General Information and Links for Parents/ Students

Baldwin County Public Schools offers AfterSchool Care at 26 elementary schools in the district. AfterSchool Care Programs serve students beginning in Pre-K. All students must attend the AfterSchool Care Program on the campus of their day school. Busing students is not an option. 

Learn more about the BCBE Bullying Policies and what to do if your student is bullied at this link. 

Q. Is bus service available in my neighborhood? What do I need to do to allow my child to ride the bus?

A. The Transportation Department for Baldwin County Schools oversees the daily operation of more than 400 bus routes. About half of our students ride the bus. Baldwin buses travel more than 21,000 miles each day. Please contact your school prior to the beginning of the school year if you have additional questions. Routes are subject to change depending on availability. 

Please click here to be directed to the student and staff calendars as well as the reporting periods calendar with graduation, grading periods, testing, and other details. 

Q. What if I choose to take my child to school myself?

A. Please contact your local school prior to the beginning of school to determine where you may safely drop off and pick up your child. Each school has very specific traffic flow patterns for the safety of all of our students. You will also learn what time students may enter the building and when they will be deemed tardy to school. Contact your school office for more details. 

What are the procedures for checking a student in late to school, or checking a student out early? Parents or guardians must check their child out through the front office of the school. No child will be allowed to leave campus without the express consent of their parent or guardian. Early checkouts are discouraged; however, in the case of a medical necessity, it is requested that a doctor's note is submitted to the office the next day. Please check with your school to learn more about their policies. 

Baldwin County Public Schools Child Nutrition Programs serves over 10,000 breakfasts and 20,000 lunches at over 45 schools throughout Baldwin County. Delicious, nutritious meals are prepared by CNP staff in the cafeterias daily. Menus are customized to meet the dietary standards set forth by the state and federal guidelines. Child nutrition programs help ensure children have access to nutritious meals and snacks in schools, summer programs, and after-school programs.

Q. How can I get timely and regular communication from my child's school and the school system? 

A. Please make sure your contact information is accurate when you register your child and that it is updated should any e-mail addresses or phone numbers change throughout the year. We have instant communication that is regularly used to keep parents updated and to alert parents of any urgent matter. SOCIAL MEDIA: In addition to the BCBE Website, please join our school system Facebook page: @BCBEAlabama, Instagram page: @baldwincountypublicschools, Twitter: @BaldwinSchools and LinkedIn @Baldwin County Public Schools

The Curriculum page is produced on behalf of the Baldwin County Board of Education in compliance with Act 2024-35. Found on www.bcbe.org/curriculum viewers will find each school broken down by grade level and study. These sections will provide the standards, learning goals, and primary and secondary instructional material. In many instances, there are additional instructional materials provided by the classroom teacher which could range from letters on the wall to a classroom library or reading materials. Parents and guardians should reach out to their child's classroom teacher for additional information.

Baldwin County students are required to wear school-appropriate clothing to school daily. Please check your school's student handbook for guidance. For complete guidelines, see the Dress Code Policy in the Student Handbook..

What are the requirements for excused absences? (BOE policy 6.1.4) 

State law allows for absences to be excused for the following reasons: 

1. Illness of the student 

2. Death in the immediate family 

3. Inclement weather which would be dangerous to the life and health of the student, as determined by the principal 

4. Legal quarantine 

5. Emergency conditions or extenuating circumstances as determined by the principal 

6. Religious holidays, upon receiving prior approval from the student’s principal (the Superintendent’s designee)

The parent/legal custodian or guardian must provide a written explanation (excuse) to the school homeroom teacher for each student’s absence within three (3) days of the student’s return to school.

Parents of students in grades K-12 may submit up to nine (9) parent-written excuses per calendar year and may be required to submit an excuse for late check-ins and early checkouts. After nine (9) absences have accrued in a year, a doctor’s or legal excuse may be required for additional absences to be excused. (Please note that a doctor’s excuse should reflect that a student actually visited or was seen by an actual physician, physician’s assistant, or nurse practitioner who is not also the parent of the child)

Intellectually gifted children and young people are those who perform at or have demonstrated the potential to perform at high levels in academic or creative fields when compared with others of their age, experience, or environment.  These children and young people require services not ordinarily provided by the regular school program.  Children and young people possessing these abilities can be found in all populations, across all economic strata, and in all areas of human endeavor. Gifted students may be found within any race, ethnicity, gender, economic class, or nationality.  In addition, some students with disabilities may be gifted. Click here to learn more. 

All Baldwin County schools use PowerSchool for recording grades and attendance. Click here to access the portal. At the beginning of the school year, you will be provided with a user id and password for each of your children who are enrolled in school. You may then access online grades by going to the website for your child's school, clicking on the online grades icon in the upper left panel, and entering the user id and password. You will be able to view your child's grades for each course, along with attendance and discipline records.

Are you a grandparent, other relative, or close friend who’s raising a child as their primary caregiver? Are there times that you have questions about your student’s school life? How do I check grades, and attendance, pay fees, sign up for sports, and qualify for scholarships? Wait, what is FAFSA, My School Bucks, PowerSchool? My student is gifted, wants to do Co-Op, and takes AP classes!! Learn more at this link. 

The school system has a Registered School Nurse and/or a Licensed Practical Nurse assigned to each school. If your child requires a special medical procedure, the child’s physician will need to provide medical orders for your child’s care. Please contact the Supervisor of Health Services or your assigned school nurse before the planned date of enrollment. This will allow the nurse adequate time to plan for your child's arrival and ensure a smooth transition to your new school. The Health Services Supervisor can be reached at 251-239-4327. The school’s office personnel will provide you the contact information for your child’s assigned school nurse.

Learn more about homeschool for students and what the requirements are in Baldwin County at this link. . 

Q. What are the immunization requirements?

Children entering school in the fall are required by Alabama Law to present a Certificate of Immunization formerly known as a “Blue Card “.
 Children entering Kindergarten need boosters of DTaP, Polio, MMR and Varicella. These shots complete the childhood series for Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis (DTap), Polio (IPV), Measles Mumps Rubella (MMR) and Varicella.
 Children age 11 and entering the 6th grade need a Tdap vaccination. In addition, children in this age group are strongly recommended to receive HPV (a cancer preventing vaccine) and MCV4 which protects against the most common types of meningitis.
 If you are unsure if your child needs immunizations, check with your pediatric provider or the local County Health Department. For more information, visit the Alabama Department of Public Health website at www.adph.org/immunization

Q: My child receives medication daily. Will there be someone at school to safely assist with his or her medication?

A: Your child will receive medication from a licensed nurse or a trained medication assistant. The school nurses are required to follow the Alabama Board of Nursing and the State Department of Education standards and guidelines in order to administer medications in the schools. All medication assistants receive a maximum of 12 hours of medication training before permission is granted to assist with medication administration.  A Prescriber/Parent Authorization Form must be signed before a child may receive prescription medication. The Prescriber/ Parent Authorization form is on the Health Services Section of this website. For more info., please review the Health Services section of the website, especially the section titled: Medication at School.

Baldwin County Public Schools Child Nutrition Programs serves over 10,000 breakfasts and 20,000 lunches at over 45 schools throughout Baldwin County. Delicious, nutritious meals are prepared by CNP staff in the cafeterias daily. Menus are customized to meet the dietary standards set forth by the state and federal guidelines. Child nutrition programs help ensure children have access to nutritious meals and snacks in schools, summer programs, and after-school programs. To access the menus, click here. 

The OneVoice program is a program that we have in place at ALL of our schools. Students can use it AND parents can use it. You can use it via text or the web to anonymously report acts of bullying, aggression, violence, drugs, or other abusive or illegal concerns. If using the program by text you must use your school’s code, so be sure to look that up. If using the website, you can easily select the school to which you want the complaint to go. 

Once submitted, the complaint goes to all of my administrators at that school who have been instructed to take the proper actions. It also provides a system of accountability for us to track and make sure we are engaging these issues in a timely and effective manner. To learn more click here. 

Fees are set by your local school. Please contact your local school or check the school's registration information for details. Check your school's website. School fees can be paid at the school office or online. You can find the school fee payment link at this link. 

Q. Do you allow a student to attend a school out of zone?

A. In order to adequately project school facility needs in our rapidly growing county, currently the Board of Education only allows a zone variance – the ability to attend a school outside of one's own zone – in the case of extreme hardship, which is usually mostly medical in nature. Zone variances are not granted for the sake of convenience. If you believe you are eligible for a zone variance due to extreme hardship, please fill out the zone variance form located here: 

BCBE EdTech created a Parent Tech Portal to assist parents with the technology tools that are being used by your children district-wide basis. We will be updating this site often as we encounter frequent questions from parents. Click here to access the Parent Portal. 

Q. What do you offer for Kindergarten and Pre-Kindergarten students?

Note: On May 10, 2016, Governor Robert Bentley signed into law Alabama Act #2016-297. Beginning with the 2016-2017 school year, the Act requires local education agencies to allow a child who is six years of age on or before December 31 to enroll in first grade. This extends the timeframe from the current date of on or before September 1 for first grade only. It does NOT extend the timeframe for enrollment in kindergarten.

Act #2016-297 amends the Alabama Code (1975), §16-28-4, minimum age for admission to first grade - a child who is 6 years of age on or before September 1 or the date on which school begins in the enrolling school system shall be entitled to admission to the public elementary schools at the opening of such schools for that school year or as soon as practical thereafter. 

Please refer to our Pre-K and Kindergarten pages for more information: Click here for Pre-K or  Click here for Kindergarten information.

Q. How can I be certain which school my child should attend?

A. Click on the School Zone Locator, read the disclaimer, press "enter" and then type in your address to see the schools that serve your address. The web-based school locator page is provided as a fast-reference service. It is very important that you contact the schools it lists to ensure that the information is indeed correct.

Q: What if your child received special education services at their previous school?

A.  The Baldwin County Board of Education will continue to provide special education services to students who transfer into the district with an active Individualized Education Plan (IEP). To help make this transition as smooth as possible, it is important to provide a copy of your child's most recent IEP and evaluation at registration if the information is available.   If the IEP is available, it will be implemented as written (including services comparable to those in the IEP from the previous school).  Additional records, if needed, will be requested from the previous school.  A special education teacher will contact the parent/guardian to schedule a meeting to review these services and determine if further evaluations are needed to meet the Alabama Administrative Code (AAC) criteria.

Review the BCBE Student & Parent Handbook and Code of Conduct in English and Spanish.

Q. What about summers and holidays? What programs are available for my child?

A. Summer activity opportunities abound for students across the county. Our school facilities are used for athletic clinics, conditioning exercise classes, and summer music and art instruction; you can find dates for these activities on this website or on the local school's website. Academic programs such as Camp Invention are also hosted by our schools.  Summer Programs are offered by the Afterschool Childcare Program at select locations within each feeder pattern.

DISCIPLINARY POINT SYSTEM- AGE OF STUDENT ELIGIBILITY. 

Disciplinary point system - Age of student eligibility. (a)Notwithstanding any other provision of law, each student over the age of 12 years who is enrolled in a public or private secondary school shall be subject to a disciplinary point system for an infraction committed on school property to determine the age at which the student shall be allowed to apply for a learner's permit, motor-driven cycle operator's license, driver's license, or any license required by the State of Alabama for the operation of a motor vehicle or vessel. Click here to learn more about Taylor's Law.

If you are a parent and need assistance with the computer programs that are used by BCBE students in the classroom click this link for additional assistance.