School Policy Guide

Preventing bullying is a top priority. We encourage all students to report any incidents that they consider bullying and harassment so that our staff may begin to investigate and address the issue in a timely manner. Harassment forms can be found at any time on the Whitehorse website; students can also speak with any staff member to report incidents. If you as a family member have a concern, you can also fill out the form online or contact our School Psychologist, School Social Worker, or School Counselor at 608-204-4490.
 

Please call 204-4481 to speak with someone or leave a message regarding a student absence. Absences can also be reported online.

We encourage our students to exhibit Whitehorse Pride by adhering to the following 3 qualities in all environments: Be Responsible, Be Safe, Be Kind.

When students are not exhibiting these behaviors and are exhibiting behaviors that may cause harm and or disrupt the learning of others we implement the Behavior Education Plan, or BEP, our district-wide framework for discipline and consequences. We are committed to teaching and reinforcing appropriate and positive behaviors.

Additionally we implement Restorative Practices, Take a Break & Take a Break and Come Back, and a universal Tardy and Cell Phone Policy to support student behavior and learning. Our Behavior Response Team and Student Support Team are additional adults who support teaching and responding to behaviors.

All personal electronic devices (i.e. cell phones) that are not provided by the district should be powered off and stored in lockers. Students are not allowed to have them on their person for any reason. See the district one-to-one student device policy for more details about chromebook use.

Generally, students may dress in any style they desire and may present themselves in a way that is consistent with their identity, as long as their chosen attire does not cause a disruption or compromise safety in the school environment.

The following examples are intended to represent these limitations. Items not to be worn include:

• Clothing or accessories that cover your face, this includes tightening hoodies around the head and face
• Clothing or accessories that may be used as a weapon
• See-through clothing
• Clothing or accessories with statements or images that are vulgar, obscene, or promote illegal drugs, alcohol, sex, violence, or gang activities
• Clothing or accessories that expose undergarments or the buttocks
• Clothing or accessories with words, pictures, or caricatures based on stereotypes of a specific gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, or disability
• Clothing or accessories with Native American team names, logos, or mascots that depict stereotypes
   

Additionally:

• Clothing or accessories with sincerely held religious affiliations or purposes are allowed
• Shoes or footwear must be worn at all times

Students who are dressed in a manner that does not fit within these guidelines may be asked by school staff to change their clothing or address the dress code violation.
 

We value strong partnerships with families. Please consider the many volunteer opportunities and participate in our Family Forums. The name of our parent organization is ‘Connecting Whitehorse Families’ (cwfpto@gmail.com).

We have two bilingual resource specialists, Liana Diaz, who can assist families who have a Spanish language preference. She can be reached at 608-620-4201. Our second bilingual resource specialist, Seng Yang, can assist families who have a Hmong language preference, can be reached at 608-215-1192.

All annual fees will be available to view in the parent portal of Infinite Campus near the beginning of the school year. If you need fees waived, please fill out the Free or Reduced Lunch application.

Parents and guardians grant passive permission for all field trips unless they choose to opt their student out. In most circumstances you can expect to receive field trip communication two weeks in advance.

Students are not permitted to eat lunch or snacks in areas of the school other than the cafeteria. Parents or guardians may not drop off food for their children after their student’s lunch break; however, this may be permitted in special occasions or occasional unforeseen circumstances. Please bring this food to the main office and students will be paged to retrieve it at their assigned lunch time.

Parents and guardians are not permitted in the cafeteria. If you wish to eat lunch with your child for a special occasion, please call the main office that morning and make your request. We will call your child to the main office and provide you with a space to eat.

• Breakfast can be ordered daily and is brought to the homeroom.
• Lunch schedules are as follows: 6th grade at 10:13 (10:02 on Monday), 7th grade at 11:03 (10:40 on Monday), and 8th grade at 11:53 (11:18 on Monday).

We require all students to go to the health office for an assessment prior to calling home and asking to leave school. Given our policy of having cell phones off and away, phone calls will be made from the nurse’s office.

Please refer to the school calendar for parent/teacher conference dates.

Students who become ill during the day MUST be sent to the health office with a pass. All students going home during the school day due to illness will be processed through the health office. It is against school policy for students to communicate directly with a parent or guardian in case of illness without going through the health office.

Students leaving for any other reason will either need a note or phone call from a parent or guardian excusing them, or the parent will have to come into the office for verification.

Please note: only people on a student’s contact list are able to pick them up unless we receive notice from a parent or guardian.
 

Whitehorse and MMSD are focused on providing and maintaining a safe and secure environment for students. As a district we have adopted universal practices and protocols along with community stakeholders such as MPD, MFD, and others. You’ll find more information on district safety and security, including how we communicate with you in an emergency, at madison.k12.wi.us/safety.

We also note that families play a key role in school safety. You can access family resources for helping keep students safe.

Emergency situation procedures
Monthly unannounced fire drills are scheduled along with other safety drills that are done each semester. For the safety and sanity of our students, families, and staff, LOCKDOWN drills will be announced as we transition and become more familiar with the language and protocols of our Safety Response Procedures.

All students will be assigned a locker with a school issued lock already attached - these locks are school specific and all combinations are stored in the Main Office. A lock fee is assigned annually at the beginning of the year. In order to best secure student personal property, all personal property should be housed in the locker with the lock on it at all times. If a locker does not have a school issued lock on it, another lock will be issued. Students are responsible for their personal property and we encourage them to leave home any expensive or irreplaceable objects.
 

School Nurse - Vacancy
Social Worker - Deb Farrar Simpson
School Psychologist - Becky Fellman
School Counselor - Myrycale Danziger

Please be advised that six metro buses need space in front of our school to load and unload our students. The city prohibits stopping, standing or parking at the curb on school days from 7:10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. There is also no stopping, standing, or parking in the staff parking lot. Violators will be ticketed and towed if necessary. If you drop off/pick up your student, please be wary of these boundaries and drop your student off on Richard Street, which is right next to the school.
 

10-rider and 2-rider bus passes are available for sale before and after school in the main office. In the event that students forget or misplace their bus pass, the office can issue a 2-rider to get them home and back to school in the morning. The office will cap free passes at 1 per student, and any further passes must be paid for at the time of need. Bus routes for Whitehorse students can be found on the Madison Metro Transit website or in the main office.

On extreme weather days, we will make case-by-case decisions.