School Info

School Hours
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday | 8:45AM - 3:15PM
Wednesday | 8:45AM - 2:45PM
Early Release Days: 12:55PM dismissal

Late Policy
It is very important that each student arrive in his/her classroom, ready to begin school, by 8:45AM. We ask that all students be in their classrooms at 8:40AM. A student who arrives after 8:45AM should go to the office to get a late slip before going to the classroom.

Absences
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Schedule
Putnam Avenue Upper School follows a five day schedule during which students take required classes and individually-identified electives. Individual schedules and homeroom assignments will be provided to students before their first day of school, and students will receive reminders of the schedule cycle to keep them on track. As they adjust to the five day cycle, homeroom will provide opportunities for reminders and announcements, as well as a familiar anchor at the start of each day.

Transportation
Cambridge Public Schools will provide transportation to all 6th-8th grade students who must walk 1.5 miles or more to their assigned schools, and to all students through grade 8 who must cross Fresh Pond Parkway, McGrath Highway, or Alewife Brook Parkway, or who must cross the railroad tracks at Sherman Street. Students who are not eligible for transportation in the morning based on their home address may be eligible to take a school bus to an after school program. Please contact Tina Fisher in the Transportation department for more information.

Arrival

• School starts at 8:45AM
• Attendance is taken at 8:45AM, scholars are considered late if they are not in their advisory by 8:45AM.
• When scholars arrive by bus, they must proceed to the playground area, where they can also eat breakfast. Scholars are expected to follow all school rules while in the playground. At 8:35AM, scholars should proceed up the blue stairwell and head to advisory for arrival.
• If a school bus arrives between 8:15AM and 8:35AM, scholars should report to the playground area for breakfast.
• If a school bus arrives after 8:45AM, scholars must report to the office to sign-in and obtain a pass to their first class. Scholars who are on that bus may still eat breakfast if they wish. The office staff will make arrangements for this.
• Scholars who are not eating breakfast at school must wait outside the Magee St. entrance until 8:35AM.

Early Dismissal
If a scholar must leave early for an appointment or other reason, the scholar must bring a signed note from a parent or guardian indicating the time the scholar needs to leave and how the scholar will be picked up. Some scholars are given parent/guardian/caregiver permission to walk to nearby doctors and dentists; in these instances, a written, signed, and dated note explaining why and when the scholar is being dismissed must be submitted to the office. All notes should be brought to the main office.

Dismissal
Scholars are dismissed at 3:15PM on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays and at 2:45PM on Wednesdays. At the end of the last period, all scholars should immediately head to their lockers to prepare for dismissal. All scholars will be escorted out of the building by school staff. Bus scholars must report to the auditorium and then exit via the Magee St. door. Walkers in the sixth grade must exit the building via the main entrance. Walkers in the seventh and eighth grade must take the orange stairwell and exit via the Putnam Ave. main entrance.

Some scholars are given parent/guardian/caregiver permission to walk to nearby appointments; in these instances, a written, signed, and dated note or email explaining why and when the scholar is being dismissed must be submitted to the office. All notes should be brought to the main office.