August 2, 2024

We hope everyone enjoyed the summer and is ready for the upcoming school year ahead.

As we approach the start of the school year, we want to ensure everyone is well-prepared and informed. Please review the following key updates and policies:

Important Information:

1. Traffic Flow and Drop-off/Pick-up Plans: Expect additional communication regarding traffic flow and student drop-off/pick-up procedures as we get closer to the first day of school.
2. Teacher Communication: Teachers will be reaching out to families once they are fully back in the building and class lists are finalized. These will be emailed to you after 4:00 pm on Thursday, August 8th.
3. Birthday Celebrations  A child’s birthday will be honored on their special day in the classroom.  Student birthdays are also recognized on the daily announcements and through a special visit to the front office.  Students with summer birthdays are encouraged to celebrate on their “half birthday” or on any other day selected by the family.  Parents should notify the teacher regarding the date selected for the summer birthday celebration.  NOTE:  No food/treats will be served for birthday celebrations.  (per our parent handbook).
4. Student’s Cell Phones/Smart Watches  During the school day these items (if brought to school) should be in a safe place such as their backpacks, cubby or on their wrist if it’s a watch. These items are not to be used during school hours. Students will be warned if they are caught using the devices.  Administration will contact parents if the issue continues.  The school will not be responsible for any loss or damage to personal property if brought to school. 
5. No dogs/pets are allowed on campus except in the two designated areas marked by signs.
6. Be prepared to show identification if you are picking your student up during the school day, or are entering the building for any reason.

We appreciate your attention to these details. Below you will find more about that start of the school year.

Principal Ryan Ball ~ hles.svvsd.org ~ [email protected] ~ highlandshawkspto

Important Dates:

Class Lists  – August 8th  @ 4:00 via email from their classroom teacher – Kinder list will not be available until August 14th.

Back to School/Supply Drop Night – August 9th (1st grade through 5th grade only) 4:00-5:00

Back to School Night and Supply Drop-off  for KINDERGARTEN – August 14th 4:00-5:00

1st Day of School (1st-5th) – August 13th

Kindergarten 1st day  – August 15th

Preschool 1st day – August 19th

Picture Day  (individual pictures) – September 5th

Late Start Days (start time: 11:30 a.m.) – Sept 4, Nov 6, Dec 4, Feb 5, Mar 5, Apr 2, May 7

Highlands continues to grow as a community and we have added new staff members to the building. Please welcome:

Stacey Horton – Dean of Students and  Kindergarten ½ day am
Carrie Loos –  Kindergarten ½  day pm

Molly McCaffrey – 1st Grade

Melissa Knoot – 3rd grade teacher (last year 2nd grade)

Maddy Hobson – Preschool teacher

Sarahbeth Smith – 5th grade teacher

Lauren Griffith – 4th grade teachers

Andrea Campbell – Preschool paraprofessional

Lyndsey Williams – School Psychologist

Hanna Williams – Kinder paraprofessional

Lydia Moore – Kinder paraprofessional (last year community school)

Jamie Roth – Speech Language Pathologist

Natalie Staple – SSN paraprofessional

Attendance – School attendance is the foundation to a successful family partnership that ensures the ongoing academic growth and advancement of your student. We strive for students to have no more than 10 excused absences each school year. A student will be considered “chronically absent” if they have missed 10% or more of the days enrolled during the public school year, whether the absences are excused or unexcused.  To report an absence please email Kate Trifiletti or call the front office at 303-702-8040. 

School Lunches are free.  You can add funds to your student account by sending cash or check (made payable to Highlands El Food Services) to the school cafeteria, or by using a credit card on RevTrak. Second servings are an additional cost of $5.00.  Families should still fill out the Free and Reduced lunch form if they believe they may qualify.This allows for some fees to be canceled or reduced such as the $10 materials fees and other student activity fees.  This form must be updated yearly, so even if you qualified last year, you will need to fill out a new form.  Here is the link to fill that form out. Online Free & Reduced Lunch Form  also available Nutrition Information.

Health Office – Medication Drop Off – All emergency and daily medications can be dropped off to our health clerk, Christina Haid, during back to school night.  Please bring the medications in their original packaging with the orders signed from your doctor.  If you need a copy of the required documents or you have any questions please email [email protected]

Kindergarten –

Information will go out separately through the Kindergarten Teachers via email. Kindergarten first day is August 15th

Preschool-

Teachers are drafting information to families which will be sent out the week of August 12th with detailed information about the daily routine for pre-k.  Preschool’s first day will be on Monday, August 19th.

Before and after School Care –

We are in the process of hiring a new Community School Coordinator and will update the contact.  Highlands is currently placing applications on a waitlist.  Our previous coordinator, Korri Anderson, will be working at the school district in a new role.  We wish her the best and will miss her at Highlands!  

Parking Lot – The front of the school and office area is located on the east side of the building.  This is also where families who are driving to school for pick ups and drop offs will park. You must park in designated spots for the safety of all the children who use this entrance area.  The south parking lot is for bus transportation and staff parking only and not be used by parents. For safety reasons this is not a designated drop off area for students.

Student Fees –  We highly encourage that families pay all fees either through Campus Payment, Rev Trak, or by check. If you have never activated your Infinite Campus account you will need to contact the school office.  New families will be sent an automated email after their account has been activated sometime after the first week in September.  We will send out a reminder via Infinite Campus shoutpoint to let you know to check your email as the set up is time sensitive.  The school does not have cash or a credit card machine.

LTP Student iPad Insurance –  window for the 2024-2025 school year opens August 1st and closes on September 15th. Parents who wish to join the insurance pool for this year will need to make at least a partial payment within this window.

This $25.00 insurance fee will be added for every eligible student K-12 on August 1st. Please note that any student with an unpaid balance for iPad insurance from the previous year will not be eligible to join the pool this year until they pay off the previous year’s balance.

The iPad insurance fee will be reduced or waived for students eligible for a free or reduced price lunch under the federal poverty income guidelines and homeless students as defined by McKinney-Vento.  Replacements and damage costs have increased.  Please click the link below for details.  Read more about the LTP Student iPad Insurance Program

<Important> The new 10th generation iPads are now equipped with a USB-C port instead of the traditional headphone jack.

To ensure families are prepared for the transition to USB-C, the District has updated the School Supply List Website to recommend USB-C headphones and have published an article with details that you can share with your families (English, Spanish).

Parent Handbook – Included here is a link to our Highlands Parent Handbook.  In it you will find our school guidelines on a variety of topics such as Building Security, Birthday Celebration Policies, Homework Guidelines, Behavior & Expectations, Core Values, and more.  It is lengthy but it will answer most of the questions you may have and give you a great overview of Highlands Elementary.

Pets – Due to health and safety concerns, pets may not come onto school grounds.  We will have two designated pet areas one in the front near the preschool playground and one on the back field for parents walking dogs to school.  Parents may wait in these designated areas, but not walk dogs any closer to the school. Please note our green pet signs.Please also note that this applies to the school day. This includes pick up and drop off times.

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