As Kent County Public Schools begins the 2023-24 school year, we know there is a lot of information being sent out to our families. This page includes information and links to help you get your students ready to return to our classrooms this fall!

Scroll down for information and links on:

• The First Day of School, Open Houses and the KCPS Calendar

• Updated School Times for 2023-24

• School Supply Lists

• School Contact Information

• Menus and Student Meal Information

• Our App and Keeping Up With the Latest KCPS News

• School Listings, Staff Directories, Forms and Family Resources 

The 2023-24 school year officially begins after Labor Day, with KCPS' traditional staggered start for grades.

First- through sixth-graders and ninth-grade students all have their first day of school on Tuesday, Sept. 5.

Those students in seventh and eighth grades and 10th through 12th grades are back in school starting Wednesday, Sept. 6.

Prekindergartners and kindergartners start their school year Thursday, Sept. 7.

Leading into the Labor Day holiday weekend, all schools will hold open houses on Thursday, Aug. 31.

Kent County High School's open house will be held from 9 to 10 a.m.

 

Kent County Middle School follows with an open house from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.

H.H. Garnet, Galena and Rock Hall elementary schools will all hold their open houses that afternoon from 2 to 3 p.m.

Families can keep up with important dates with Kent County Public Schools' online calendar. Our calendar page lists important upcoming dates, features an interactive online calendar and includes a downloadable school year calendar to help families with advance planning for breaks.

 

The start and end times for our three elementary schools have changed for the upcoming year.

 

For the 2023-24 year, the school day for Galena, H.H. Garnet and Rock Hall elementary schools will start and end earlier.

 

This year, the arrival time at the elementary schools is 8:35 a.m., with instruction beginning at 9 a.m. Elementary school dismissal will start at 3:25 p.m. for walkers and 3:40 p.m. for bus riders.

 

The times for Kent County Middle School and Kent County High School remain the same as last year.

 

The school times are: 

 

Arrival/Breakfast: 8:35 a.m.

Instruction Begins: 9:00 a.m.

Dismissal of Walkers: 3:25 p.m.

Dismissal of Bus Riders: 3:40 p.m.

Students enter: 7:25 a.m.

Instruction Begins: 7:35 a.m.

Student Dismissal: 2:25 p.m.

Buses Depart: 2:30 p.m.

 

Lists of supplies for students for the 2023-24 school year are posted below. They also can be found on each school's webpage.

Our school menus are posted monthly. Families can view them online or download and print them from our Menu page.

Kent County Public Schools is fortunate to be able to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students. KCPS is able to provide free meals at all five schools through a program called Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

 

While the benefit of the CEP program is immense to our community, the lack of information that is generally available from the Free and Reduced application could hinder other beneficial programs, grants and funding opportunities.

 

KCPS is asking that you take a moment to complete the following form so that we can have the information needed to pursue every opportunity for our students.

My School Bucks is an optional service for parents to view recent purchases and make prepayments to your child’s cafeteria account for meal and snack purchases via the Internet with a credit card/debit card.

  

There are four easy steps to enroll:

1. Go to www.myschoolbucks.com and click "Sign up today."

2. Create an account for yourself and add your children. You will need your student’s name exactly as it appears on their report card. 

3. (Optional) Provide credit or debit card information if you would like to make pre-payments to your child’s account.

4. Select a Meal Payment Option to make a prepayment or select your child’s name to view recent purchases.

Download our free app from the Apple App Store or Google Play to stay up to date with the latest news and information from Kent County Public Schools.