PRS Fast Facts
| Address | 200 High Street Hingham, MA 02043 |
| Phone | Main Office (781) 741-1530 Fax (781) 741-1533 |
| Website | www.hinghamschools.org/plymouth-river-elementary-school |
| Title/Dept | Name | Contact Info |
| Principal | Gregory Lamothe | glamothe@hinghamschools.org |
| Assistant Principal | Melissa Smith | msmith@hinghamschools.org |
| Administrative Assistant | Suzanne Price Anne Bernazzani | sprice@hinghamschools.org abernazzani@hinghamschools.org |
| School Nurse | Kristin Godfrey | kgodfrey@hinghamschools.org |
| School Psychologist | Brett Bolger | bbolger@hinghamschools.org |
| Adjustment Counselor | AC Decker | adecker@hinghamschools.org |
| Cafeteria | Sherri Biagini | sbiagini@hinghamschools.org |
| Kids in Action | Jackie Sansone | jsansone@hinghamschools.org (781) 741-1590 |
| Transportation Department | Padraig Cunningham | pcunningham@hinghamschools.org (781) 741-1510 |
| Communication from school | PRS email distribution: You will automatically be on the distribution list when your child is registered in our X2 system. Notify the office if any contact information has changed. News from Principal: The principal sends newsletters on Fridays with important school information. PTO Newsletter (Weekly Wizard): The PTO sends newsletters on Sunday evenings and event specific invitations/reminders. |
| Regular School Hours | Regular school hours: 8:20 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Early release hours: 8:20 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Please do not drop off your child before 8:10 a.m. as we do not have supervision. |
| School Calendar | The School calendar is located on the Hingham Public Schools website.https://hinghamschools.org/plymouth-river-elementary-school/calendar/ The PTO also maintains its own calendar to keep parents updated about PTO events. To subscribe, contact the PTO at prsptoemail@gmail.com. |
| Early Release: 11:30am | Each month (typically the first Wednesday of the month) PRS will have an early release at 11:30. The purpose of early release is to provide time for faculty meetings, professional development, and parent-teacher conferences. Lunch is not served on early release days. |
| Transportation | Bus routes are published on the HPS Transportation website. Students must ride the bus to which they are assigned. Due to space and safety considerations, students may not ride a different bus home with another student for any reason. |
| Morning Drop Off Afternoon Pick-up | In the morning, students should be dropped off at the designated spot in the lower staff parking lot. For safety and traffic flow reasons, students should unload on the passenger side and adults should not get out of the car. In the afternoon, walkers in grades 1-5 will make their way to the tennis court area to be picked up. Kindergarteners are dismissed from the cafeteria exterior doors and must be picked up by a parent or guardian. |
Dismissal Procedure | PRS students are dismissed in one of the following ways (all supervised by staff): Walkers/Car pick-up: Students in grades 1-5 are dismissed out the front doors or classroom doors. Adults and guardians may meet students near the tennis courts. Kindergarteners are dismissed from the cafeteria exterior doors and must be picked up by a parent or guardian. Bus riders: All students are dismissed to the front lobby where they line up according to bus number. Students proceed outside with their bus line when their bus number is called. Dismissal Change: Please try to keep the dismissal routine as consistent as possible. Beginning this year, PRS will be using PickUp Patrol to notify the school about dismissal changes. All parents will need to create a PickUp Patrol Account. Please visit https://www.pickuppatrol.net/ to get started. If any changes are required after the daily cutoff time listed in your PickUp Patrol account, please call the main office no later than 1:30pm to advise the school of the change. |
| Visitors | All doors to the school are locked at all times. There is a 2 door security buzzer system located at the main school entrance. All visitors must press the buzzer and identify themselves and their purpose so that the office staff may assist you. For items being dropped off, labeled items can be left in the grade level bins on the shelf. Once inside the first set of doors, if you need to enter the building you will have to be buzzed in through the second buzzer and proceed to the office to sign in. |
| Absences | If your child is absent, please do the following:Please call in all absences to the school no later than 8:00 a.m. by phone (781) 741-1530 or by e-mail prsattendance@hinghamschools.org. The phone extension is available 24 hours a day for your convenience, and email is monitored throughout the day. If your child arrives at school after 8:20 a.m he/she must be accompanied by a parent or guardian into the building. Parents / guardians must sign their student in at the main office and then the student can proceed to his or her classroom. |
| School Lunch | School lunch is available to all students and is free of charge for the entire 2023-2024 school year. Menus and online ordering instructions are located on the HPS website. Please note that beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, HPS will no longer offer plastic water bottles for sale. Information about online ordering is on our website: https://www.schoolnutritionandfitness.com/index.php?sid=1506533013953&page=menus |
| Parking | Please adhere to the following: Visitors should use the parking spaces alongside the tennis courts. Please do not park within 15 feet of the fire hydrant in the main driveway. Please do not park in the driveway where “no parking” signs are posted. |
| Contacting a Teacher | Teachers may be contacted in one of the following ways: By sending an email directly to the teacher. All staff have email accounts set up in the format of firstinitiallastname@hinghamschools.org. Example: Jane Smith: jsmith@hinghamschools.orgBy sending a note in your child’s backpack by calling the school office and leaving a message for a teacherWhile teachers will make every effort to respond to communications from parents as soon as possible, please recognize it may be difficult for them to return a call and/or an email during school hours. In the event of an emergency or last-minute dismissal change please call the office. |
| Teacher Conferences | Teachers in grades K-5 are available for parent conferences during scheduled early release days. Parents are welcome to arrange other conference times during the year by contacting the teacher directly to find a mutually convenient time to meet. |
| School Events | Many school events take place throughout the year. Parents are informed of these events via the PTO Weekly Wizard, emails from the Principal and/or via teacher correspondence. |
| PTO | The PRS Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) meets monthly. We are so grateful for ALL that our PTO does for the PRS community. Please consider volunteering to help. For further information email prsptoemail@gmail.com or visit http://www.prspto.org. Co-Presidents for 2023/2024 year: Kelly Gora and Johanna Goulding |
| Room Parents | To facilitate communication and organize volunteers for classroom and school events, each classroom has two volunteer room parents. Room parent volunteer forms are distributed the first week of school by the PTO and two parents per classroom are chosen in a lottery. Throughout the year, you may be contacted by room parents for certain events and/or classroom updates or needs. |
| Snow Days | Snow days, delayed school openings, or weather-related early release will be posted on the HPS website and announced on tv/radio stations. In addition, media websites have a school closing email/texting notification system. Select a school district and provide an email address to be notified by text/email of a school closure, delay, or early dismissal due to weather. |
| Additional Sources of Information | Here are some additional sources of information: Plymouth River School Handbook – The handbook is located on the school’s website. During the first weeks of school, parents will receive a form indicating they have read the handbook. This form needs to be signed and returned to the PRS office. link to handbook PRS website– https://hinghamschools.org/plymouth-river-elementary-school/ PTO website – http://www.prspto.org Social Media: Facebook pages – by grade and a schoolwide page; Instagram – schoolwide account Plymouth River Playbook – This booklet is created and produced by the PTO and includes helpful information for families. |