Elwood Community Schools

First day: Monday, Aug. 17

Initial enrollment: 1,773, compared with 1,725 last year..

Key dates: No school on Labor Day, Sept. 7; Fall vacation, Oct. 22-23; Thanksgiving, Nov. 26-27; Christmas vacation, Dec. 21-Jan. 5; Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 18 (unless makeup day is needed); Feb. 15, Presidents Day (unless makeup day is needed); spring vacation, April 5-9; Last day of school is May 26.

What you need to know: Bus drivers will run double routes, dropping off elementary students at 7:15 a.m. Middle and high school students will then be picked up, dropped off at 7:45 a.m. Students should be at their stops at least five minutes early the first week of school. Questions about bus routes should be directed to transportation assistant Jill Cole, 552-9861, ext. 1065. ... Parents who submitted a special transportation request for a child last year must renew the request.

What’s new this year: Student use of cell phones and electronic communication and entertainment devices is prohibited during the school day. Such items must be turned off and out of sight. ... A new student dress policy requires modest dress covering shoulder to mid-thigh. Clothes must not contain holes, slashings or cuttings, and all wording and decorations must be “appropriate and in good taste. Pictures or wording involving references to sex, pregnancy, violence, alcohol, drugs, tobacco, obscenities or vulgarities including seemingly harmless but double meaning verbiage will not be allowed.” ... The high school is near completion of a green project — a $4.5 million conversion of the heating and air system to geothermal.

Who’s in charge: Superintendent Tom Austin, 552-9861, ext. 1050. E-mail taustin@elwood.k12.in.us.

Where you can get school information: The school corporation Web site, www.elwood.k12.in.us