Helpful Hints for New Families

Welcome to Hales Corners Elementary (HCE)! We’re so glad you’re here. This page is designed to help new families get started with helpful tips, important information, and answers to common questions.

1. Get involved - There are so many opportunities to get involved at school, whether it’s helping out in your child’s classroom or at one of the many PTO events. Your kids love to see you helping out at school. It makes them feel proud to have Mom, Dad, Grandma or Grandpa in their space. All individuals must have a background check on file to volunteer at HCE. Please follow this LINK  to complete the application. If you’d like to get involved but don’t know how, contact PTO at hcepto@whitnall.com.
2. Check your child’s take home folder each day and read what’s coming home. The teacher, the office, and PTO send important information home in the take home folder.  The take home folder also gives you an opportunity to talk to your child about what he/she did at school that day, although don’t be surprised if they only want to talk about snack and recess.
3. Carpool drop-off and pick-up - For the safety of all children, all families who are not bus riders are required to use the carpool drop-off and pick-up guidelines as outlined by the school. K4 teachers and aides are available to help with K4 students at the designated drop-off/pick-up areas. Please do your part to get your child safely to school and keep all students safe. The following is the Video of drop-off and pick-up parking lot procedure and Morning & Afternoon Procedures.
4. Safety of all students is first and foremost. If you are entering the school building at any time during the school day, you will need to supply your Driver's License to the front office. This will allow the office to run your ID through the Raptor safety system for visitors. If you’re coming in the morning and bringing a birthday treat or a project, please stop in the office and they will make sure those items are given to the teacher or child.  Before school is not the time to have an impromptu meeting with your child’s teacher. They are busy getting ready for the school day and supervising our children. If you have a question or concern for your child’s teacher, he or she is very accessible by e-mail or phone.
5. Parent-Teacher Conferences will be scheduled online. Conferences with your child’s teacher take place in October and February. You will be receiving more information about scheduling conferences in late September/early October.
6. Lunch is an important time of the day for all students. If you would like to pick a special day to come have lunch with your child, you are welcome to do so. The school just asks that you notify the teacher by e-mail. Please also have your Driver's License readily available when checking into the office to be run through the school's Raptor safety system. If you would like to have hot lunch with your child, let the main office know by 9:00 am so they can add you to the lunch count for the day.
7. CLAS Postal Delivery is a fun time for your student to receive mail at school. We encourage you and other family members to send a card or a letter to your child and encourage your child to send mail to their friends. Everyone loves to get mail. Mail dates are in October, December, February, and May. Mail can be put in the mailbox outside the main office up until 9 am on the day of mail delivery. Classroom addresses will be listed on the back of the directory and are also available on the HCE website.
8. Absences - Attending school is key to student progress, growth, and achievement. When a student misses school, communication between the school and the family is critical. Communication about absences must take place through the Infinite Campus Parent Portal. This is the most efficient way to report a student absence or appointment. For more information please see our district website’s Student Absence Reporting page. If we do not hear from you regarding your student's absence, you will be receiving a call from the office to verify the absence. All appointments throughout the day will need to be logged into the Infinite Campus Parent Portal as well. A medical excuse from the Dr./Dentist can be given to the office to have the absence medically excused.
9. Attend HCE social events - The PTO sponsors great events for you to meet and get to know other families. Look for information to come home about these and other HCE events.
10. Try to attend PTO meetings - We’re all busy with work, family, sporting events, and activities but PTO meetings are a great time to learn more about HCE and ways to get involved. PTO meetings are held once every other month. They are held the third Tuesday in Sept., Nov., Jan., March, and May. Meetings start at 6:30 pm in the HCE library. All are welcome to share ideas or just come to listen to updates from Mrs. Komas, school and district personnel, and connect with other parents.