Foster Fast Facts
| School Address, Phone, Fax | 55 Downer Avenue Hingham, MA 02043 OFFICE: (781) 741-1520 FAX: (781) 741-1522 |
| School Website | Foster Elementary School |
| Key Contacts | Below is a list of key contacts for Foster Elementary School. All staff can be reached by email using the first initial and last name @hinghamschools.org. |
| Title | Name | Phone | |
| Principal | Matt Scheufele | (781) 741-1520 | mscheufele@hinghamschools.org |
| Assistant Principal | Jennifer Newell | (781) 741-1520 | jnewell@hinghamschools.org |
| School Administrative Asst. | Maria Sandberg | (781) 741-1520 | msandberg@hinghamschools.org |
| School Nurse | Heidi Vigneau | (781) 741-1520 | hvigneau@hinghamschools.org |
| School Psychologist | Elizabeth Curran | (781) 741-1520 | ecurran@hinghamschools.org |
| Adjustment Counselor | Jaclyn Duggan | (781) 741-1520 | jduggan@hinghamschools.org |
| Office Assistant | Patricia Wanty | (781) 741-1520 | pwanty@hinghamschools.org |
| Transportation Department | Padraig Cunningham | (781) 741-1510 | pcunningham@hinghamschools.org |
| Report an Absence | Attendance Lines | (781) 741-1520, x1 | fosterattendance@hinghamschools.org |
| Email Connections | Principal’s email distribution: You are automatically on the distribution list when your child is registered. If your email changes, notify pwanty@hinghamschools.org. Foster PTO: The PTO sends newsletters and event-specific invitations. There is a link to the PTO on Foster’s website www.hinghamschools.com. Attendance: email fosterattendance@hinghamschools.org by 9:00 a.m. to report an absence or tardy. Families without Internet access will be provided with printed copies of school information. |
| School Hours | 8:20 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Children may be dropped off at the main entrance no earlier than 8:10 a.m. Please wait until your child enters the building before leaving; otherwise, they are outside, unsupervised. |
| Early Release | Usually, the first Wednesday of every month Foster has an early release time of 11:30. No lunch is served on these days. The purpose of early release is to provide time for professional development, training, and parent-teacher conferences, which are scheduled online. Also, students are usually dismissed at 11:00 on the last day of school and lunch is not served. |
| First Days of School | On the first day of school students gather on the playground to meet their classroom teachers. Bus students are led to the rear of the building by staff. Students dropped off at the loop are led to the back by staff and walkers are brought from the entrance between the presentation room and the cafeteria to the rear of the building by staff. Don’t be alarmed if the buses are delayed as we begin school. Typically, this happens as the drivers learn the routes and get to know the students. Bus routes are published in the Hingham Journal and on our website at https://hinghamschools.org/about/transportation/ |
| Absences and Late Arrivals | For the safety of our students, parents/guardians should email fosterattendance@hinghamschools.org by 9:00 a.m. to report absences, late arrivals and dismissals. You may also call the school attendance line if you prefer: 781-741-1520, ext 1 |
| District and School Calendar | Both the District and Foster calendars are located on the Foster School website. Foster School will operate on a six day cycle. On each day, students may have one of the following Specialists: Art, Music, Spanish, Computer, Library, or Gym. |
| Recess | On snowy days, children must wear boots and snow pants or they will only be able to play on the blacktop. There will not be outdoor recess if it is raining or if the temperature/wind chill exceed safety recommendations for outdoor activity. During school hours the playground is for Foster students only. The playground is not accessible to the general public from 8:10-2:40 Monday through Friday. |
| Arrival and Dismissal | Each day, children are expected to arrive at Foster between 8:10 and 8:20 a.m. If your child arrives after that time, they will need to be walked to the front entrance by their parent/guardian/caregiver. Adults must ring the buzzer and speak to a staff member to enter. Students who require early dismissal must have a note for their classroom teacher and their parent/guardian/caregiver will need to ring the buzzer and speak to a staff member to dismiss the child. Please be prepared to show identification. If the person picking the student up is not a parent/guardian, they must be noted as an emergency contact, or have prior permission to dismiss from the student’s parent/guardian. Students are designated as either bus riders, loopers (for car pick-up), bikers or walkers. Students are not allowed to take a different bus home. They are, however, allowed to get off at a different stop on their own bus route if they have a note from home. Our bus drivers appreciate receiving these notes as the students get on the buses. If you plan to pick up your child at school, a note dismissing your child as a “walker” is needed unless this is already documented as your child’s usual daily plan. During regular arrival and dismissal times, students being picked up or dropped off by car should be arriving/departing via the car loop. Students must load/unload on the passenger side independently, with the driver remaining in their vehicle at all times. Cars must enter the loop and then drive as far forward toward Downer Avenue as possible before having the child exit the car. When leaving the loop, it is a right turn only. This ensures that the loop keeps flowing, and everyone is safe. When picking up a child in the loop, families are asked to place a paper in the right corner of the windshield with the child’s last name. This will help expedite the dismissal process. 2nd-5th grade students who are dismissed as walkers will exit through the main entrance and can be met at the flagpole area. 1st grade walkers should be met at the first grade classroom doors, located across from the bike racks near the main entrance. KG walkers will be dismissed at the KG entrance, located on the far left of the building. |
| Visitors and Volunteers | Visitors and volunteers must sign in and out of school in the main office. All guests must wear a name tag and will be announced before going to a classroom. Parking is limited at Foster. We ask that visitors do not park in the bus loop for any reason. Visitors are asked to park in a space in the side parking lot. |
| Safety and Security | All doors to the school are locked at all times. There is a buzzer located to the left of the main school entrance. There is a second buzzer to the left of the vestibule door. All visitors must report to the school office (located inside the main entrance) to sign in/sign out and obtain a visitor sticker. |
| School Lunch Program | During 22-23, school breakfast and lunches are free for all students. Menus are available online. All children are assigned payment pin numbers if they would like to order extra items such as milk to go with their lunch from home. If a student forgets a packed lunch, lunch is available in the cafeteria. There are designated tree nut/peanut free tables for each lunch session. Cafeteria lunches are tree nut/peanut free. There are also gluten-free options available for students. |
| Lost and Found | Lost and Found is located outside of the cafeteria. Please label your child’s belongings. Unclaimed items are donated to charity during each vacation break. |
| Communication | Keeping connected to families is essential. Families receive regular bulletins from the school. Our website and the district website provide additional information. Our PTO newsletter and their website provide additional communication venues. We recommend you contact individual teachers to find out their preferred form of communication. Conferences can be scheduled online on designated conference days. If you require an alternate time/date, please contact teachers directly. Teachers may be contacted in one of the following ways: by sending an email or sending a note in your child’s backpack. While teachers will make every effort to respond to communications from parents/guardians, please recognize it may be difficult to return a call/email during school hours. If you need your child to get a timely message, please call the office and leave a message. |
| Snow Days and Delays | Snow days, delayed school openings, or weather-related early release will be posted on the HPS website and provided to the media. In addition, some Boston radio and TV websites have a school closing email/texting notification process beginning late fall. Select a school district and provide an email address/phone number to be notified by email/text of a school closure, delay, or early dismissal due to weather. |
| Items Brought into the Office | Parent drop-offs (water bottles, assignments, backpacks, etc), should be delivered to the main office and labeled with the student’s name and class code. To limit classroom interruptions, we will email the teacher that an item is in the office and available for pickup. |