Eagle's Nest Newsletter

Hello Heritage Families!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Back to School! We have had a wonderful launch into the 2023-2024 school year! Thank you to all of the families who joined us for our Back to School Bash! The HCCS staff was impressed with how many families supported our Back to School Bash. We all enjoyed seeing returning families and meeting new families.

During the first weeks of school, teachers spend time reviewing and practicing many school expectations with students. Part of our school expectations include practicing for fire drills and lockdown drills. Fire drills are conducted monthly. Lockdown drills will be conducted at least three times during the school year. Practicing for these events helps the staff and students know what to do in case of an emergency.

Our beginning of year math and literacy testing is happening now. As educators, it’s important for us to know your kiddos’ math and literacy levels so we can tailor instruction to meet their needs. Teachers will review this information with you during our Parent/Teacher conferences happening at the end of September.

Thanks for all you do to support your kiddo with their education and for being a part of the HCCS community!

Mrs. Mullanix

Principal/Executive Director

SEPTEMBER 4

Labor Day / NO SCHOOL

SEPTEMBER 26 - 28

Scholastic Book Fair

SEPTEMBER 27

Parent/Teacher Conferences - 4pm - 8pm (after school)

SEPTEMBER 28

Parent/Teacher Conferences - 8am - 8pm / NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

SEPTEMBER 28

Uniform Exchange - 4pm - 8pm

SEPTEMBER 29

NO SCHOOL

Hello HCCS families! We are so excited to start our school year with so many wonderful smiles! We have great news in our counseling department, we now have a part time counselor Ms. Cristina Medrano. We understand how important it is for every student to be at school in order gain confidence in learning and become more proficient learners. We want to celebrate every time our students are in school! We have initiated some fun classroom incentives with both individual and classroom prizes to celebrate attendance. Ask your students each Friday if they got randomly selected to win a fun prize for being here every day!

When a student misses 10% or more (about 18 days) in the year, we call it CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM. Students sometimes develop school anxiety because they are falling behind. Every day that students attend school they are investing in their dreams and working towards building their abilities to perform well academically and gain new emotional and social skills. Student’s success starts with being at school on time and every day! Enjoy this fun video on the link below!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcH6kBNH2FQ

We recognize that after COVID, many students have struggled with coming back to school. Please let us know if we can help you with your student.

Mrs. Williams and Ms. Medrano.

COUNSELING DEPARTMENT INFORMATION

Alba Williams: awilliams@hccs481.org

Christina Medrano: cmedrano@hccs481.org

As we begin the new school year, we'd like to remind families and students about use of electronics and cellular devices at school. We'd like to thank you in advance for your partnership in discussing these expectations with your child(ren) at home. It is our expectation that students and staff value and prioritize instructional time. This includes the elimination of distractions, such as personal electronic devices. Our commitment to reinforcing expectations at home and at school will promote academic success by allowing students to focus on learning during school hours.

Personal electronic devices include, but are not limited to, cell phones, earbuds/headphones, laptops, tablets, and smartwatches. These devices are not permitted during school hours (8am - 3pm), including passing time and lunch. Student cell phones are prohibited inside the school building, in the parking lot, or on the playground before and after school. Students found to be in possession of these devices will have them confiscated. School issued devices may be used at the teacher’s discretion during instructional time. Personal headphones or earbuds may be used under staff direction to support classroom instruction.

We appreciate your help by taking time to review these expectations with your child(ren) and look forward to a great year of learning!

Families can find the most up-to-date information regarding forms here, just click on the links below this message.

CONSTRUCTION: Parents and visitors, due to the roundabout construction, there is a weak spot at the entrance of our parking lot. Once the parking lot is full, please wait on Ustick Rd. When cars begin to move in the parking lot proceed to the parking lot.

PICK-UP TIME: There are 3 lanes to pick up your child. If you have a kinder student, the first lane is the closest to the kinder pick-up area. However, your child can be picked up from any lane.

• Please pull in as close as possible, as this assists with the Ustick traffic congestion.
• Parent parking is in the southwest of the parking lot.
• Stay in your vehicle and a staff member will come to a car waiting in the parent lanes.

We have scheduled bus safety training with our K-5 students on the morning of Thursday, September 7th. Brown Bus will teach each class the importance of staying safe, both inside and outside of the bus. Please review the safety rules with your children and be sure to contact Brown Bus at 208-455-2532 if you have any questions.

Walk Safety Zone

As always, our main concern is your child’s safety. To help accomplish this ALL students are expected to follow the BUS SAFETY RULES. These rules are essential to keeping each child safe and to reducing the distraction to the bus driver. It also helps to ensure that your child has a pleasant ride, anytime they ride the bus.

Instructions For Leaving a Bus

Stay away from the NO WALK ZONE.

When leaving the bus, take 3 GIANT STEPS OUT.

Then 10 GIANT STEPS FORWARD & WAIT FOR THE DRIVER TO SIGNAL YOU ACROSS.

Then follow the WALK ZONE to Safety.

Teaching Your Child

Teach your child to get on and off the bus safely. Assure your children that you will not get mad if they don’t go back for a jacket they’ve left on the bus, or schoolwork they’ve dropped under a wheel. To help ensure that you and your child understand the Bus Safety Rules and that your child has a safe and positive ride to and from school. PLEASE review the Bus Safety Rules with your child.

Bus Safety Rules

(S) Swearing or obscene language is not acceptable.

(A) Always remain seated and facing forward.

(F) Follow drivers’ directions the first time.

(E) Everyone will be held responsible for their actions.

(T) Treat equipment and others with respect.

(Y) You must keep your hands to yourself and inside the bus.

Mrs. Seamons is so passionate and dedicated to building our music program into the best that it can be that she's starting a special after-school class just for 4th and 5th grade students to begin learning to play string instruments. The classes will be every Wednesday and Thursday from 3:15-4:00pm. By the time these students get into 6th grade, they will be worlds ahead of the game if they take advantage of the opportunity to learn in advance.

In addition to after-school strings, Mrs. Seamons is starting an Honor Choir for 6th and 7th grade students this year! Students will be practicing with Mrs. Seamons 2 days a week during morning advisory period throughout the remainder of the year and will get to perform at 5 assemblies for our student body, and 5 concerts that are open to the public!

If your child would like to participate, please complete the attached forms and have them return it to the office, their teacher or directly to Mrs. Seamons.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact Mrs. Seamons at jseamons@hccs481.org or call the office at 208-453-8070.

For the first few days of school, we anticipate an increased amount of parent drop-offs in the morning. Please be patient as we also have new drivers (students) coming to school as well. With busses, families, and students using one driving entrance from Route 5 to JHS, we ask that everyone remains patient. Here are a few points of emphasis that will make the car line move efficiently:

1. Always look out for pedestrians.

2. Please pull forward in the drop-off lane to allow the cars behind you to drop off students as well.

3. On the map, the red lines correspond to parking cones that does not allow drive through actions.

4. For safety purposes, please remember that only students and staff are to use the second entrance to the student parking lot.

It was great to meet so many families at the Back to School Bash! PTSO is looking forward to a great year supporting HCCS through volunteering and fundraising. We need parent volunteers for this to happen and we're always happy to have new people involved. Our PTSO meetings this year will be held at 5:30PM on November 29, February 28, and April 17.

We would love to have you join us! Our upcoming plans include coordinating the teacher dinner for parent teacher conferences and planning the Harvest Festival. Want to help but can't make it to meetings? No problem! Keep an eye out for the volunteer sign up links through emails and our Facebook page. Helping through the sign ups is incredibly helpful for PTSO. Connect with us on Facebook at facebook.com/HCCSPTSO or email at ptso@hccs481.org

Our Parent University will provide important information regarding our school, as well as tips and educational materials that can help guide you and your children as they navigate through their growing years. This will be an ongoing project and will be updated with new information periodically. We hope it will provide useful tools and resources that will benefit everyone.

ADDRESS:

Heritage Community Charter School

1803 E. Ustick Road

Caldwell, ID 83605

(298) 453-8070

INTERNET/SOCIAL MEDIA:

WEBSITE: www.heritagecommunitycharter.com

FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/heritageschool