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Franklin Elementary School
 
School information
* Franklin Homepage
* Message from the Principal
* Latest News
* Franklin Staff
* Curriculum
* Login to e-Books

* PTO

This site is not maintained by the Bethel Park School District

Health Services
Elementary Handbook
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Educational Trip Permission Form
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Welcome to
Benjamin Franklin
Elementary School

5400 Florida Avenue
Bethel Park, PA 15102
Phone: (412) 854-8741
Fax: (412) 833-5016
District Voice Mail: (412) 833-5005

School Hours:

9:20 AM to 3:40 PM

AM Kindergarten: 9:20 AM to 12:05 PM

PM Kindergarten: 12:55 PM to 3:40 PM

 
* School Contact

Dr. Shirley Dickinson, Principal

* About Our School
 

Benjamin Franklin Elementary School is one of five elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school in the Bethel Park School District. There are currently 480 students enrolled at Ben Franklin and the school has a staff of over 50 adults led by Principal Shirley Dickinson, Ed.D.

At Ben Franklin, we are proud of the safe and enjoyable environment that we provide for our students. Staff and parents work together through the PTO to provide classroom resources, arrange educational assemblies, and plan many special events throughout the year. There is always something new and exciting happening at our school!

 
* Latest News
•  Would You Like to be a Noontime Aide?  We are looking for two people to serve as Noontime Aides beginning with the 2009-2010 school year.  If you enjoy working with children, this is a great opportunity to make some extra money!  To learn more about what the job entails, please feel free to call Principal Dr. Shirley Dickinson at 412-854-8741.
 
Edline Now Available for Parents of 2nd, 3rd and 4th Graders--Parents of 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders will receive information in their child's report card envelope on January 27 about how they can set up an Edline account to gain electronic access to their child's academic progress.  The letter will provide parents with an Edline Activation Code and parents are encouraged to go to www.edline.net to activate their child's account.  The website will guide you through the process.  Once an account is activated, parents can see their child's interim grades posted for Math, Language Arts and Spelling for all three grades, as well as Social Studies for third and fourth graders.  Parents who have difficulty accessing Edline can contact the school secretary for assistance.  We encourage all parents to stay up to date with their child's progress via Edline.  Parents who do not have access to the Internet can do so at the Bethel Park Library.  Librarians are available to assist.
 
• Parents Can Monitor Their Child's Cafeteria Purchases via PayForIt.net--Beginning February 16, all Bethel Park cafeterias will be using the QSP point of sale system, replacing the previous SNAP system.  With this new system, parents will able to log on to www.payforit.net to see what your child is eating, how much money is in your account and to set up email reminders to let you know when your account is running low.  For more information, please go to the BPSD Food Services web page.
 
FREE/REDUCED BREAKFAST AND LUNCH UPDATE--The Bethel Park School District participates in the National School Lunch Program.  Please be aware that Free/Reduced Meals are available to those who qualify.  Applications for the 2009-2010 school year are available by clicking here.  Please be advised that even if your student(s) qualified for Free/Reduced meals in 2008-2009, you MUST reapply for the 2009-2010 school year.  If you have questions, please call Dana Walker at 412-854-8426.
 
•  District to use ALERTNOW Notification Service as an additional communication tool between the school district and parents--Keeping parents informed is a top priority of the Bethel Park School District, and we will be using the ALERTNOW Notification Service to send telephone and/or email messages to parents and/or employees to notify them of things such as school delays or cancellations due to inclement weather.  With ALERTNOW, you won't have to watch television to wait for Bethel Park's status to scroll onto the screen.  Parents will be notified by phone when the district makes the decision to close or delay.  ALERTNOW can also be used to remind parents of upcoming events at school.  But most importantly, in an emergency, ALERTNOW has the capability to launch 12,000 phone calls a minute, so parents don't have to rely on Phone Chains to get emergency information.  In an emergency, ALERTNOW has the capability to call up to three phone numbers per student.  ALERTNOW also has the capability to send out email messages to one email address per student.   Please click here to learn more about ALERTNOW.  We hope you will agree that ALERTNOW is another way the district can keep parents up to date.
 
Franklin Earns Keystone Achievement Award! For the fourth consecutive year, Benjamin Franklin Elementary School has been awarded the Keystone Achievement Award by the Pennsylvania Department of Education for making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) on the PSSA Exams for two consecutive years.  This year's award is for PSSA Scores in 2006-2007 and 2007-2008.  Congratulations to our third and fourth graders and their teachers for their outstanding work on these tests and keep up the good work!  To see the district's PSSA scores for 2007-2008, please click here.
 
Visitor Sign-In Procedures Revised for ALL Bethel Park Schools. The following sign-in procedures have been adopted for ALL visitors to Bethel Park schools. We appreciate your cooperation as we continue to provide a safe environment for our students and staff.
  1. ALL visitors to Bethel Park schools will report directly to the main office upon entry into the building.
  2. Visitors will log-in their name, date, time and reason for visit on a standardized log-in sheet in each school office.
  3. The building secretary will verify the information is complete and will obtain photo identification from the visitor, which will be held in the office for the duration of the visitor’s time in the building.
  4. Visitors will be issued visitor’s tag that must be worn visibly during the time of the visit.
  5. At the conclusion of the visit, the visitor will return the visitor’s tag to the office, log out and their photo identification will be returned to the visitor.
 

On days when a two hour delay is called, the district will operate a Modified Kindergarten Schedule as follows:

  • Morning Kindergarten will attend from 11:20 AM to 1 PM
  • Afternoon Kindergarten will attend from 2 to 3:40 PM

Modified Kindergarten equalizes both sessions to 1 hour, 40 minutes of instruction.  Please take note of this change to the schedule.  Please click here for more information.

 
The Bethel Park School District has purchased subscriptions to the Online Edition of your child's textbooks for several subjects.  You can access these books from your computer.  Please click on the links below and enter your child's user name and password that was given to them by your child's teacher.  If you have questions, please contact your child's teacher for more information.
Read more about the latest Benjamin Franklin Elementary School news here...
 
* Upcoming Events
  • Tuesday, June 2 -- Olympic Day
  • Tuesday, June 2 -- Police Pals Bicycle Safety Presentations
  • Wednesday, June 3 -- Full Day of School
  • Thursday, June 4 -- Full Day of School
  • Thursday, June 4 -- Last Day of School for Kindergarten Students ONLY
  • Friday, June 5 -- Last Day of School--Early Dismissal at Noon
  • Friday, June 5 -- Kennywood Picnic Day!
  • Monday, June 8 -- Teacher Inservice Day
  • Tuesday, June 9 -- 1/2-Day Teacher Records Day
  • Wednesday, June 17 -- Report Cards Mailed

    HAVE A GREAT SUMMER!  WE'LL SEE YOU ON TUESDAY, AUGUST 25!