Dear Parents and Guardians,

It is with great pleasure that I welcome each of you to the new school year! The faculty and staff at Rutherford are excited that we will have the opportunity to work with you and your child this year. Please do not hesitate to let us know when you need something – we are here to help in any way possible.

Here are a couple of pieces of information that will assist in ensuring the success of the school year and will help keep the students safe. The hours of the school day are 7:55 a.m. to 2:55 p.m. Students may enter the building at 7:15 a.m. and are considered tardy if they are not in their classroom at 7:55 a.m. For the safety of the students, please do not drop off any children at the school earlier than 7:15 a.m. All students must enter the building from the front, so please do not drop any students off in the back parking lot by the Rec Center or the side parking lot by the tennis courts. Students should be let out of the car in the drop off zone directly in front of the school.

Breakfast is served from 7:15 a.m. to 7:45 a.m. If a student is eating breakfast, they will proceed directly to the cafeteria upon entering the building. When students choose to eat breakfast at the school, they must follow the cafeteria guidelines and behave appropriately. They will be expected to sit in the next available seat as they exit the serving line, so please ask older siblings to stand in line next to their younger siblings if they need to sit by them.

Students who are not eating breakfast will need to go directly to the gym for Winning Walkers or the cafeteria for Rockin Readers when they are dropped off. K-3 will go to Winning Walkers on Tuesday and Thursday & Rockin Readers on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. 4th & 5th grade will go to Winning Walkers on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and Rockin Readers on Tuesday and Thursday. The classroom teachers will pick them up from these locations at 7:45 a.m. and will escort them to the classroom. Parents may not wait in the cafeteria or the gym with the students. Children who come into the school between 7:45 a.m. and 7:55 a.m., they will need to go directly to the classroom. Please do not leave your car unattended in the parking lot unless it is parked in a parking space.

Dismissal is at 2:55 p.m., and it is imperative that we work together to make sure all students are kept safe and the dismissal of all of the students runs as smoothly and as quickly as possible. In order to help facilitate this process, only day care buses and school buses will be allowed to pick up students from the parking lot by the tennis courts. Therefore, there will be no parent pick-up from the parking lot by the tennis courts. All students will be picked up or released to walk home from the front of the building.

Again, it is imperative that no vehicles are left unattended in the parking lot unless they are parked in a parking space. The exterior lanes are to be used for dropping off children. The middle lane is used to help us load children into the far lane. Please do not pick up or drop off in the middle lane. It is used for safety.

I am anticipating great things for each of the students at Rutherford Elementary for this school year. The success of each student hinges on the partnership formed between home and school, so I want to express my gratitude in advance for your efforts.

 Sincerely,

 Holly Grubbs
  Principal