Families

General Info

• Principal: Tiffany Curtis
• Assistant Principal: Carrie Tomberlain
• Secretary of Finance & Payroll: Ruth Medrano
• General Assistants: Kelly Vongviengkham & Christy Ostrander
• MNPS Family Information Center: (615) 259-4636

School Directory

School Pledge

Today is a new day

to show what I know.

I’m a leader, a learner

I’m ready to grow.

Working together, waiting our turn,

listening to others helps us all learn.

Things can be hard,

It’s good that I’m tough.

I’m full of ideas

and I know I’m enough!

Absences

Excused Absences

• Student illness
• Death in the family
• Religious holidays
• Family emergencies where the student is needed to assist with family responsibilities

Unexcused Absences

• Vacations are unexcused.
• Teachers are not required to provide make-up work for unexcused absences.

If your student will be absent, please notify our Attendance Team Lead, Ms. Kelly, at 615-885-8806, or scan the QR code to upload an excuse note. You may also send a written excuse to your child’s teacher upon their return.

Please Note

Parent or guardian-written notes will only be accepted for up to five absences. After five absences, a doctor’s note will be required for any additional absences.

If a student accumulates five (5) or more unexcused absences, a referral will be made to:

• The Metro Schools Attendance Office or
• The Attendance Review Board, affiliated with the Metropolitan Nashville/Davidson County Juvenile Court

Make Up Work

Students with an excused absence shall be provided the opportunity to receive assignments missed during the absence and to make up the work upon their return for the full grade. Make up work must be requested by the student or parent no later than three days after returning to school. The work should be turned in at a mutually agreed time frame between the teacher and the student. The attendance record is not changed when missed work is completed. At the Pre-K-12 level, students with unexcused absences shall not be given the opportunity to make up the work. A suspension is an unexcused absence, make up work may be granted by the teacher. 

Arrival & Dismissal

School begins at 8:10 AM. Students arriving after 8:10 are tardy and must be signed in by an adult in the office. Students are dismissed at 3:10 PM. Children must be picked up by 3:25 PM.

The following procedures are for the safety of you and your children. We respectfully ask you follow these procedures to ensure an orderly and safe arrival and dismissal.

• When facing the building, the right drive is used for car riders. Supervision is provided to ensure students follow safety procedures.
• The left drive is used for buses. Car riders are not allowed to be dropped off in this area. Parents using the left drive are required to park in a parking space and escort their child to the building.
• A hanging name tag will be issued for your child. You will need a hanging tag for each person/car that picks up your child. If you need additional name tags, please notify your child’s teacher or visit the school office.
• If you wish to park and walk up for your child to be dismissed with an adult walker, a name tag must be presented for your child to be released.

Birthday Parties

Due to health concerns, birthday treats must be scheduled with the teacher and arrive before your child’s lunch time. Birthday party invitations may not be given out at school, unless an invitation is sent for every child in the classroom.

Breakfast & Lunch

Breakfast and lunch are served daily at school, free of charge to all students.

Buses

A bus driver’s job is an extremely difficult task. The school makes every effort to support them in their efforts to be effective, responsible, and safe. Bus discipline is handled using progressive discipline. Should a driver bring a child into the office and file a formal complaint, the student is given a warning. Additional trips to the office will result in a gradual loss of bus privileges, and in some cases, students may lose the privilege of bus transportation for the remainder of the school year. Please be sure to read MNPS rules for riding the bus with your child, sign, and return the appropriate copy to school.

Conferences

The faculty is ready to discuss any concerns you might have about your child and his/her experiences at our school. To protect the instructional time of our students, please call and arrange a convenient time to meet with your child’s teacher.

Custody

Custodial parents are encouraged to provide the school with all current and relevant legal documentation showing any restrictions to a natural parent’s visitation. If this is not provided, a parent proving legitimate connection to a student has parental rights under the non-custodial legal provisions of access. This includes all student records and could involve release of the student, if we have not received documents proving otherwise.

Discipline Procedures

Each child in every classroom will come up with their hopes and dreams for this school year. From their hopes and dreams, classrooms will make up their specific classroom rules. Each homeroom teacher will send a copy of their discipline procedure home for you to review.

Our school-wide rules are: Be responsible, Be respectful and Be safe. When children make mistakes in following the rules, we’ll help them solve the problems caused by their mistakes through the use of logical consequences. Logical consequences are not punishments. There are ways to help children see the effects of their actions, repair the situation, and learn to do better next time.

There are three kinds of logical consequences:

Take A Break Area

If a child is being disruptive, she or he goes to a designated spot in the room to pull back together. The time-out is short. The child comes back as soon as she or he has regained control. Children may go voluntarily to the Take A Break Area to reset their mind.

Loss of privilege

If a child misuses a material or acts out during an activity, that child will be told to stop using the material or stop doing the activity for a short period of time. The privilege will be restored when the child and teacher have talked about how to prevent a similar problem in the future.

“You break it, you fix it”

If a child damages something or hurts someone’s feelings, she or he will try to fix the damage. In the case of hurting someone’s feelings, the child might offer an “apology of action” by writing a card, helping with an activity, making an illustration, or taking some other action beyond verbally saying “sorry.”

For repeated or particularly egregious offenses, the school administrators will determine appropriate actions to be taken.This year we are excited to continue to use Live School at Dodson. Live School is an app that helps us create a positive learning environment. Teachers can award points for good behavior and hard work, as well as document negative behavior and comments for parents to review. By working hard on a regular basis, your child will be able to earn rewards and participate in fun school wide events.

Early Dismissal

Early dismissals are highly discouraged, since teachers use every minute of the instructional day and early releases create a disruption for students. No students will be dismissed after 2:40. We do not accept changes in a child’s transportation over the phone; you must send a note to the teacher if there is a change. All parents and visitors must come to the office to sign a student out of school. Office personnel will then call the appropriate classroom and have the child dismissed to the office. Students will only be dismissed to adults listed on the student profile form. Anyone picking up a child must show identification.

Emergency Information

The Student Emergency Information card is extremely important. Current telephone numbers and emergency contacts are especially important in the event of an illness or emergency. Additionally, callouts and texts are used throughout the year to keep families informed about school events and bus transportation updates. Should contact information change during the school year, please notify the school office immediately, so that we may update our records.

Illness

Your child’s health is extremely important to us, and we need your help in maintaining a healthy environment for all of our children. Please be protective of your child and other children by not sending your child to school if he/she exhibits any of the following signs of illness: fever above 100 degrees, diarrhea, or vomiting. Any child with these symptoms must be kept at home a full 24 hours without symptoms before returning to school.

Personal Belongings Policy

To maintain a safe and distraction-free learning environment, all students must store purses and personal bags in their assigned lockers during the school day. Students may briefly secure their bags when going to the restroom if needed.

Medications

Reference MNPS policy # SP 6.129

A student may not take medication at school without written permission from the parent and a doctor on the medication form. Specific instructions of the amount and time of dosage must be clear, and they must match the label. The medication must also be in its original container. Medication forms are available in the office. 
 

Standard School Attire

• All shirts must have a collar (polo, dress-style, peter pan or turtleneck). Any solid color shirt is acceptable.
• Dodson T-shirts are acceptable.
• All pants, shorts, Capri pants, skirts, skorts or jumpers must be navy blue, black or any shade of khaki. Blue jeans without holes may be worn also. Cargo pants are not permissible.
• All clothing must be appropriately sized. Tightfitting, baggy or sagging shirts or pants are not allowed.
• Hoods are not permitted to be worn in the building. Bandanas, do-rags, hats and stocking caps cannot be worn in the building.
• Outerwear such as raincoats, windbreakers, cold-weather jackets and coats may not be worn during the school day.

Permission Statements

The MNPS District Student-Parent Handbook provides important information on student rights, discipline rules and procedures, and family resources. This site also provides information on important permissions your school needs to allow your child access to certain programs and equipment, or related to the information you wish to have publicly released about your child. It is important that guardians review and respond to these Family Permissions. 

Please follow the link, scroll down and click on permission portal to record your wishes. 

Textbooks and Library Books

Students are responsible for all textbooks, laptops, and library books issued to them during the school year. Students are not to write in or abuse any textbook or library book. Students should exercise care and caution with their computer, as this computer will be assigned to him/her for their entire elementary enrollment. Parents must pay for lost/damaged books and computers before another can be issued.

Phones, Toys and Valuables

Toys, games, trading cards (of any kind), headphones, fidget spinners, and other like items should not be brought to school unless requested by a teacher in writing for special purposes. If an item of this nature is brought without the teacher’s permission, the item will be held at school until picked up by a parent. At the end of the school year, all unclaimed items will be discarded. The school is not responsible for any toys that are lost or stolen. Cell phones must remain in your child’s backpack and turned off during the school day. Due to confidentiality rights, cell phones cannot be used to video tape on school grounds or on the bus. Phones will be confiscated if they are not in a backpack and/or not turned off. Repeated violations of this policy will require a parent or guardian to come to the school to retrieve the phone.