Lunch and Food Delivery Procedures
During lunch shifts, students should report to the cafeteria, front of the building, or main entrance hallway. Students are not permitted to leave school grounds or be in an alternate location (hallways, parking lot, media center, etc.) without prior permission from a staff member or an appropriate pass.
Lunch can be eaten in the cafeteria, main entrance hallways, and outside the front of the building. Lunch may not be eaten in the hallways, community sideways, rear of building, media center, classrooms, parking lot, or cars.
Lunch is provided daily through our Cafeteria. Students may bring in a lunch when they arrive in the morning and use the microwaves during lunch to heat up anything that they bring.
Students may not leave campus to purchase lunch at anytime during the school day. Leaving school grounds will result in disciplinary action.
Students are not permitted to order food to be delivered during the school day. This includes but is not limited to: using UberEats, GrubHub, Door Dash or any other food delivery service. School deliveries from outside unknown resources are considered a Student Safety Risk and Violation/School Disruption (Policy 1040). Food ordered and delivered to the building will be confiscated and can be picked up in the front office after school.
We ask that parents have students bring any lunch from home with them in the morning when they arrive to school. If a parent needs to bring their students lunch to school they must drop it off in the front office. The student can pick it up during their assigned lunch shift and eat it in the cafeteria or pick it up after school.
Attendance Info and Resources
Reporting an Absence, Early Dismissal, Late Arrival
Any attendance (Tardy, Early Dismissal, Absence) questions or concerns can be sent to omhsabsence@hcpss.org.
In your email, please include the following:
- Legal full name of student
- Grade level
- Reason for absence/email (illness, court, appointment, family matter, etc)
- Date student is out of school
- If requesting an Early Dismissal, please note the time and reason and whether your student is returning the same day. Students will receive a pass they can show their teacher at the time of dismissal.
- If noting late arrival, please note the reason.
- Phone number of the parent/guardian sending the note/email.
Please allow ample time to process early dismissal requests. Last minute appointments will require a parent/guardian to come into the building with an ID to sign out their student.
A note/email must be received within five days of the absence. If a note is not received, the absence will be documented as unexcused.
HCPSS has updated Attendance and Grading expectations.
Local Discretionary Days
The Howard County Public School System can grant students Local Discretionary Days (up to 3) upon request and approval. The Local Discretionary form for such absences to be marked lawful/excused should be submitted at least one week in advance to the attendance secretary at omhsabsence@hcpss.org.
Examples of such absences that are considered unexcused on a school day include, but are not limited to:
- Visits to post-secondary institutions
- Participation in college orientation programs
- Scheduled interviews with prospective employers.
- Special family events, including vacations/trips/travel
Parents/Guardians may access this Local Discretionary form as needed. Students are allotted up to a maxim of three (3) local discretionary days per school year.
Religious Obligation Days
If you are requesting a day for a religious holiday not identified by the Howard County Public School System school calendar, please download the Religious Obligation Form and return it to omhsabsence@hcpss.org.
Attendance Information and Resources
With the collaborative effort of HCPSS parents, staff and students, we are confident that all students can have successful attendance. This will improve student success in school and in future life!
Research is clear that showing up for school has a huge impact on a student’s academic and social success, starting from pre-kindergarten and continuing through high school.
- Missing 10% (or about 18 days of a school year or 2 a month) can drastically affect a student’s academic success at each grade level.
- By the 6th grade, absenteeism is one of three signs that can indicate if a student is at risk for dropping out of high school.
- In the 9th grade, regular and high attendance is a better predictor of graduation rates than 8th grade test scores.
Please review Policy 9010 for more information. Please help us support a culture of showing up to school every day!