SCHOOL SHOUT
In our September edition...
Our School Board approved the 2020-2021 student calendar—find out what goes into deciding our days off
THANK YOU to our schools, staff & community for helping us prepare for Dorian—now we're working to help the Bahamas
Our district has 58 National Merit Semifinalists—see what it takes to earn this outstanding distinction
FREE BREAKFAST—EVERY STUDENT, EVERY DAY
"I think there's a difference when they have a hearty breakfast in their stomach"
It’s 7:10 a.m. at Frost Elementary School in Riverview. Students are stepping off buses, placing bikes on the bike rack and climbing out of mom or dad’s car.
They walk into school and the first thing they see are carts placed strategically around the campus. On those carts are sausage biscuits, hard-boiled eggs, protein bars, apple slices and milk.
Many of the students walk straight up to their assigned cart, place food on a tray, type in their student number and walk away with a hearty, nutritious breakfast—for FREE!
Yes, FREE.
Did you know every Hillsborough County Public Schools campus offers free breakfast for every student, every day?
Find out more about Free Breakfast & the 3 biggest benefits for students!
HELP NAME OUR NEW HIGH SCHOOL!
Our new high school is being built near CR 672 & U.S. 301 in the SouthShore area and will open in August 2020
- Fill out a quick survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/QWXB88K
- Email your recommendation: school.name@sdhc.k12.fl.us
Here is our School Board's policy on which names qualify and the process of selecting one. All name recommendations must be submitted by Friday, October 4, 2019.
HOW OUR SCHOOLS PREPARED FOR POSSIBLE DORIAN EVACUEES
“Welcome to our classroom! Please treat our classroom like it is your home! Be safe and enjoy your stay!”
Those words were written across a whiteboard in an elementary school classroom over Labor Day weekend—a message of love to anyone who would have to use the school as a shelter from Hurricane Dorian.
That Friday afternoon, after meeting with emergency officials, Superintendent Jeff Eakins made the call to cancel school for Tuesday, September 3.
Many of our schools are used as shelters, not just for us in Hillsborough County, but also for anyone who might need to evacuate from the east coast.
Immediately after the superintendent made the call, staff at those shelter schools jumped into action. They started moving desks, putting all their supplies into cabinets and making their rooms as homey as possible for anyone who might have to stay.
Fortunately, the unpredictable Hurricane Dorian made a turn and our schools were not needed.
But the rooms were not ready for students.
So, on that Tuesday, teachers, staff and PTA members gathered again—this time to revert the shelters back into schools.
They did this with a smile, and a sigh of relief that the storm missed us.
HURRICANE DORIAN MAKE UP TIME
Through collaboration with our unions, we have made the decision to take four Mondays originally scheduled as Early Release Days and extend those to be full school days.
The following Mondays will now become full school days: September 16, September 23, September 30 and October 7. Students WILL NOT be released early on those four days.
Because of other, previous changes to our calendar, this means we will not have any more Early Release Days for the rest of this semester. Our next Early Release Day will be January 13, next semester.
For more information about the decision-making process, visit the Hurricane Dorian FAQ page.
- Donations accepted at participating Hillsborough County Public Schools
- Items needed: school supplies, school uniforms
- Learn more at http://bit.ly/TampaCares-Bahamas
WHAT'S HAPPENING AROUND HILLSBOROUGH SCHOOLS
School Board approved 2020-2021 calendar
This quick two minute video answers our most common questions about the calendar.
Math Homework Hotline available every Thursday evening
View live on Spectrum channel 635 or Frontier channel 32.
Going for the Gold—join our team!
SUMMER IS OVER—BUT OUR HALF PENNY PROMISE IS NOT!
Here are just a few of the recently completed projects thanks to the half-penny sales tax!
Cleveland Elementary School
- Project: Waterproofing & Interior Painting
- Project completion: 60 days
- Contract amount: $221,296
Sligh Middle Magnet School
- Project: Pave Bus Ramp & Parking Lots
- Project completion: 76 days
- Contract amount: $189,348
Jackson Elementary School
- Project: Outdoor Court Replacement
- Project completion: 74 days
- Contract amount: $66,437.27
You can find a complete list of ongoing projects at hillsboroughschools.org/citizenoversight
TEACHER FEATURE: THONOTOSASSA ELEMENTARY'S KRISTIN PHILLIPS
WOW! Hillsborough County Public Schools has 58 National Merit Semifinalists!
Here's more information about this prestigious scholarship:
- More than 1.5 million juniors entered the National Merit Scholarship Program
- Each student must submit a detailed scholarship application and essay
- They must participate in school and community activities
- They must be endorsed by a high school official
- Semifinalists earned the highest scores on the prelim SAT Qualifying Test
From the 16,000 Semifinalists about 15,000 will become Finalists. Only half of the Finalists will earn scholarships.
The above picture shows Plant High School's 9 National Merit Semifinalists, joined by leaders from their school!
CONGRATULATIONS to all our Semifinalists!
Alonso High - Alexis Gyselinck
Blake High - Kian Fotouhi, Leigh Ives, Kendall Palmer, Kara Saville
Bloomingdale High - Jordan Chastain, Ryan Harding
Hillsborough High - Natalia Artz, Hirsh Kabaria, Vivek Kondapavuluru, Reema Patel, Brianna Wang
King High - Fariah Ansari, Arpan Bagui, Cassandra Colaco, Amiya Gupta, William Li, Khegan Meyers, Aditi Mishra, Aniruth Narayanan, Amy Pham, Adam Rowan, Nicole Su, Kelly Tian, Asvin Tyagi, Nafisa Uddin, Uma Vogeti, Lixin Zheng
Middleton High - Zachary Melson, Ankit Veerendra
Newsome High - Alexander Dyer
Plant High - Aylssa Crocker, Lindsey Gabler, Ryan Hobson, Hamilton Jones, Lucy Morris, Tien Nguyen, Alixandra Rubin, Hayden Watson, Junhao Zhang
Riverview High - Natalia Forero
Robinson High - Vasishta Akinapalli, Charles Hobby, Kayla Huynh, Alexandra Kirkner, Rohan Nadgir, Srikavin Ramkumar, Sierra Shellabarger
Sickles High - Savari Datta
Steinbrenner High - Jonathan Barbara, Rebekah Hurwitz, Matthew Lee, Rana Schere
Strawberry Crest High - Julia Bower, Brodie Brown, Nicholas Sherwin
Wharton High - Valeria Gutierrez, Shehzad Shah
A message from School Board Member Stacy Hahn
Your School Board is getting ready to make a major decision. And we need your input to make sure that decision is the right one for our community.
We have launched a search for the next superintendent of our school district—the person who will lead our amazing team of 24,000 employees, serving more than 220,000 students.
Your input is a vital part of this search! What qualities do you think are most important in a superintendent? What kind of work background should he or she have? What are your priorities, as a stakeholder in our community?
We are asking everyone to take just a few minutes and complete this Superintendent Search Community Survey by 8 a.m. on September 22.
A nationally respected firm called Ray and Associates will collect the survey results. Our School Board has hired Ray and Associates to help us reach out locally and across the country in search of the best possible candidates for this position.
Starting next month, Ray and Associates will use the survey results to find and recruit the type of leaders who match the qualities our community is looking for. The survey results will be used again as we interview and select the finalists for the position in the first half of 2020.
Jeff Eakins, our current superintendent, is retiring in June of 2020, after 31 years as an educator and leader in Hillsborough County Public Schools. His dedicated service has been a powerful positive force for our students and our community.
We all want to make sure we find the most qualified person to step into his role and continue ensuring our district is a state and national leader, committed to equity and driven by our vision of Preparing Students for Life.
As members of your School Board, we know we can only do that with your help.
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Email: newsletter@sdhc.k12.fl.us
Website: hillsboroughschools.org
Location: 901 East Kennedy Boulevard, Tampa, FL, USA
Phone: 813-272-4000
Facebook: facebook.com/HillsboroughSch
Twitter: @HillsboroughSch