Parents of new students entering grades K-2 may begin the enrollment process by stopping at Ellis Elementary School, 100 West Ellis Avenue, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. to pick-up the enrollment packet. Should you have any questions, please call 794-4100.

Parents are asked to bring their child’s original birth certificate, immunization records, and proof of residency at the time of enrollment. Proof of residency can be a utility bill, property tax bill, copy of a pay stub or mortgage payment.

At the time of enrollment, parents of new students will be notified of their child’s teacher and will be asked to call transportation at 794-4974 to set up transportation if needed.

According to Michigan law, a child must be five by December 1 of the school year they are being enrolled; however, we encourage late birthday children (September, October, and November) to be enrolled in our Kinderstart program (all day, alternating days) rather than all-day, every day kindergarten. Kinderstart helps get children ready socially and/or academically for kindergarten the following year.

You need to have the following:
· Enrollment packet of information (may be picked up at Ellis or downloaded from this web site).
· Birth certificate: must be issued by the State of Michigan with a raised seal. May not be a photostat copy or hospital copy.
· Proof of immunizations.
· Proof of residency.

Usually, the next day.

Call the office by 2:45 p.m. We will make sure the teacher receives a written note of the transportation change and the bus driver told your child will not be on the bus that day. If your child is in kindergarten, a paraprofessional will pick him up at his room and escort him to the Media Center. Children in first and second grades can find the Media Center on their own.

We have children who take Dial-A-Ride every day, and some who take it only occasionally after her parent has called the office to let us know. For those that ride Dial-A-Ride it is imperative that parents call Dial-A-Ride directly at 794-3278. Some children walk every day. In either case, we have a paraprofessional that takes both groups of students outside. She makes sure correct children are on the Dial-A-Ride bus, and walks the rest across Ellis as needed.

We want to maximize the time children work in their classrooms. If a child sees their parent standing outside their room, work usually stops! In addition, we want to make sure that children are going home with the correct person so we worked with the Belding Police Department to develop our plan. If we don’t recognize a face, we will ask you who you are and who you are picking up, and that may happen a number of times until we get to know you.

Please call Transportation at 794-4970. They will fax over this change to Ellis and we will make sure the teacher receives the transportation change.

Our playground is supervised from 8:15 until the final bell rings at 8:40. If you drop your child off at the curb (not in the front, please, that’s for buses and handicapped only), by 8:30 – there isn’t a lot of traffic. After 8:30 it gets really busy! We also encourage parents to drop off rather than bringing their child into school. When a child knows he/she is independent enough to walk into school alone, that independence helps foster risk taking in learning inside the classroom.

Please call our attendance line at 794-4143. The information will then be transferred into our Skyward computer program.

The menu is posted on this website but may be subject to change if there are snow days.