Hilltop Herald Parent Edition
Be Respectful ~ Be Responsible ~ Be Resilient
Volume 2 ~ Issue 19~ December 11, 2023
“Finishing Strong is a powerful demonstration of commitment, character, integrity and heart.” ~Gary Ryan Blair~
This is our final week of Semester 1. While we did not finish last week strong, we have an opportunity to finish this semester well. It is up to you to decide how you finish this semester. A strong finish is passing all your classes and demonstrating your best behavior this week. Falcons, you can do this. Let's finish strong!
SIT-DOWN LUNCH ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2023
Falcons, last Friday, two of you decided to make a poor decision on how to behave during lunch. This decision to enact a "friendly" led to many of you rushing to the scene, which created a very unsafe environment toward the end of lunch. Consequently, I ended lunch early and sent you all to your 5th period classes early, resulting in the shortening of your teacher's duty-free lunch. This is not right. As I said on Friday, your behavior should not add to situations that will cause concern for everyone's safety. So, on Monday, we will have a sit-down lunch for both grade levels. I will be observing to see that you are behaving well during the sit-down lunch. If I sense that you are not taking this seriously, we will continue with sit-down lunches for multiple days. Students, you decide how we finish this semester regarding your lunchtime behavior. I challenge you to finish strong in that area also.
SEMESTER 2 CLASS CHANGES
Students and parents, when we return to Semester 2 on January 10, please make sure that you check your schedule in Campus Portal. While most students' schedules remain unchanged, there will be some changes that will occur for a variety of reason; most important reason is that we have to follow the teachers' union guidelines on the size of the classes. This means we will be moving students to meet this contractual directive. The counselors are busy making these changes right now. Thank you for understanding.
FINAL CALL FOR GRATITUDE NOMINATIONS FOR STAFF
Falcons, you have the opportunity to honor a staff member or more by completing a gratitude nomination form. Click on this LINK to access the form. If you are nominating one staff member, you only need to complete the form once. However, if you want to recognize more than one, you will need to complete the form by the number of staff members you wish to recognize. You also have to use your district gmail/Google account NOT your personal one. We will close this form at the end of today. Our goal is to have all staff members recognized.
END-OF-COURSE EXAMS INFORMATION
Finals week is here. Here is the schedule: December 12 (Periods 1 & 2), 13 (Periods 3 & 4) & 14 (Periods 5 & 6). These dates are all minimum days with a release time of 12:56pm. Please continue to encourage your children to work hard, catch up on any missing assignments and talk to their teachers if they are not passing at this time. If your children are in danger of failing a class at this time, you should have received a written report(s) from the teacher of the class(es).
Promotion Requirements for 2024 and 2025 Have Been Announced
Families, please carefully read the section on Promotion Requirements for Eighth Grade and Seventh Graders. I have been announcing in my newsletter the return to regular promotion requirements. This is the final year where 8th graders will have a different promotion requirement from normal promotion requirements. Eighth grade promotion requirement is simple: they must pass all their classes this year. This year's 7th graders will be the first promoting class to be held to the 21 promotion credit requirements. Students and Parents, please check your Jupiter Email for the letter from the district.
Please read the entire newsletter and let's have an amazing final week of Semester 1
Sincerely,
Ms. Finley
Eighth Grade Promotion Requirements for 2024
Eighth Graders, below is the email I sent you via Jupiter Grades on Saturday.
Attached (Click HERE) is the email from the Office of Curriculum and Instruction regarding the 8th grade promotion requirements for participating in the ceremony and receiving a certificate of promotion. Additionally, I have been communicating with all of you via my newsletter since the start of Quarter 2 that there will be a return to the requirements at some point. There is one requirement for you: you must pass all your classes this year for both semesters, if you want to participate in the promotion ceremony on June 4 and receive a certificate of promotion.
A - Gi: Ms. Santana
Go - Mo: Ms. Haug
Morn - Z: Ms. Orozco
Seventh Grade Promotion Requirements for 2025
Easter Finley, Principal
Email: easter.finley@sweetwaterschools.org
Website: htm.sweetwaterschools.org
Location: 44 East J Street, Chula Vista, CA, USA
Phone: 619.498.2700
Twitter: @erfinleysd