Gore Public Schools
1200 North Highway 10
Gore, Oklahoma 74435
2023-2024
PARENT/STUDENT HANDBOOK
GORE PIRATES
COLORS: MASCOT:
Kelley Green & White Pirates
Strive to engage and challenge every student’s education today for tomorrow
http://www.gorepublicschools.org
Grades 6-12
Phone: 918-489-5587
Fax: 918-489-5664
ADMINISTRATION & STAFF
Superintendent Lucky McCrary
High School/Upper Elementary Principal James Bliss
Counselor Carmella McFarland
Special Education Director Kristi Myres
Administrative secretary & Encumbrance Clerk Belinda Madding
Activities Accounts & Federal Programs Teresa Craighead
Upper Elementary Secretary Arlene Wilkinson
High School Secretary & Registrar Trinity Hobbs
Child Nutrition, Personnel Attendance Clerk, Treasurer Jill Thornton
Transportation Director Lucky McCrary
Athletic Director TW Estes
BOARD OF EDUCATION
Cody Sloan – President
Lester Keathley – Vice President
Ryan Hoog – Clerk
Gary Cunningham - Member
Jeremiah Perryman-Member
SUPPORT PERSONNEL
Cafeteria Custodian:
Jill Thornton
Nancy Johnson Rick Shry
Theresa Davis
Natasha Campbell
Moment of Silence/Pledge
Each school day will begin with a moment of silence and the pledge. Students may opt out of the pledge.
State Mandated Observance Days
The school will meet all mandates on required days.
ABSENCES & ATTENDANCE
Attendance
MAXIMUM DAYS MISSED
- Oklahoma State Law requires that all children under the age of eighteen (18) attend school. Gore School Policy requires students be absent no more than four (4) days per quarter (9 week period).
- Students who have over ten (10) absences at the end of each semester will be given a grade of NC or no credit on their report card and transcript. A student with a failing grade will still receive the failing grade, regardless of how many days were missed by the student.
- Extended absences resulting from serious illness or injury must be substantiated by a physician and will be determined on an individual basis
- An absence is an absence regardless of excused or unexcused. Excused absences simply allow the school to know the student is not truant.
- Attendance Appeals Committee- Any student that goes over ten absences in a semester will automatically receive an NC or no credit for the class. A student may opt to appeal this to the Attendance Appeals Committee. The student and guardian will meet with the committee to plead their case as to why the student missed so many days of school. The committee will then vote. Appeals may be made to the committee for extreme cases such as major surgeries, extended hospital stays, catastrophic illness, immediate death in the family, etc. Documentation must be provided.
DISTANCE LEARNING INSTRUCTION
Student/Parent requests for distance learning will be made to the principal. These requests will be granted on a case-by-case basis. Medical documentation may be required. School administrators/teachers will monitor students weekly. If a student becomes ineligible for one week the student/parent-guardian will be notified. If the student continues to be on the ineligible list the student/parent-guardian will be notified. A meeting may be scheduled with a school administrator to determine an appropriate placement to help identify the problems with distance learning instruction causing academic failure. A recommendation that the student return to traditional instruction shall be made if continued lack of progress, lack of completed assignments, failing grade(s), or failure to log on to delivery platforms. Students may only transition to distance learning one time in a quarter unless a medical necessity is provided (documentation) and approved by the principal.
If a student is placed on distance learning due to a medical necessity it will be a case-by-case situation. The student may be asked to provide medical documentation to transition to distance learning.
All HS/UE students involved in long term distance learning (more than two weeks) will need to take their classes via the schools’ Edgenuity/e2020 format unless there is a valid reason (determined by the principal) as to why they cannot do this. Students on distance learning that plan on participating in an OSSAA activity will need to be on campus for one class period (the period of their activity) of the school day to be eligible per OSSAA guidelines.
ABSENCES
- Notification of Parent and District Attorney: If a child is absent without valid excuse four (4) or more days or parts of days within a four week period or is absent six (6) or more days or parts of days within a semester, the attendance officer shall notify the parent, guardian or custodian of the child (by mail) and immediately report such absences to the district attorney in the county wherein the school is located for juvenile proceedings pursuant to Title 10 of the Oklahoma Statutes (70-10-106). The attendance officer will also repeat the process stated above after eight (8) or more absences.
- Activity Absence
- School activities which are cleared by school administration.
- Field trips, school sponsored trips, athletic competitions, etc.
- Days missed for activity absences will not count toward the ten (10) days missed.
- Students will be able to make up all work without penalty.
- Students should not expect an activity absence for programs not associated with this school.
APPEALS FOR ACTIVITY ABSENCE
Students may request more activity absences, the student must obtain the appeals form and follow all directions. The form must be turned in with ample time for the committee to meet and make a decision (2 weeks is suggested), the principal will fill out information concerning the students attendance, behavior and academic standing.- Arranged Absence
- Student may take up to five (5) days of absence by arrangement per semester. (Student may not exceed more than ten (10) per semester)
- Parent or guardian must submit a written request for the student to be absent at least two (2) days prior to the absence.
- Days missed by arrangement will count toward the ten (10) days allowed per
Semester.
- A student may make up all work missed without penalty. It is the responsibility of the student, on the day of return, to make arrangements to make up missed work.
- Students must check in at the office upon returning to school after an absence.
F. College Days
1. Students are encouraged to visit the college campuses of the schools they are interested in attending.
2. Juniors are allowed two (2) college visitation days and seniors are allowed three (3) days.
3. Student must make appointments at the schools of their choice to arrange tours and/or visits with the college staff. These appointments are made with their office of High School & College Relations or the College Admissions office.
4. Student must notify the high school attendance officer prior to the college visitation day.
5. Student must obtain written documentation of the visit from an employee of the college or university. (A short note on the college’s letterhead or on the back of the employee’s business card with the date and his/her signature will provide said documentation.)
6. This documentation will be submitted to the attendance officer upon returning to school so the absence will be recorded as a College Day.
7. College Days are not counted as days absent.
8. It is the student’s responsibility to make up all work missed for College Days.
9. Students must check in at the office upon return to school from an absence.
J. Any teacher who takes students on a trip sponsored by the school will provide the principal with a list of all participating students in advance of the trip. This will entitle each student to a “Do Not Count” admit which permits the student to make up the work.
K. Truancy: An absence without the knowledge and consent of the parent or guardian and building principal will be considered truancy. The term truancy will include instances when the student leaves school without the permission of the principal or when the student is physically present in school but does not report to class. Excessive tardiness and early checkout will be treated the same as truancy.
Student Arrest
When an officer with police authority comes to the school for the removal of a pupil by arrest (legal warrant), the pupil will be released to the officer. The school will make every effort possible to notify the parents that the officer has removed the pupil from the school. The school will record the name and title of the arresting officer so follow-up attempts by the school or the parents may be facilitated. An officer is allowed to come to the school for the purpose of questioning a pupil. The interview must take place at the school and in the presence of school personnel. Until a pupil is under arrest, he/she is under jurisdiction of the school, and the school is responsible for him/her.
A student at Gore Public School may be subject to suspension for violations or regulations covered by civil and school laws of Oklahoma.
MAKE-UP WORK
A student entitled to make up assignments will be given two (2) days in which to make up assigned work missed for each day absent. If absent two (2) days, the student will have four (4) days to make up all class assignments and homework. Make-up work should be turned in as completed. The student may not wait until the last day to turn in all assignments after an extended absence. It is the student’s responsibility to come to the teacher to make inquiries concerning work missed. If a student is absent and a test is given, the teacher will decide when to administer the test. Assignments given which are due for a prolonged (example next week) period and the student was present when assigned cannot expect to not be held accountable for lack of work in the class expecting to be given extra time.
TARDIES
Definition of a Tardy: A student not in the classroom and his/her assigned seat after the second bell has finished ringing. (Except a student that has a valid pass from an authorized school employee. Teacher discretion should be used to determine if the pass is valid or the elapsed time between writing the pass and arrival in class is justified.). Students checking out of class early will be counted as tardy. Students 25 minutes late will be counted absent.
Attendance Rewards
Each building will provide awards and special recognition for perfect attendance at the end of each nine weeks. Perfect attendance is defined as no absence and not more than two tardies in any class period.
Tardiness is a Category 1 Offense. If a student acquires three tardies in a semester, it will constitute an absence and could lead to failure of the class.
- Being on time is an important habit to form. The break between classes gives ample time for all students to reach the next class if they do not loiter on the way.
- A student late to class will be marked tardy. If a teacher detains a student in one class, the teacher should give a written explanation of the tardiness for that student to present to the next teacher, so that the tardiness will be excused.
- Excessive tardiness (3) will be called to the attention of the principal.
D. Three (3) tardies will equal one (1) absence and will count toward the ten (10) absences allowed by Gore Schools. Leaving early from a class also is a tardy
E. After a student is tardy three times in a nine week period, a disciplinary referral will be sent to parents.
Students may be assigned a 7:00 A.M. detention on the 3rd tardy or lunch detention.
ADMIT SLIPS
After tardy bell rings, teachers will list the tardy (25 minutes late equals an absence, leaving early from a class also is a tardy) on their daily attendance. On the third tardy the teacher will place a referral (the day of the third tardy) in the Principal's box with tardy dates listed. Students will report directly to class after signing in at the office when tardy.
NOTES
- All contacts must include information about the need to keep work caught up within the time limits and the need to keep the school informed.
- School Laws of Oklahoma, Article X and Section 400 provide the legal background for school attendance.
Exemptions
For Co-Curricular and Extra-Curricular events that allow students to advance to a higher competition the following exemption for the 10-day absence rule will be in effect. After the initial contest, if a student has achieved the proper score or placing to go on to the next level of competition, the days of the next level of competition will not count against the student’s ten days of absences. The principal will notify the staff as to the days to be exempted for each student.
Also, the following can be exempted after review by the principal.
- Leadership Training Activities – i.e. congressional Pages, Hugh O’Brian Workshop.
- Field Trips – class related co-curricular
- Scholastic Examinations –i.e. NMSQT/PSAT, Achievement
- Administratively Controlled Intro-School Activities – i.e. School Day Pictures, School Assemblies and other necessary activities which cannot be taken care of during the activity period.
In the event a student has a special need to miss more than the allotted 10 days, he/she may come before the attendance committee and make such a request. However, a student will be granted additional absences from class only if the student has a “B” average or higher in all of his/her subjects and maintains an acceptable pattern of behavior within and outside the classroom. In no case will the committee grant more than five (5) additional days.
Since the Gore High School is held strictly accountable for adherence to this statute a student who violates the rules of this policy will receive a failing grade for the semester in all subjects in which he/she had gone over the allowed time.
HALL PASSES
A student will not be released from school at times other the regular dismissal hours except with the principal’s permission or according to the campus sign-out procedures.
A parent must call if a student must leave during the school day. A student who becomes ill during the day should, with the teacher’s permission, report to the principal. The principal will decide whether or not the student should be sent home and will have the student’s parent notified.
TRUANCY
A student may serve one day of suspension and/or ISS for each hour they are truant from school.
The Principal will enforce appropriate discipline consistent for all students.
ACCREDITATION
The Oklahoma State Department of Education accredits Gore High School.
ACTIVITIES & SCHOOL CALENDAR
All school activities are to be placed on the School Calendar. The requests for placing events on the school calendar are found on the school website. The Principal will approve the calendar requests before they are posted. No activities are to be scheduled for Wednesday evening or Sunday without special permission. Athletic events are not to interfere with parent teacher conferences without prior approval. Activities may be found on the school website.
BULLETIN BOARDS
Bulletin boards are maintained in the hall to inform students and teachers of coming events. This is for official use and nothing is to be posted without permission of the Principal. Groups which place informational not are required to remove all tape/staples etc. one day after the event.
JUNIOR/SENIOR PROM & other functions
The Junior/Senior Prom is a formal occasion. The dress code for the Prom is that of formal dress and the Gore High School dress code for decency will be in effect. When selecting your clothing for these occasions please remember to keep it within the dress code or you could be denied access to the event. All guests must be pre-approved by the principal and have been placed on the guest list by Thursday at 3:30 p.m. preceding the event. If a student brings a guest not on the list, he/she will not be allowed to enter the event. All school rules apply to all extra-curricular events. Students may pick up Prom guidelines from the Jr. and Sr. Class Sponsors.
FUNDRAISING
Student clubs or classes, outside organizations, and/or parent groups may occasionally be permitted to conduct fund-raising drives for approved school purposes. An application for permission can be found on the school website. These requests must be made to the Principal and be approved by the Gore Board of Education before the fundraiser may take place. Except as approved by the Superintendent or Board of Education, fundraising is not permitted on school property.
EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES, CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS
Participation in school and school-related activities is an excellent way for a student to develop talent, receive individual recognition, and forge strong friendships with other students. Participation is a privilege. While the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Association (OSSAA) governs many of the activities. State laws as well as OSSAA rules govern eligibility for participation in many of these activities. Students participating in all extracurricular activities are subject to drug testing and under the guidelines of the school handbook.
A student is allowed up to ten absences from a class during the school year for extracurricular activities or public performances. All OSSAA activities and other activities approved by the Board are subject to these restrictions. A student who misses class because of participation in a non-approved activity will receive an absence.
Please Note: Student clubs and performing groups such as the band, choir, drill, and athletic teams may establish codes of conduct and consequences for misbehavior that are stricter than those for students in general. If a violation is also of school rules, the consequences specified by the Student Code of Conduct will apply in addition to any consequences specified by the organization
CEILING TILE REWARD
All students that make straight A’s for a semester will receive a ceiling tile. The student will have the opportunity to decorate the ceiling tile with artwork and will also include a motivational message with the artwork. All artwork and messages will be approved by the principal. The ceiling tile when completed will be hung back up in the hallway. A maximum of one tile per school year can be attained.
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