5300.65 - VISITORS TO THE SCHOOL

5000 - STUDENTS

Last Updated Date: 07/11/2024

Revisions History: 07/06/2023, 07/14/2022, 08/03/2021, 07/07/2021, 07/09/2020, 08/01/2019, 07/15/2019, 06/21/2001, 03/14/1994, 7/14/2022

Reaffirmed: 7/14/2025

Related Policies & Documents: 5300, 5300.05, 5300.10, 5300.15, 5300.20, 5300.25, 5300.30, 5300.35, 5300.40, 5300.45, 5300.50, 

5300.55, 5300.60, 5300.70, 5300.75

The primary responsibility of every school district is to ensure a safe and secure environment for students, staff and visitors. In order to enhance school safety, the District has taken measures to incorporate new procedures developed in collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security and the Nassau County Police Department. Accordingly, this policy is being updated to reflect the new policies and procedures.

I.  Overview

The Board of Education understands that from time to time during the course of the school year parents/guardians and other citizens have a need to visit the District’s schools.

There are occasions when parents/guardians desire to visit their child's school at other than regularly scheduled times. While these visits are important and constructive, student and staff safety is paramount and visits cannot be permitted to interfere either with the educational process or with student safety. Parents/guardians may visit their child’s school at other times in order to attend regularly scheduled events, e.g., athletic events, concerts, parent-teacher organization meetings, extracurricular events or public gatherings.

Visits to school buildings are to be in accordance with the Board regulations posted in conspicuous places.

Building Principals or their designees, security guards and building greeters are authorized to take any action they deem to be necessary in order to secure the safety of students and school personnel.

Unauthorized visitors will be requested to leave school premises immediately, and will be subject to arrest and prosecution for trespassing, pursuant to the New York State Penal Law, if they refuse. A violation of this visitation policy will be prosecuted pursuant to New York State law.

II.  Visitations During the School Day

When visitations occur during the school day, individuals who are neither students nor staff must obtain approval for the visit prior to coming to the school via a confirmed appointment with a staff member. The school day is defined as starting fifteen (15) minutes before the opening bell time and ending fifteen (15) minutes after the dismissal bell time at each school building, as follows:

Secondary School                               7:53 am to 3:23 pm

Munsey Park Elementary School       8:40 am to 3:38 pm

Shelter Rock Elementary School        8:10 am to 3:08 pm

 

Appointments should only be made on the basis of a defined need.  Parents/guardians wishing to speak with a specific teacher or staff member concerning any problems or concerns the parent/guardian may have regarding the student, whether or not school-related, must make a confirmed appointment scheduled in advance with their child's teacher, guidance counselor, District personnel and/or Building Principal.

All visitors to any of the District’s school buildings, including students from other schools or Manhasset alumni, will be held to the same appointment-based requirement and are not permitted to visit administrators, faculty or staff members without an appointment scheduled in advance.

1. Arrival at a School Campus

a. Upon arrival to the Secondary School campus (Manhasset Middle School or Manhasset High School or District Office), visitors will report to the security guard at the Secondary School campus entrance to confirm their appointment. Visitors will not be permitted to proceed onto the campus until the guard confirms that the individual has an appointment at the Secondary School or at the District Office. Once admitted to campus, visitors will proceed either to the main entrance of the Middle School, to the arches at the gym entrance at the rear of the school building, or to the main entrance of the District Office, dependent upon where their meeting is scheduled to take place.

b. Upon arrival to either of the elementary schools, visitors will report to the school’s main entrance at Munsey Park Elementary School or to the Cafeteria side entrance at Shelter Rock Elementary School.

2. Identification and Confirmation of a Scheduled Appointment

a.  ​​​​Once the visitor has proceeded to the designated entrance at the respective school building, visitors will not be permitted to proceed beyond the security vestibule until the guard/greeter confirms both of the following:

i. The visitor’s identity:

It is necessary for all visitors to bring a valid government issued photo ID (state driver’s license or equivalent) so that the guard/greeter may confirm the visitor’s identity.

ii. That the visitor has an appointment:

The guard/greeter will confirm that the individual’s name appears on that day’s list of scheduled appointments.

Identification of the visitor and confirmation that the visitor has a valid appointment rests in the sole discretion of the guard/greeter. 

b. If the individual visiting the school is planning to attend a large group meeting or event, it is necessary for them to bring the required photo ID. The individual’s name should appear on a pre-authorized list of attendees for expedited access to the meeting or event. Meeting facilitators (including but not limited to Grade Level Chairs, the School Community Association (SCA), the Coalition Against Substance Abuse (Manhasset CASA), or the Committee on Special Education) should ask participants to RSVP in advance of the meeting so that the facilitators may provide the most updated list of attendees to the school building. 

3.  Visitor’s Log

Once the guard/greeter confirms an individual’s identity (government issued photo ID, state driver’s license or equivalent) and that the individual has a scheduled appointment with a staff member, the visitor will be admitted into the security vestibule and will be asked to sign their name in the visitors’ log. 

To enter the school building and to be issued a Visitors Access Pass, a visitor will be asked to leave their photo ID in safekeeping with the guard/greeter. The photo ID will be returned to the visitor when they surrender their Visitor’s Access Pass to the guard/greeter and leave the school building.

The Visitor’s Access Pass must be clearly displayed at all times while on a school campus or in a school building. Visitors must not go beyond the confines of their specific meeting or wander elsewhere in the school building.

Visitors may be escorted to their appointment, in certain cases, or visitors may travel to their destination without an escort, at the sole discretion of the guard/greeter or Building Principal or designee. 

4. Item Drop-Off

The Board recognizes that there are times when students may need an item to be dropped off at school during the school day, such as a large musical instrument, athletic equipment, a class project or medication. The Board has established the following protocols for such instances:

a.  The parent/guardian must adhere to the specific time-frames for each school building:

• At the Secondary School:  

From 8:30 am to 10:00 am or from 2:00 pm to 2:45 pm

• At Munsey Park Elementary School:

From 9:30 am - 11 am

• At Shelter Rock Elementary School:

From 9 am - 10:30 am

b. Families will not gain access to the school building beyond the security vestibule to drop off items for their child. Bins will be placed in the security vestibule area, allowing parents/guardians to drop off the permitted items for their child. Under no circumstances may food or beverages or medication be placed in these bins.

c. At the Secondary School, bins will also be placed at the arches at the gym entrance at the rear of the school building for dropping off athletic equipment.

d. For medical issues that require the drop-off of medication or other health-related items, parents/guardians must first contact the Health Office at the respective school building and make an appointment with the School Nurse to arrange for the drop-off. This will enable the School Nurse to ensure that the Health Office has the necessary prescriptions, doctor’s orders and other aspects related to the medication.

e. Food and beverages are prohibited from being dropped off at any of the District’s schools. As a reminder, school lunch accounts may be replenished online, so there should not be any concern regarding a student being unable to eat a meal during the school day.

5. Scheduled Events

Individuals coming to one of the District’s schools to attend a school event (e.g., classroom or grade-level presentation, concert, show, athletic event) should ensure either that their names are on a list of attendees or that they have a ticket to attend the event. Attendees are encouraged to arrive sufficiently early to allow plenty of time to go through the security process, in order to make it to the activity on time.

Registration will not be required for school functions deemed to be open to the public, such as athletic games, whether or not school-related.     

6. Picking up / Dropping off Students during the school day

Parents/guardians (or an individual designated by them) who need to pick up or drop off their student from school, due to illness or medical appointments outside of school, are reminded that the following procedures must be followed in order for a student to legally be signed out of school prior to the end of their regular school day. The parent/guardian must either call the Attendance Office (at the Secondary School) or the Main Office (at either Munsey Park Elementary School or Shelter Rock Elementary School), or send their child to the respective office with a note indicating that the student will be leaving school early that day and at what time.

 a. At the scheduled time of departure, the student will report to the Attendance Office (if at the Secondary School) or the Main Office (if at either Munsey Park Elementary School or Shelter Rock Elementary School) to confirm with the staff that they are leaving school.

b. To physically sign out the child, the parent/guardian (or the individual specifically designated by them) must come into the Attendance Office (if at the Secondary School, or the Health Office in the event that the student is being sent home due to illness), or the Main Office (if at either Munsey Park Elementary School or Shelter Rock Elementary School).

c. The parent/guardian (or the individual specifically designated by them) must physically sign the pink dismissal sheet in the relevant Office, indicating that the child is officially leaving the school building.

Students cannot legally leave the school for the day unless these procedures are met, and failure to do so will lead to disciplinary consequences for the student.

 

Policy References

Education Law §2801
NY Penal Law §§140.10 and 240.35
8 N.Y.C.R.R. 100.2(l)

Previously merged into this Policy #5300.65:
1240 & 1240-R Visitors to the Schools – Policy & Regulation