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New Students

Welcome to Radio Park Elementary! 

We know starting a new school - whether you're new to the area, are transferring from another school in town, or have a new kindergartener - brings with it a lot of questions. Hopefully the following information will answer some of those questions for you! If you have more, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.

If you are brand new to the area and would like more general information about living in State College, we'd love to help! We have Radio Park families who are ready and waiting to help out families who are new to the area. If you would like to be matched with a family, email us and we will set you up.

Summer / Before School Starts

School Supplies

The PTO provides all the school supplies for all students in the school! This ensures that all students have exactly what the teacher wants them to have for the school year, and it makes back-to-school time a little less stressful for families!

The only school supplies you will need for your student are:

  • a backpack
  • a water bottle
  • a lunch box, if they will be packing a lunch
  • possibly headphones (some teachers provide these, so wait to hear from your student's teacher)

Occasionally individual teachers may ask for donations of items for their classrooms, like boxes of tissues, paper towels, or ziploc bags. 

CEEL - Before / After School Program

CEEL (Community Education Extended Learning) is a before and/or after school program open to elementary students in all of the elementary schools. Detailed information about CEEL can be found on the district website. Specific information about the CEEL program at Radio Park can be found on the Radio Park website. 

The program runs each school day from dismissal until 5:30 pm. A morning program is available at each school from 7:30 am until 7:55 am if a minimum enrollment is reached. 

If a child is enrolled in CEEL, there is also the option to add an "inservice package" that includes care during 7 inservice days throughout the school year. 

Teacher Assignments

Teacher assignments will come out in ParentSquare about a week before school starts. 

You will also receive an email from your student's teacher about a week before school welcoming them to the class. This email typically contains a class list, so your student can see who else is in their class.

Getting to and from School

School Start Time and Drop-off Information

The school day officially begins at 8:09 am. Students are allowed to enter the building starting at 7:50 am. If they enter the school before 7:55 am, they will be supervised in the cafeteria until they can go to their classrooms at 7:55 am. 

Dismissal and Pick-up Information

Dismissal at the end of the day is by grade, starting with the youngest:

  • Kindergarten dismisses at 2:53 pm
  • Grades 1 and 2 dismiss at 2:55 pm
  • Grades 3 through 5 dismiss at 2:58 pm

Busses typically pull out of the parking lot around 3:03 pm. 

Parents who pick up their students need to go to the parent and visitor parking lot. If you are staying in your car, you should pull up as far as possible in the carpool lane. If you are going to get out of your car, please park in the parking lot and walk up to the dismissal door. Parents picking up their children are asked to have a sign with their child's name on it to help with the dismissal process. If you are staying in your car, display the sign prominently in a window. 

Bussing

Bus routes, including times for pickup and drop off, are posted in ParentSquare approximately one week before school starts. 

Bussing is free and available for any student that lives at least one mile away from Radio Park. 

The Transportation page on the district website provides great information about bussing in the district, including:

  • what to do if your child needs to get off at different stops different days of the week
  • bussing when school starts late or lets out early
  • bussing to child care facilities

Biking to school

Students can ride bicycles or scooters to school. There are multiple bike racks that can be used to lock up bicycles during the school day. At this time, none of the bike racks are covered, so bicycles can get wet if it rains or snows during the day.

The School Day

Lunch

There is an excellent lunch program at Radio Park! Every day there are two entree options (one is always vegetarian), plenty of fruit and veggie side options, and white or chocolate milk. Occasionally there are also dessert treats offered!

Menus are posted on the Food Services page of the district website, along with information about applying for free/reduced meals, lunch prices, and information about allergies and special diets. 

In order to pay for school lunches, families will need to set up a MySchoolBucks account. Once the account is set up, families can either deposit money in the account through the website (for a fee) or can send checks to the district food services office. 

Every class has approximately 30 minutes for lunch. There are designated "allergy aware" tables in the cafeteria for students who would feel safer in that environment. 

A fun lunch tradition at Radio Park is the fancy table! Students are randomly chosen to sit at the fancy table with a friend. It's just like it sounds - a fancy table complete with a table cloth, flowers, and seasonal decorations. When they finish eating, there are games and activities at the fancy table for them to do while they wait for the lunch period to end. 

Recess

All classes go out for a 30 minute recess every day. Many classes also go outside for a short 10-15 minute "brain break" during the day. 

District guidelines in the student and family handbook are adhered to when determining if recess will be held outside.

Students are required to have appropriate outerwear when the weather is cold or snowy. But we don't ever want the lack of a coat, boots, or mittens to stop a child from getting to play outside during their recess. The PTO has set up a community closet that is filled with coats, snow pants, boots, mittens and hats for students to use if they don't have something at school with them. 

Specials

The school days are on a five day cycle, numbered 1 through 5. Each day the students will have one of five special classes. For example, a class may have art on day 1, STEM on day 2, music on day 3, library on day 4, and PE on day 5. These special classes are :

  • Art - with Mrs. Dalton
  • Library - with Mrs. Herring
  • Music - with Mrs. Mazer
  • PE - with Mr. Moriarta
  • STEM - with Mrs. Albright

Classroom teachers will communicate the schedule their class will follow for specials, with families, before school starts.

Kindergarten

There are several important dates new kindergarten families need to be aware of near the end of the summer.

This year, kindergarten screening takes place on Wednesday, August 6 and Thursday August 14. Families will receive an email from the school to sign up for a time slot. Your child will meet the kindergarten teachers and do some activities with each of them. 

First Day of School

The first day of school is a little different for kindergarteners than for the rest of the grades. School starts on Tuesday, August 26, 2025. On that day, kindergarteners only come to school for a short period of time with a parent. This first day of school is typically less than 2 hours. Both parents and students will have a chance to get to know their classroom teacher and para. Your child's teacher will communicate the specific time for your child's class closer to the start of school. 

The first full day of school for kindergarteners will be Wednesday, August 27. 

Communication

There are a variety of websites, apps and emails that the district, school and teachers use to communicate with families. Mr. Raup sends an e-mail update on the last school day of most weeks, and the occasional message during the week. All teachers send weekly updates.

Some apps you may want to download include:

  • ParentSquare is used to send updates from the district and the school.
  • PowerSchool is the district's student information system that will provide you with valuable information about your child and their school experience.
  • MySchoolBucks is used to provide your student with lunch money.
  • Securly is used by the district to filter student internet activity. The Securly Parent App can be used to monitor your child's usage of their school-issued Chromebook.
  • Seesaw is used mostly in the younger grades for communication with teachers.

Emails you may want to receive include:

The full district student and family handbook is also available on the Radio Park website and may have answers to other questions you  have.