Information for Parents

Attendance Office

Good attendance is critical to a successful high school experience for your child. All matters pertaining to daily and classroom attendance are handled in the Attendance Office.

Lunch forms and PIN #’s, Metrocards and address updates are also issued from the Attendance Office.

1. Daily Attendance: In order to be marked present, students MUST be in their correct classroom at the correct start time of the class. Subject class attendance is taken EVERY period of EVERY day. Simply being present in the building DOES NOT qualify as attendance.
2. Lateness: Students who are unavoidably late should bring either a doctor’s note or a signed note from their parent, including the parent’s daytime telephone number.
3. Absences: Students should make every effort to attend school everyday. If a child is absent, they should bring a note from their parent on the first day that they return to school. The note should include the parent’s daytime telephone number so that the absence can be verified. The student should show the note to all of their classroom teachers (so that they can take it into account when calculating the child’s grade), and then leave the note in the Attendance Office (so that the note can be included in the child’s biographical record).
4. Extended Absences: If a student will be absent for 3 or more days, both the attendance office and the child’s guidance counselor should be contacted.
5. Metrocards: Students are issued one Metrocard at the beginning of each term. If the card is lost or destroyed, there is a wait period of 10 school days before a new card can be issued. Students may report lost cards in the Attendance Office during their lunch period. They will be required to show their school I.D. and their program card.
6. Lunch Forms: Regardless of eligibility, ALL students MUST complete a lunch form and return it. Students must have and know their 6 digit PIN number in order to get lunch.
7. Suspensions and Attendance: If your child is suspended, whether in-house or to an alternative site, you WILL continue to receive the daily absence telephone call from Edison. Once the Attendance Office receives confirmation from either the in-house office or the off-site facility that the child attended as required, their daily attendance will be corrected.
8. Trips and attendance: If your child goes on a school-sponsored trip during a regular school day, you WILL receive the daily absence telephone call from Edison. Your child's attendance will be corrected after the trip roster is turned in to the Attendance Office.
9. Biographical Updates: It is imperative that the school have current and correct address and telephone information on all of our students. All changes of telephone numbers and addresses should be reported to the attendance office, preferably accompanied by a utility bill.
10. Parental Inquiries: The Attendance Office urges all parents to call regularly to confirm their child’s attendance. It is best to call between the hours of 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., and to have your child’s OSIS number (or NYC Student I.D. number) available. If you request “Period Attendance”, we can tell you all the periods that your child has missed during the current week.

TRANSPORTATION

Students receive the following levels of Metro cards based on the distance that they live from the school. These criteria are set by the Office of Pupil Transportation using the following criteria

If you live:

• 1.5 or more miles from the school.......free Metro card
• .5 to 1.5 miles from the school.............half fare Metro card
• Less than .5 mile from the school.........not entitled to Metro card

Contacting the School

For up to date information concerning events, school closings, weather related issues and more, call (718) 297-6580.
School doors are open at 7:30 AM
Students are advised to be in school at least 15 minutes prior to the beginning of their first class
Students may not leave the school building during their lunch period.

Administrators

Important Offices

Who to Contact

Students need to earn a minimum of 44 credits in the following academic areas in order to graduate high school.

• English Language Arts - 8 Credits
• Mathematics - 6 Credits
• Science - 6 Credits (of which 4 credits must be in a lab science)
• Global History - 4 Credits
• American History - 2 Credits
• Participation in Government - 1 Credit
• Economics - 1 Credit
• Foreign Language - 2 Credits
• Shop - 12-14 Credits*
• Music - 1 Credit
• Art - 1 Credit
• Health - 1 Credit
• Physical Education - 7 Credits (students must take 7 terms of physical education, each successfully completed term of PE is credited as .58 of a Credit

A sequence is a concentration in a specific subject usually your major career choice. These credits are included in the requirements listed above for a minimum total of 44 credits.

Students are required to remain in their CTE sequence through 12th grade regardless of graduation credit accumulation.

In addition to passing the academic course work and earning a minimum of 44 credits, students must also pass a minimum of 5 Regents Exams.

Understanding Your High School Permanent Record

A High School Student Permanent Record is a very valuable educational record that delineates a student’s academic achievement throughout the high school years from grades 9 through 12. It contains biographical information about the student that includes name, address, DOE 9 digit identification number, official class, date of birth, parent name, counselor name and grade level which is determined by the number of credits that the student earned. Grade level is NOT determined by age or number of years in the school.

All final grades will be entered as part of your permanent academic record! Be sure to earn a grade that you will be proud of and will work for you towards graduation and into college.

The permanent record is divided into sections for each academic area as well as an exam summary at the bottom of the page. All information regarding that course is written in one line across the column.

In each academic subject area, the year and term that the course was taken is indicated. For example:

• 2010/1 means that the course was taken in the first term (Sept – Jan. 31st) of the 2010-2011 school year.
• 2010/2 means the second term (Feb – June) of academic year 2010-2011 2011/7means summer school (July-August) of the academic year 2010-2011 28Q620 is the DBN code for Thomas Edison High School. These codes indicate the school in which the course was taken.
• E1 is an example of a course code, the actual title of the course is written next to this code. In this case, it is English 1 and the actual mark for this student was 100! The next piece of information is the teacher’s name.
• Followed by a credit designation 1.00 / 1.00 means that the student earned 1.00 credit and the value of the course is 1.0 credit. If the student did not pass the course then the indication would be 1.00 / 0.00.

About Report Cards & Progress Reports

The Report Card is the document used to find out how the teacher evaluates the student’s work for a specific time period. It is a valuable report that both students and parents should pay close attention to in order to move towards a positive direction in meeting the requirements and standards for each class.

Each high school year is divided into two terms or semesters. The Fall semester begins in September and concludes at the end of January. The Spring semester begins in February and concludes in June.

During each semester, every student will receive 3 report cards or 6 for the entire year. Students and parents will also receive interim progress reports to keep the student and family up to date on the student’s academic work on an ongoing basis. The report card serves as a periodic assessment of the student’s work during that time period.

Each semester is divided into 3 marking periods. At the conclusion of each marking period, which is usually a period of about 6-7 week intervals, the student will receive a grade that will reflect the quality of his/her work.

The first, second and third marking periods have numerical grades The grades 70 and above are valued in increments of 1. Passing grade in a course is 65. The third marking period is the final marking period of the semester and is the grade that will appear on the student’s transcript for that class during that specific semester.

Indicated on the report card next to the grade for each class is the number of absences in that class for that marking period. Parents and students can also find comments that the teacher adds to further explain the grade that is given.

On the bottom of the report card is the weighted average. A weighted grade is given to those courses with an increased level of difficulty and is considered an honor or advanced course. In that case, a student will receive a grade with an extra value of 1.1%.

Required exams and the grades received during that semester are listed in the bottom left hand corner.

You will also find an explanation of grades in the lower right hand corner of the report card.

Students are advised that all report cards should be kept in a safe place in order to have the ability to access these important documents for future reference.

Parent Teacher Association

The Parent Teacher Association of Thomas Edison was established to promote the educational excellence of the school and welfare of its students. Since then it has served as a conduit for the transmission of parental concerns to the administration.

The association works closely with the Principal and acts as a communications system between parents and school for the exchange of views in both curricular and non- curricular areas.

Parents are welcome to attend all general meetings, which are held monthly in the school library. Occasionally meetings (many with guest speakers) are held in the school auditorium. Topics discussed focus on educational issues and our school community and an exchange of ideas always enlivens the evening.

The Association has been able to provide funds and services for student educational and co- curricular activities through consistent fund raising. Financial assistance has been given to teams, clubs, publications, and societies and for various needs expressed by each department. The Parents Association is also proud of its Scholarship Fund, which makes monetary awards to eligible members of the senior class to help with college expenses.

Parents are urged to take an active part in the Association’s operations.

Our PTA website can be located here.

Lunch Forms

Many students are eligible for free meals. To find out if your child qualifies, return a completed paper application to the school or use an electronic device with an internet connection to apply online at nyc.applyforlunch.com

It takes just a few minutes to apply and only one application, either paper or online, needs to be completed for all children (pre-k to high school) living in your household.

Say yes to delicious and healthy school meals and complete your child’s application today. Completing it helps secure State funding for our school.

If you have questions regarding the Application for Free and Reduced-Price Meals contact SchoolFood's Help Desk at 877.363.6325.