the school must have on file current information, which includes current address and telephone numbers. Each child’s record must have an emergency contact person and an emergency phone number. In the event that you move, change employment, or change telephone numbers or contact people, you should notify the office immediately.