Deer Families
Deer Hill School News . September 23, 2022
Dear Deer Hill Families,
It was wonderful to see so many families at our Open House last night. Teachers enjoyed having opportunities to chat with families and introduce them to their classrooms. Additionally, families received slide decks on Wednesday that took a deeper dive into curriculum classroom routines. Open House is one of the first opportunities of the year to establish a strong home school partnership and engage families in our school community. Before we know it, it will be time for conferences which allows us to set goals together for a successful year. As always, families are encouraged to communicate with staff if there are questions, concerns, and celebrations, too!
All the best,
Alexandra L. Sullivan
Principal, Deer Hill School
P.S. Our next newsletter will be published October 7, 2022.
P.P.S. Follow me on Twitter @DeerHillSchool for ongoing info and joy throughout the week.
Need to Knows
We have had a very low rate of compliance on completing this back to school step (about 25%). Thank you for taking a few minutes to verify your contact information and sign off on the other important documents.
All parent/guardians of CPS students are now able to verify and update their contact information in Aspen's Parent Portal. The workflow is intended for a parent/guardian to electronically update (per student) the following information:
- Physical Address Change
- Emergency Contact changes (add/delete/change)
- Handbook Acknowledgement
- Can student be photographed
- Can the district share information with PSO/CEF
- Military Status
Please follow the steps provided at the link below to learn how to verify and update your child's contact information in Aspen.
Earlier this week our school secretary, Mrs. McElhinney, shared important reminders regarding school routines such as absence notification, Aspen login, etc. Thank you for reviewing these highlights as well as referencing our Deer Hill handbook which is on the website and always linked in our newsletters.
Excessive Student Absence Notification
Massachusetts General Law Chapter 76 requires that each school notify parents and guardians if their student has five (5) or more unexcused school absences. Parents and guardians will receive a letter when their child has 5, 10, and/or 15+ days of unexcused absences. The letter will also include the number of unexcused tardies and unexcused early dismissals.
Absences will be excused under the following circumstances:
After a medical appointment documented with a note from the medical office
Illness or quarantine with a note from the appropriate medical office
Observance of a religious holiday
Bereavement or serious illness in family
Court appearance
A child may also be excused for other exceptional reasons with approval of the Principal or designee in accordance with the school committee policy and the regulations set in Chapter 76
Daily attendance is essential to a student's success. Missing a significant number of days of school has a detrimental effect on academic and social development. Therefore, each school will work with individual families to support student attendance.
Thank you for taking the time to reinforce good behavior on the buses. Our buses are very full, and we're seeing an uptick in poor behavior. Riding the bus is a privilege, and it's imperative that students conduct themselves in line with our Skipper Creed: Be safe, be respectful, be responsible.
Keeping the Joy (happenings at Deer Hill)
- Denise Perez-Botts, our crossing guard, needs us! She has been out for a while and is hoping to return to us soon. However, she is really missing the kids. Our SRO, Officer Taylor, asked if we could show her some love. We've put a box in the office labeled with her name. If your child has any time to write her Get Well cards or notes of appreciation within the next week, that would be awesome. They can deliver them to the office, and we'll make sure they get to Denise.
- Our ongoing partnership with Holly Hill began this week with 4th grade kale planting. We were happy to welcome a new member of the Holly Hill Farm education department, Tom, who brought a lot of enthusiasm to his lessons. He also taught us that a potato is actually a type of stem vegetable called a tuber. Fun fact!
- Our 4th year of our Reading Rovers partnership with Cohasset Working Dogs begins next week. All classes will have two opportunities over the course of the year to read with our furry friends during an extra library block. On Wednesday we had a kickoff assembly where we were visited by all of our Reading Rovers as well as the Hingham Schools SRO and his comfort dog Opry. Overheard as a 3rd grade class got a few ear scratches in with one of our Rovers: "This is the best day ever!"
Deer Hill Dates
9.27, 3:30-7:30: Scholastic Book Fair
10.7: Professional development, no school
10.10: Indigenous Peoples Day, no school
10.13, 4:00: School Council, library
10.14: Hi-5 Friday with Cohasset first responders & Cohasset spirit day
10.19 & 10.20: Conferences, 1:15 dismissal
Flyers of Interest
Deer Hill School
Alexandra L. Sullivan, Principal
Email: alsullivan@cohassetk12.org
Website: https://www.cohassetk12.org/
Location: 208 Sohier St., Cohasset, MA, USA
Phone: 781-383-6115
Twitter: @DeerHillSchool