Schedule
Come to school on time! The instructional day begins at 8:45 AM (enter the building at 8:30 to be in class by 8:45). Students not attending before care may arrive at 8:30 AM for breakfast in the classroom. If you come after 8:45 AM, stop at the main office to sign in as tardy. Failure to do so may result in your student being marked absent for the day after teachers submit attendance at 8:45 AM. If this happens, please contact the main office so that the attendance record can be corrected.
School dismissal is 3:15 PM. If you do not pick your student up on time, they will be sent to late pick-up.
Before and Aftercare
AlphaBest provides before and after care at Van Ness Elementary. Before care is available from 7:00-8:25 AM. Aftercare is available from 3:15-6:00 PM. Learn more and sign up here.
Lunch and BREAKFAST
The school provides breakfast and lunch to all students free of charge. (This is new as of February 2020.) Unlike prior years, families do not need to set up accounts to pay for lunch.
However, we strongly request that all families, no matter their income status, fill out a Free and Reduced Meal (FARM) form, no matter the income status. This helps maintain the school’s status and ability to provide free lunch to all students. Click here to fill out the FARM form.
Please find the tentative school menus here.
Families can choose to provide lunch from home for students. If you choose to provide lunch to your student they must bring it with them to school. We will not accept drop off lunches from restaurants or orders from delivery services (Uber Eats, DoorDash, Grubhub, etc.).
PLEASE NOTE: We are a nut-free school, so please ensure all items from home a free of peanuts and tree nuts.
If your child has dietary restrictions, be sure to complete the request forms. You can find them here. Email the forms to food.dcps@dc.gov or turn them in to our main office and they will be submitted for you.
Get involved!
As a parent/guardian of a Van Ness student you are automatically a member of the Parent Teacher Organization, and you don’t have to be on the Board of Directors to get involved. Click here to learn more.
Feeder Pattern
A feeder pattern school is one that a student has the right to attend based on their current school. For Van Ness Elementary, that school is Jefferson Academy, followed by Eastern High School. Click on each school to learn more about their school models and curriculum!