Highland High School Newsletter: November 2019

Monday, November 18, 2019

Highland Newsletter 11/18-11/27/19

Dear Highland Parent, Student, and Ram Supporter,

Festival of Trees 10 Year Anniversary is here! This event is held at the ISU Stephens Performing Arts Center. The Grand Opening Gala is November 19, 2019. The Children's Royal Tea Party is Friday November 22nd Session I is at 4pm and Session II is at 7pm. The Festival of Trees is open to the public on November 20-23, 2019. This is a wonderful event where proceeds go to supporting the education of our students in the Pocatello/Chubbuck School District #25. The money earned from the event goes to the Pocatello/Chubbuck School District Education Foundation. For more information and to purchase tickets please visit the website=
http://fot.sd25.us/

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Highland will be performing the musical Mama Mia. Auditions for Mama Mia will be on the following schedule=

Monday 12/9/19 3pm-6pm: Acting-cold reads.
Tuesday 12/10/19 4pm-7pm: Singing-prepare 2 minutes of a broadway musical song.
Wednesday 12/11/9 4pm-6pm: Dancing-come ready to move.
Thursday 12/12/19: Day off-work on learning your call back songs.
Friday 12/13/19 4pm-6pm: Call backs.

Please make note of the dates and feel free to speak with Director Alix Van Noy if you are interested in auditioning.

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The school food service cash register has been moved from the end to the beginning of the food line. This change means that a student will not be allowed to go through the food line if they have fees. Please make note of this change and make sure that all food service fees are paid.

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During the first trimester with the implementation of our new attendance procedures our student attendance increased dramatically and as a result so did the number of students who were in classrooms learning and earning the credits they need towards graduation. We are excited about how positively students responded to the attendance procedures during the first trimester. We specifically focused on absences. This 2nd trimester we will add in tardies. The following procedures will be followed regarding tardies, starting the first day of the 2nd trimester:

Student Tardiness at the Secondary Level

Students who arrive late disrupt the learning environment of the classroom. Tardiness at the secondary level is a condition for which a student arrives less than 15 minutes after the start of class. Any student who is tardy beyond 15 minutes of class time may be reported as absent. Teacher/Attendance Clerk is responsible for monitoring and recording student tardiness.

Corrective action for student tardiness is within the scope of student discipline. Should a student be under the jurisdiction of juvenile authorities, student tardiness shall be reported to the student’s probation officer.

Interventions/Consequences for Student Tardiness at the Secondary Level

Tardy #1	Student is warned by the teacher about the disruption.
Tardy #2	Warning and notification given through automated voice, email, and text from school administration of potential consequences.
Tardy #3	Warning and notification given through automated voice, email, and text from school administration of potential consequences. Student assigned community service and check in with school administration.
Tardy #4	Warning and notification given through automated voice, email, and text from school administration of potential consequences. Student assigned community service and check in with school administration.
Tardy # 5+	Truancy and absence are issued. Notification given through automated voice, email, and text from school administration. Every subsequent 5^th tardy equals another truancy and another absence for the specific class or classes in which the student has excessive tardies.

Truancies and Assigned Consequences

Whether a student is found truant from a class or classes, has excessive absences leading to truancy, or has excessive tardies leading to truancy, they will all be added together and result in the following consequences=

Truancy 1	Warning and notification given through automated voice, email, and text from school administration of potential consequences for continued truancies.
Truancy 2	Warning and notification given through automated voice, email, and text from school administration of potential consequences for continued truancies. Friday Night School or Community Service assigned by school administration.
Truancy 3	Warning and notification given through automated voice, email, and text from school administration that the student has 5 days to submit an appeal and must also adhere to the criteria of the appeal or the student will lose credit and be unenrolled from the class or classes from which they have truancies.
Truancy 4+	Notification given through automated voice, email, and text from school administration that the student loses credit and is unenrolled from the class or classes from which they have multiple truancies. If the student is 15 years of age or younger they will be referred to the School Resource Officer for a citation for habitual truancy.

Please contact Principal Wallace with questions or concerns. To see the attendance procedures in their entirety please visit:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1avmkSRYZEd2hkaofhOIrbezcNyM0NdCkssb1DatQRHU/edit?usp=sharing

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There has been continued problems in the school parking lots with students parking in unassigned spots or in areas that are non-parking areas. The following procedures will be followed starting the 2nd trimester and moving forward.

If a student has a current parking pass and is parked in an unassigned parking spot they will receive a $10 ticket. If they continue to park in an unassigned parking spot, they will receive another $10 ticket. On the third time they are found doing so, they will be towed by Denny's Wrecker Service. The cost to get your car from the tow yard is $140-$200. An additional fee of $40 a night is applied if not picked up in a timely manner.

If a student does not have a current parking pass and is parked in an unassigned location they will automatically be towed.

If a student with or without a current parking pass parks in a spot that is not an assigned parking location, they will be towed automatically.

Please advise your student-drivers to be prudent and park in the appropriate areas. If not it could be an expensive mistake. Thank you!

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Here attached are the latest agenda/minutes from our Parent Advisory Group Meeting and our Highland Leadership Team Meeting. Feel free to leave a comment for feedback on the agenda/minutes through the google doc and they will be reviewed by school administration.

Highland Leadership Team Meeting on 11/4/19
https://docs.google.com/document/d/10LbzQyF50mik5hzkA89K_1UwB_593aIf_I_LW0p7DZk/edit?usp=sharing

Parent/Advisory Group Meeting on 11/7/19
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DdOcGvO-hyQUTIiavv_KfO4XqkKF5BNjL9rvyizgaOY/edit?usp=sharing

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Math Tutoring is available on Tuesdays from 7:30-8:30am in room B14 with Mrs. Wilkinson and on Tuesday's from 4pm-5pm in room B72 with Mrs. Davies.

Also, tutoring is now set up and available on Tuesday's and Thursday's starting 9/24/19 from 4-5pm with Mrs. Roberts in Room E-56 and Mrs. Holston in Room B-19.

Yearbook's are available to order for purchase for the 2019-20 school year until November 26, 2019. Yearbook's cost $65.

With questions or concerns please contact school administration.

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The Highland Foundation is dedicated to raising money to benefit Highland High School. For example, two years ago the Highland Foundation was able to refurnish the school library from funds that were donated through the foundation, bringing it up to date and making it a powerful resource for the school. There are some benefits you can recieve from donating money to the Highland Foundation. One benefit is that you are helping improve Highland High school. Also, there are a couple of tax benefits. Your donation(s) can be written off as an itemized deduction on your Federal Taxes. In addition, there is a specialized tax rebate that can be applied to State Taxes for donations to a non-profit/public school entity allowing for up to 1/2 back.

The foundation has been working to find ways that make it easier for you to give to Highland High School. The first step in this process is establishing a Venmo account. Venmo is an app that can be downloaded to your phone and facilitates the transfer of money from one to another. Once set up, it literally takes just seconds. The Highland Foundation bank account is attached to its newly established Venmo account allowing for donations to go directly to the account. The account handle name is @HighlandFoundation, you will see Melissa Nielsen's name (the school librarian) as she is the treasurer for the Highland Foundation. You can donate up to $2,999 in one transaction. Please type in where you want this money to be donated (English, Math, Wrestling, Football, Library, Etc). If you do not specify where then it will automatically be assigned to the general account and will not be earmarked for a specific area.

For more information on Venmo, please visit-https://venmo.com/about/product/.

We appreciate your support of Highland High School. Please contact school administration with any questions or concerns.

We can think, be, and learn more as we work together to continually improve.

Go Highland Rams!

Highland High School Administration (208)237-1300

Brad Wallace-Principal (wallacbr@sd25.us) phone ext.103

Travis Bell-Assistant Principal/Athletic and Activities Director (belltr@sd25.us) phone ext.105

Jena Wilcox-Assistant Principal (wilcoxje@sd25.us) phone ext.104

Steve Morton-Assistant Principal (mortonst@sd25.us) phone ext.107

Counseling Center (208)237-1300
Tami Romriell=students with last name A-D (romrieta@sd25.us) phone ext.131
Christa Santos-Smith=students with last name E-K (santosch@sd25.us) phone ext.109
Cali Baker=students with last name L-R (bakerc1@sd25.us) phone ext.116
Tricia Harvala=students with last name S-Z (harvaltr@sd25.us) phone ext.110

School Psychologist
Debra Erlandson-(erlandde@sd25.us)

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Ticket Prices for Holt Arena:

$8-adult

$6-Middle School w/Student ID

$4-Child/Senior

$2-High School w/Student ID

$2-District Employee w/Activities Card

Ticket Prices for Events @ HHS:

$6-Adults

$5-Seniors 55 and up

$4-Children 6-14yrs.

FREE-Staff w/Activities Card

FREE-Any Pocatello School District High School Student w/Activities Card

$3-Middle School Student w/Activities Card

$4-Visiting Student(s) w/Activities Card

Family Events/Activities Passes available for $130. This gets you and your entire immediate family (except high school students-they must buy their own activity card) into any home event for the entire school year. This does NOT include Holt Arena.

Monday, November 4, 2019

Highland Newsletter 11/4-11/9/19

Dear Highland Parent, Student, and Ram Supporter,

Due to the high number of students, it is difficult to make schedule changes, however, we do understand that the need may exist for some students. We categorize schedule changes as

1)preference schedule changes=the classes a student prefers to change, but may not be entirely necessary,

and 2)misplaced or "see Counselor" schedule changes=the kind where there has been a mistake in a students schedule or if their schedule says "see Counselor" the schedule needs to be changed.

We will be focusing our efforts on schedule changes for 2nd trimester.

Also, in winding down the trimester, a reminder that we do not give out early finals in our district. Students who may be gone during finals will need to seek administrative approval for making up their finals within the first week of the 2nd trimester.

Here is the schedule for winding down the 1st trimester:

11/4=Students receive their 2nd trimester schedules during Advisory.

11/5-11/8=Preference (those classes students prefer to change) Schedule Changes=Before school and at lunch.

11/14-11/15=Finals Schedule

11/18=No School for students, Record Day-Grades Posted.

11/19=1st Day of 2nd Trimester.

11/19-11/21=Counselors will address students who have mistakes in their schedule or who have a "See Counselor" for 2nd trimester, they will not address preference (those classes students prefer to change) schedule changes.

11/22=No more schedule changes for 2nd Trimester.

For questions or concerns please contact school administration.

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Next Monday 11/11/19 is Veterans Day at Highland High School. All Veteran's are invited to come and share in this day with us where we honor those who have sacrificed for our freedoms.

We will be having Russell Davies come speak at our Veteran's Day Assembly.

Russell Davies is a veteran from Pocatello that founded a nonprofit called Professional Transformation Sports Development (PTSD).

From his website we learn that the idea and mission of Professional Transformation Sports Development (PTSD) was conceived in 2012 by founder Russell Davies. Russell was recently relieved of military duty in 2011, and within a year, he had discovered kayaking to be a source of relief and rehabilitation in coping with post-military life. In establishing himself as a recognized athlete in the extreme kayaking community, he learned that outdoor sporting is as reliant on its community as it is on the activities themselves. Since coming to this realization, he's shaped his passion and focus around sharing the benefits of outdoor recreation with veterans of the U.S. Military also inflicted with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Depression. The Board of Directors for PTSD is comprised of colleagues sharing similar interests and passion in the benefits of therapeutic sporting.

After losing several close friends that had suffered from P.T.S.D. to suicide, Russell decided to make an effort to help the large community of veterans impacted by the condition. Seeing the benefits of outdoor recreation on P.T.S.D. first-hand, Russell wants to encourage veterans to work towards discovering hope and possibility in post-military life.

His experience is linked with one of our book studies we participated in at Highland this school year=No Barriers: A Blind Man's Journey to Kayak the Grand Canyon by Erik Weihenmayer. In fact, Russell has kayaked with some of those featured in the book we read last school year.

We are excited to hear about his experiences and learn from him. For more information see Russell's website-https://ptsdveteranathletes.com/index.html

Here is our bell schedule for Monday 11/11/19:

8:32-8:40AM Students report to 1st period to take roll.

8:40-9:45AM Presentation of the Flag in front of Highland.

We will then proceed to gym for the Veteran’s Day Assembly.

9:50-10:35AM 1st Hour

10:40-11:00AM Advisory

11:05-11:45AM 2nd Hour

11:50-12:30PM 3rd Hour

12:30-1:15PM Lunch

1:15-1:55PM 4th Hour

2:00-2:42PM 5th Hour

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Our drama program under the direction of newly hired Director Alix Van Noy will be presenting a mystery-farce in 3 acts by Jack Sharkey called The Murder Room. Opening night is October 31st at 7pm at the Highland Auditorium. Perfect for Halloween night. Other performances will be November 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th at 7pm with a matinee on November 2nd at 1pm. Cost of admission is Adults $7 and Students $3.

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Festival of Trees is coming up earlier this year. This event is held at the ISU Stephens Performing Arts Center. The Grand Opening Gala is November 19, 2019. The Children's Royal Tea Party is Friday November 22nd Session I is at 4pm and Session II is at 7pm. The Festival of Trees is open to the public on November 20-23, 2019. This is a wonderful event where proceeds go to supporting the education of our students in the Pocatello/Chubbuck School District #25. The money earned from the event goes to the Pocatello/Chubbuck School District Education Foundation.

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