Student Handbook

Please report all absences to the Main Office by 8:30a to guarantee your student's attendance is accurate for the day. All tardies/absences will be considered unexcused unless a written notice is provided.

Tardy Policy

It is our hope that students are in class on time. Additional consequences may be given out by administration for students who are frequently late to class. Teachers reserve the right to not issue passes during the first and last 5 minutes of class.

We Need Your Help! 

We will be using a computer program to help us accurately track student tardiness. Phone calls will automatically be made starting on a student’s 4th tardy. The purpose of this call is to notify parents of the day and time of the detention and to communicate with you our concern with your child’s frequent tardiness. However, this system will only work if we have your correct number. It is very important that we have a working number. Please double check the enrollment packet to ensure your phone number is correct. If, for any reason your number changes throughout the school year, please notify the office of your new number as soon as possible

Truancy Policy

Attendance is a vital part of your student’s education per Board Policy 1461. The policy states “In compliance with requirements of the Kansas Compulsory School Attendance Law, reports shall be filled with appropriate authorities when a child is not enrolled in a public school or non-public school or when a child is enrolled in school and is inexcusably absent-TRUANT.”  Your child is considered inexcusably absent if they miss a substantial part of a school day for:

• 3 consecutive school days
• 5 days in a semester
• 7 school days in a school year

Your child’s attendance will be reported as required by the Kansas Compulsory School Attendance Law. In addition, a doctor’s note will be required to excuse students with more than 12 excused illness days or those absences will be marked unexcused.

We want your student to be at school every day.  Our school goal is 90% attendance for all students.  Meeting this goal or surpassing it will allow your student to participate in award activities each nine weeks.

Increased Attendance = Increased Knowledge for your student

Students should be dressed appropriately for the day’s learning activities.

The dress code is not intended to be all inclusive. Any clothing item that is deemed disruptive to the learning environment or dangerous to students will not be allowed. The administration maintains the right to deal individually with student concerning dress code issues. Students are expected to be in dress code while they are on school property.

General Clothing Guidelines

• Clothing, buttons, jewelry, or other items, which contain vulgar words or pictures, or promote the use of alcohol, drugs, illegal substances, profanity, derogatory statements, racial/sexist slurs, gang affiliation, weapons, or sexual content, will not be allowed.
• Shorts, skirts, skorts, and jumpers will be no shorter than mid-thigh. Ripped jeans are allowed, so long as underwear, genitals, and buttocks are not exposed.
• Any/All Religious headwear is allowed.
• Winter clothes, fanny packs/purses and sunglasses, are to be put and remain in lockers during the school day.
• Head coverings include but are not limited to: hats, stocking caps, and do-rags are allowed as long as face is visible. Hoods on student’s sweatshirts may be worn.
• Bandanas of any color will not be worn or brought to school.
• Shirts and blouses must cover the upper chest, and must be long enough to not show any skin in the waist area. No midriffs should be showing, no strapless, or spaghettis straps are allowed.

Consequences: Students choosing not to be in dress code will be sent to the office and arrangements will be made to correct the issue. Students will be assigned lunch detention, after-school detention, or in-school suspension if the dress code issue is not able to be resolved. Repeat offenses of the dress code policy may result in more severe disciplinary action.

Students must live 2.5 miles or more from their assigned school to qualify for transportation to that school.

For questions about WPS transportation and busing, call 316-973-2190.

The district does offer the FirstView app that helps familiies track their student's school bus. Families will need a security code from the school office to use the app.

Parents should notify the school nurse if there are any health conditions that may require medical attention, such as asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, etc.

If a student becomes ill during the school day, they should request a pass to see the nurse. 

Students who exhibit fever, sore throat or tonsillitis, any eruption of the skin or rash, any respiratory symptoms accompanied by a fever, severe cough or cold, or any eruption of the scalp, will be sent home.

Parents will be notified to pick up their student and must do so in a timely manner to limit exposure to other students and school staff.

Please keep your emergency contact information up to date with both the teacher and office staff.

School board policy (BOE P5316) restricts school personnel from giving students any medication, including over-the-counter medication.

Medication is given only upon written request from both the parent/guardian and the student's physician. Students must also have received one dose of medication without an adverse reaction prior to any doses being given at school.

All medicine must be in the original container and be presented by a parent to the school nurse for safe keeping and scheduled administration. The container should be labelled with the following:

• Name of student
• Name of medication
• Directions for use
• Name of physician
• Name and address of pharmacy
• Date of prescription

Poor hygiene can be a concern and we ask that you please ensure that your student has had regular showers, uses antiperspirant deodorant, and wears clean clothing. Poor hygiene can be disruptive to the learning environment and unfortunately, middle school students do not always respond appropriately to the situation. Students will be given basic hygiene supplies, if requested.

Morning Hours

The building will be open for students who are not eating breakfast at 7:50 AM. Students will not be permitted inside to use the restroom, so they will need to take care of their needs before arriving at school.

Extreme Weather

During extreme cold and/or rainy conditions, students will be permitted inside the building at a designated location.

Breakfast Access

Students eating breakfast may enter the cafeteria at 7:30 AM on the South side of the building at Door 14.

The office telephone is a business line and should not be used by students except with permission from a staff member. Unauthorized use of a classroom phone by a students results in consequences. We will deliver messages to students in classrooms by calling the main office. In order to minimize disruptions to the classrooms, phone calls will not be forwarded.

Guardians are encouraged to use ParentVUE to email student’s teachers.

The safety of students, staff and parents is the Wichita Public Schools' greatest priority during the threat of dangerous conditions.

Emergency plans are in place should tornadoes, lightning, hail, snow or other dangerous circumstances present a safety concern. 

If schools are to be closed or activities cancelled or rescheduled due to weather conditions, the information will be posted on the Wichita Public Schools' website main page and displayed on all school websites.

It is the responsibility of the student to make up assignments. Teachers shall make reasonable efforts to encourage and assist the student to make up missed assignments, shall give credit for such work, and shall allow the students reasonable period of time to complete such missed assignments.

The purpose of homework is to provide opportunities for students to practice, review, and prepare for demonstrations of learning in class (such as tests, projects, etc.). Feedback will be provided by teachers in a time frame that allows the student to understand how they are progression on the assessed standard.

We provide breakfast for all students free of charge.

Lunch fees can depend on family income. Complete the Free and Reduced Meal Application annually to qualify for free lunch and adjustments to school fees. 

The district uses an app called School Cafe to allow families to see menus.

The district uses LINQ Connect to pay for meals.

For special dietary restrictions, please contact the school nurse. 

• No food or drinks (except water) are allowed in the classroom or hallways.
• Breakfast and Lunch served in the cafeteria must stay in the cafeteria area.
• If food is allowed in classrooms by staff member’s discretion, it must stay in that classroom.
• Energy drinks are not allowed.

Lockers are assigned by administration. Locker combinations are kept secure. Students should not give their combination to anyone else nor share their locker with anyone else! If you allow another student to use your locker, you will be held responsible for all content in your assigned locker. The locker is rented to students each year and should be returned clean and in good conditions. Searches may be conducted per the Board of Education Policy 1469.

Students may only visit their locker before/after school and before/after lunch. They may NOT visit them during regular passing periods.

Field trips with our city and nearby sites of interest are scheduled by classroom teachers throughout the school year. These trips are designed to supplement different aspects of the classroom curriculum and intoduce students to resources within the community. Parents will be notified of the planned trip at least five days in advance and must sign a trip waiver for students to attend. If a student does not have a signed permission slip to attend the trip, they will not go. We will not accept verbal permission over the phone.

If there is a fee for the field trip, the money needs to be submitted at least three days prior to the scheduled trip. All field trips require the use of school buses. Parents are not able to transport students on field trips.

If a parent serves as a chaperone, they will need to complete the school district's volunteer process prior to the field trip

School board policy (BOE P1464) prohibits possession and/or use of tobacco or tobacco paraphernalia are not permitted in school buildings or on school campuses. The prohibition against smoking and the use of tobacco should be supported by programs emphasizing the hazards of smoking and tobacco use.

School board policy (BOE P1465) states that any student who intends to or is selling, manufacturing, or trafficking alcoholic beverages, drugs, drug paraphernalia, inhalants, and/or other controlled or uncontrolled substances, such as, but not limited to, over the counter medications or unauthorized prescription drugs, or any student who possesses such substances in an amount that exceeds the reasonable personal need of the average user of the substance possessed, at school, on school property, or at a school supervised activity shall be recommended for appropriate disciplinary action up to and including an expulsion from the Wichita Public Schools for 186 school days.  Any student who possesses, uses, or appears to be affected by or whose conduct appears to be altered by alcoholic beverages, drugs (except as medically prescribed), and/or other controlled substances, such as, but not limited to, unauthorized prescription drugs, or possesses drug paraphernalia at school, on school property, or at a school supervised activity will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action.   

The definition of bullying is an intentional action to hurt a student or staff member. Bullying is a choice. It is a hurtful action that happens repeatedly.

Bullying can be:

• Physical: harm to someone’s body or property such as hitting, kicking, pushing, or stealing.
• Verbal: harm to someone’s self-esteem or feelings of safety such as teasing, name calling, insulting, or threatening.
• Social: harm to someone’s group acceptance such as spreading lies or gossip about someone, making someone do something do not want to do, making mean face, or gesture towards others.
• Sexual: singling out a person because of gender and demonstrating unwanted sexual behavior such as sexual comments, abusive comments or unwanted physical contact.
• Racial: rejection or isolation of a person because of race or ethnicity such as racial slurs or taunts, name calling, making fun of customs/skin color/accent/food choices.
• Cyber-based: intentionally hurting, humiliating, embarrassing, or threatening someone using an electronic device.

Bullying of any kind will not be tolerated at Hamilton!

If someone is bullying you you can try to ignore them, tell them to stop, walk away, find friends to be with, tell a trusted adult, report it to the school office or other school staff, or report it anonymously to Speak Up.

Personal Electronic Devices (PED), such as cell phones, are NOT allowed during the school day (7:50AM - 3:10PM) per BOE policy 1464. This includes during passing periods, lunch, and recess. Any student caught violating this policy will have their PED confiscated. Repeat offenses will result in the item being confiscated and delivered to the office. On the first offense, students may get their electronic device back at the end of the day. For subsequent offenses, a guardian must come to the school during regular hours to retrieve the device.

The Wichita Public Schools require a Student Access Contract, signed at enrollment, for students to use computer. Regardless of any “technology protection measure” implemented by the District required by the Children’s Internet Protection Act, students are responsible for good behavior on computers, networks, the internet, or other online service. General school rules for behavior and communication apply. Network storage areas will be treated like school lockers. Network administrators, teachers, and other appropriate district staff may review student files and communication for time to time t prevent misuse and to ensure students are using the system responsibly and in compliance with laws and district policies. Communications on the network are often public in nature; students should not expect that files stored on the district server will be private. Access is a privilege, not a right, and inappropriate use will result in, among other disciplinary measures, the cancellation of those privileges.

Only 7th and 8th grade students may participate in competitive interscholastic sports. Boys and girls may participate in Cross Country (fall), Basketball (Winter), and Track (Spring). Volleyball (fall) is a a girls only sport in Kansas. Information about dates and times will be announced closer to the season. Participants must meet the following criteria:

• All students must obtain a physical signed by parents and physician and upload it to rankone.com prior to the first day of tryouts/practice.
• Detention, ISS, and OSS may result in removal from the team or loss of playing time. Consequences of that nature will be left to the discretion of the coach.
• Students must be passing five classes (Advocacy does not count towards the five).
• Students must attend the entire school day to attend practice and games.

The gymnasium for home games will open at 3:10 PM, spectators will not be allowed in prior to that time. Students attending home games will:

• Report to the gymnasium entrance by 3:20 PM
• Cost to enter the game: Students - $1, Adults - $2, Children younger than 3 and seniors over 55 years old are free.
• Students are expected to remain in dress code throughout the game.
• Only students are allowed to sit in the Student Section, adults will be asked to move. Students may sit with a guardian in the balcony.
• Once the games starts, students will only be allowed to leave the gym during halftime, between games, or with permission from a supervisor.
• If any spectators need help they should notify a supervisor.
• Students cannot use their electronic devices (such as a phone) in the gym.
• Students must leave the school grounds or be picked up by an adult no later than 15 minutes after the game ends. Students who are not picked up within 15 minutes of the game ending will not be allowed to attend future games without a parent or guardian.

The final school bell rings at 3:10 PM and all students need to be out of the building or in their supervised activity by 3:20 PM. Once a student has left the building, they will not be allowed to re-enter the building for any reason. All students must be off campus and out of the Dollar Tree parking lot by 3:40 PM. Students must arrange for a ride prior to the school day ending as the office phones will only be used in emergency situations.