HandBook

The mission of Dickinson Area Catholic School is to mold students into examples of Christ. Each child can learn and has a unique contribution to make to the mission of the Roman Catholic Church. We provide students with a comprehensive educational opportunity by integrating challenging academics with Catholic teachings. Together with the family we strive to instill in our young people, qualities that will enable them to become successful productive Christian adults.

United States Department of Education Exemplary Elementary School

Since 1970, Dickinson Area Catholic School has worked to provide for its students academic excellence and an education in Catholic doctrine and living in relation to society and government. For this reason, DACS was chosen as one of 272 Exemplary Elementary Schools by the United States Department of Education in 1986. This nationwide competition identifies distinctive elementary schools which are meeting their respective goals as well as the standards of quality applicable to elementary schools generally.

History of Dickinson Area Catholic School

Dickinson Area Catholic School, as it is known today, traces its origin back to 1948. It was in March, 1948, that Bishop Thomas L. Noa gave permission to the American Martyrs Parish to build a grade school. Ground was broken in June, and the cornerstone was laid on September 26, 1948, the feast day of the American Martyrs.

This school was the first parochial grade school built in Dickinson County and only the second school built in the Marquette Diocese in forty-five years. The doors opened in September of 1949 to four grades of students, and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet staffed the school. During the ensuing four years, one grade was added each year.

One hundred thirty students were present on opening day. The first graduation, which was held on June 13, 1954, consisted of forty-four pupils. The school continued to grow over the next ten years. In 1964, the American Martyrs Parish celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary. At that time, there were 230 pupils attending eight grades of school. Also in 1964, students from Queen of Peace Parish began attending the school. The school remained open until 1970.

Approval was given by Bishop Noa for the construction of a grade school in the St. Mary and St. Joseph Parish in April, 1953. Six classrooms were ready for the 1954-55 school year, and six additional classrooms were opened when the second floor was completed the following year. When the school opened on September 6, 1954, three hundred students were enrolled. The Dominican Sisters of Adrian, Michigan, staffed the school. In the fall of 1956, a lay teacher, Mrs. Fred Clarke, was added to the staff. An eighth grade was added in 1956, but there was still no first grade. Enrollment grew to 337 students in grades 2-8. In 1959, enrollment ballooned to 407 students. The smallest classes that year were the seventh and eighth grades with 46 students in each class. The largest class was the fifth grade with 57 students. In 1963, a second lay teacher was hired, Miss Ravelli. Also, there were 400 students enrolled in 1963. In 1967, a third lay teacher was added to the faculty, Mrs. Catherine Rubbo.

In 1954, the cornerstone was laid for the Immaculate Conception School. In September, 1955, the school opened for grades one through three. Fourth through eighth grades were added in ensuing years. The Sisters of the Holy Ghost from Techny, Illinois, staffed the school when it was first opened. Later the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis from Manitowoc, Wisconsin, staffed the school.

In 1970, the three schools and four parishes merged to form Dickinson Area Catholic School. At the start, the seventh and eighth grade students from Immaculate Conception attended school at St. Mary and St. Joseph. Later, grades 1-3 attended the Immaculate Conception building and grades 4-8 attended the St. Mary and St. Joseph building. In 1975, a kindergarten class was started. In 1986, DACS was chosen as one of the 272 Exemplary Elementary Schools by the United States Department of Education. In 1988, the decision was made to move all grades to one location – the St. Mary and St. Joseph building. In 1993, with the permission of Bishop James Garland, a Developmental Kindergarten was started.

Admissions Policy

Dickinson Area Catholic School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, national and /or ethnic origin in admitting students or in the administration of policies and programs.

Dickinson Area Catholic School Board of Education

Dickinson Area Catholic School is governed by a nineteen member school board composed of twelve laymen (3 each from Queen of Peace, American Martyrs, Immaculate Conception and St. Mary and St. Joseph parishes), four pastors, the administrator, a teacher representative, and a Booster Club representative. The DACS Board of Education approves the operating budget and has responsibility over all phases of the school’s operation. The administrator, teacher representative, and Booster Club representative are non-voting members.

Meetings of the DACS Board of Education are held on the third Tuesday of every month at 7:00 p.m. unless published otherwise. Meetings are held in the AV Room at DACS. The public is invited and encouraged to attend school board meetings.

DICKINSON AREA CATHOLIC SCHOOL

BOARD OF EDUCATION MEMBERS

Non-Voting Members

W9536 Aspen Court 802 A. Peterson Memorial Drive N3066 Quinnesec Lake Antoine Rd

Dickinson Area Catholic School Faculty & Staff

Pre-Kindergarten................................................................................................................. Mrs. Jona Braden

Kindergarten............................................................................................................... Mrs. Michelle Mattson

1^st Grade................................................................................................................................. Mrs. Laurie Moln

2^nd Grade................................................................................................................................... Mrs. Marci Ellis

3^rd Grade........................................................................................................................... Mrs. Sheila Bertrand

4^th Grade.......................................................................................................................... Mrs. Luanne Lohfink

5^th Grade....................................................................................................................... Mrs. Barbara Torreano

6^th Grade Homeroom, Middle School Math & 6^th gr. Religion................................ Mrs. Cathy Menghini

7^th Grade Homeroom, & Middle School Language Arts...................................... Mrs. Marianne Gardner

8^th Grade Homeroom, Middle School Social Studies, 7 gr. Religion......................... Mrs. Sheila Caswell

Principal............................................................................................................................. Mrs. Patricia Covitz

Secretary.............................................................................................................................. Mrs. Kathleen Bal

Bookkeeper/Hot Lunch Coordinator.............................................................................. Ms. Kathy Carlson

Head Custodian............................................................................................................ Mr. William Allbaugh

Part-time Custodian....................................................................................................... Mrs. Diana Allbaugh

DICKINSON-IRON INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL DISTRICT PERSONNEL

Social Worker.......................................................................................................................... Ms. Pam Witter

Teacher Consultant................................................................................................................. Donna Cerasoli

School Psychologist................................................................................................................ Sarah Marshall

School Psychologist............................................................................................................... Emily McKenty

COMMUNITY SCHOOLS PERSONNEL

Reading, Math & Computers............................................................................................... Ms. Annette Bal

Reading & Math......................................................................................................... Ms. Germaine Edwards

Science/Health....................................................................................................................... Mrs. Bo Winkler

Art (PK - 8^th Grades)....................................................................................................... Mrs. Julie Grosskopf

Science, Band, & Music.............................................................................................. Mrs. Nancy deKoster

Physical Education (PK - 8^th Grades)................................................................................. Mr. Richard Olds

Spanish (PK - 8^th Grades)................................................................................................. Mrs. Penny Milkey

IRON MOUNTAIN PUBLIC SCHOOLS SHARED-TIME PERSONNEL

Tech Ed................................................................................................................................. Mr. Chad McCole

Algebra I.................................................................................................................................................... IMHS

Speech Therapy....................................................................................................................... Ms. Sara Davis

Title I Educational Assistant...................................................................................... Mrs. Sandy St. Aubin

Dress Code

The dress code of Dickinson Area Catholic School strives to reflect good taste, neatness, cleanliness and Christian modesty. Students reflect pride in themselves and their school by the way they dress and act.

All boys should wear khaki or dress pants and a collared shirt. Boys may not wear T-shirts, sweatshirts, shorts, jeans, sweatpants or wind pants. Girls should wear blouses, dressy tops or sweaters, capri pants, dress pants, skirts, skorts, culottes, or dresses. Girls may not wear T-shirts, sweatshirts, shorts (including Bermuda shorts), jeans, sweatpants or wind pants.

Bermuda length shorts may be worn during the months of August, September, May and June. Shorts must come to the knee for boys and girls. Additionally, skirts, dresses, skorts or culottes must come to the knee.

Middle school students may wear any type of sandals with the exception of flip flops. If students in grades PK-5 wear sandals, they must have a back strap.

If there is a violation of the dress code, students in grades 1-5 will miss recess that day. Students in grades 6-8 will serve a 7:00 A.M. detention on the following Tuesday. Parents will be notified if their child’s clothing is inappropriate.

Statement of Religious Instruction & Participation in Religious Activities

Dickinson Area Catholic School is proud to be affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. All students are instructed in the teachings of the Church on a daily basis in their regularly scheduled religion classes. Additionally, Catholicism and Christianity are discussed freely and openly in any subject as appropriate. Also, students in grades 1-8 attend Mass on Fridays at 8:10 a.m. at St. Mary & St. Joseph Church.

It is a policy of Dickinson Area Catholic School that all students, regardless of family/personally held beliefs, must participate fully in all religious instruction and activities with only the following exceptions: students who are not Catholic are not allowed to participate in the Sacraments.

Beginning of the Day Prayers & Pledge of Allegiance to the United States’ Flag

Students at DACS begin the day with prayer and recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States’ Flag. These activities are done to foster a Catholic community of faith and a spirit of patriotism to the United States of America.

DACS Traditional Subjects

At DACS, the basics and their importance are considered essential in preparing students for future higher-level learning. Students at many schools simply do not spend enough time learning the traditional subjects. At DACS, much time and effort is devoted to teaching students to master reading, writing and mathematics. Additionally, students spend time learning social studies and science with special emphasis placed on Catholic and Christian contributions to these subjects.

While every effort is made to ensure that sufficient time is devoted to traditional subjects, certain time is reserved f or subjects discussed in the succeeding sections.

Computer Lab

DACS has a 24-unit computer lab. A Computer curriculum was adopted in August of 1999 and revised in May of 2003.

USE OF THE COMPUTERS AT DICKINSON AREA CATHOLIC SCHOOL is a privilege, not a right. All students registered at DACS will be given a network account and applications appropriate for their grade level and course selection.

An account is created by giving students a username consisting of first initial and last name. Passwords are given to accounts in grades four through eight. Students are responsible for the security of their accounts.

Any user shall be required to abide by and conform to generally accepted rules of computer use guidelines. DACS staff shall monitor all networking activities and be directly responsible for enforcement of this agreement. Students shall be required at any time when asked to display and reveal any information on the network and random checks of accounts may be performed.

IMPORTANT NOTE: School Internet access is not part of this account. It MUST be applied for separately. NO student shall use the Internet without a properly signed and processed form. You can obtain forms from the school building offices.

1. Computers shall be used as tools of instruction, record keeping, and learning. Treat them with respect. Any vandalism of any kind of nature suspected of any computer user shall result in suspension, cancellation or revocation of access privileges.

2. **Vandalism is defined as any attempt to harm, impair, modify or destroy data from another user. Vandalism shall include, but not be limited to, the uploading or creation of computer viruses, damage or destruction to computer software or hardware, or illegal use of the computer in such a manner that may cause damage or destruction to the integrity of the DACS networks. Restitution in the form of service hours will be done to replace damaged hardware and legal action may be taken.

3. Appropriate language shall be used at all times. Users shall not use profanity, cursing, vulgarity, sexually explicit language, diagrams, photographs or other information that is obscene or abusive.

4. Any activity in violation of state or federal law shall be prohibited. If DACS discovers use of the network for such activity, the appropriate state or federal law enforcement authorities shall be notified.

5. As a safeguard against viruses, students should NOT use diskettes from home on school computers. Students' diskettes used in a classroom shall remain in that classroom at all times. No student shall be in possession of diskettes outside of classrooms while in school.

6. **Exception: If a student needs to work on a project at home, the instructor will download the files needed for the student. If the disk is to be used on a school system when the student returns, the instructor must check the disk for viruses BEFORE allowing the students to upload any files to his/her computer.

7. At no time shall anyone attempt to install software without permission from the DACS computer system administrator.

8. Protect your password. Keep it to yourself to protect your work. If you are found using someone else’s account, you shall lose your computer privileges, which may affect your grade in class where computers are necessary.

9. Ask for help if you are unsure in any computer application and report all hardware problems immediately to staff member in charge.

10. KEEP THE COMPUTER LAB AND ALL AREAS AROUND DACS COMPUTERS CLEAN AND FREE OF FOOD, DRINK AND DEBRIS.

11. NO students are to be on any computers or in computer labs without supervision for any reason at any time.

12. Computer settings such as printer settings, screen savers, backgrounds, window layouts, cursors, and other hard drive components should not be changed, edited, or deleted at any time. This is considered a restricted area. Students are not technicians and should not be troubleshooting workstations or other hardware unless under the direct supervision of technology staff.

13. Students who are playing educational games shall release computers and allow other users use of computers to complete course assignments. A student’s use of a computer should not interfere with the system as a whole. Playing stand-alone games shall be allowed only under the following guidelines:

A. Only school-owned educational games are allowed when the staff member in charge gives the student permission to use the program. It must correlate with the curriculum. Non-educational games are not to be played on network computers.

B. Anyone playing an educational game shall vacate his or her seat if asked by a faculty member.

C. No one shall upload games to individually owned diskettes or download games from the Internet to any computer.

D. Any games or software that interfere with system resources will be removed from the system. Disciplinary action will follow.

14. Some computers and software are designated for teacher and/or staff use only. Students shall not use these computers and/or software or login as a teacher or staff member for any reason.

15. Depending on the nature and severity of the policy violation, Dickinson Area Catholic School may take one or more of the following disciplinary actions: (1) Temporary access denial as stated above; (2) Verbal or written warning; (3) Disciplinary probation; (4) Permanent access revocation; and/or (5) School disciplinary action. If warranted, the system administrator shall refer the case to an appropriate school, local, state, or federal authority for further disposition.

VIOLATION	FIRST OFFENSE	SECOND OFFENSE
Unsupervised use of computers or computer lab.	2 weeks loss of access. Parent/Guardian notified.	Loss of access for remainder of year. Parent/Guardian notified.
Unauthorized use of an account or illegal access to restricted areas.	2 weeks loss of access. Parent/Guardian notified.	Loss of access for remainder of year. Parent/Guardian notified.
Transmitting inappropriate or offensive language.	2 weeks loss of access. Parent/Guardian notified.	Loss of access for remainder of year. Parent/Guardian notified.
Allowing illegal access to the Network or Internet by letting someone login and use your Internet.	2 weeks loss of access. Parent/Guardian notified.	Loss of access for remainder of year. Parent/Guardian notified.
Accessing the Internet without a signed Internet Agreement Form.	Loss of access for remainder of year. Parent/Guardian notified.	N/A
Accessing the Internet using someone else’s account (login).	2 weeks loss of access. Parent/Guardian notified.	Loss of access for remainder of year. Parent/Guardian notified.
Illegal access to restricted area with deliberate damage of files.	Loss of access for remainder of year. Parent/Guardian notified.	N/A
Sending, receiving, reading e-mail not associated with a school related project.	2 weeks loss of access. Parent/Guardian notified.	Loss of access for remainder of year. Parent/Guardian notified.
Vandalism of equipment	Loss of access for remainder of year. Parent/Guardian notified.	N/A
Transmitting unreleased (stories, pictures or reports without permission) or confidential information (i.e. someone’s address or phone number).	Loss of access for remainder of year. Parent/Guardian notified.	N/A
Playing games of a non-educational nature.	2 weeks loss of access. Parent/Guardian notified.	Loss of access for remainder of year. Parent/Guardian notified.
Deliberate downloading of virus or other damage to computer files.	2 weeks loss of access. Parent/Guardian notified.	Loss of access for remainder of year. Parent/Guardian notified.
Deliberate downloading of virus or other damage to computer files.	2 weeks loss of access. Parent/Guardian notified.	Loss of access for remainder of year. Parent/Guardian notified.
Downloading of programs or games. Downloading of pictures, sound clips, etc. without DACS staff member’s permission.	Loss of access for remainder of year. Parent/Guardian notified.	N/A
No wallpapers, screen savers, icons, etc saved to the local workstation or changes in system settings.	2 weeks loss of access. Parent/Guardian notified.	Loss of access for remainder of year. Parent/Guardian notified.
Printing non-educational materials, an excess of material, and/or inappropriate material.	2 weeks loss of access. Parent/Guardian notified.	Loss of access for remainder of year. Parent/Guardian notified.

Tech Ed. Class

Students in 7^th and 8^th grades travel across the street to Iron Mountain Public Schools to participate in tech ed. This class helps students become more proficient in using their hands and become familiar with various tools. It also reinforces concepts taught in math and science classes.

Recess & Physical Education

It is important for children to exercise the body and learn about various sports. Students in grades K-5 have 2 recesses per day. Unless a child has a note from a physician, all children are expected to go outside for recess. Children need fresh air and physical activity. Unless the weather is quite severe, students will go outside for recess. They are to be dressed appropriately. When there is snow on the playground, students in grades Pre-K – 5 are expected to wear hats, mittens/gloves, snow pants and boots.

Students in grades Pre-K – 3 attend physical education class once per week. Students in grades 4 - 8 attend physical education class twice per week. The classes are taught by a Community Schools teacher who is certified to teach elementary/junior high P.E. These are structured classes where students receive instruction on, and participate in, a variety of sports/games.

Reading & Mathematics Instruction

In grades 1 - 5 we are very fortunate to have two certified teachers present in each classroom for student instruction and assistance in reading and mathematics. In 6^th grade, two teachers are present for math and lan