It’s hard to believe that we are at the end of our second trimester! March is a busy month and I am excited for daylight savings and spring. I am looking forward to longer hours of daylight. We had our first snow day on Tuesday. Due to this snow day, the tentative last day of school is now Friday, June 16,2023.

This is also a friendly reminder that school begins promptly at 9:00am. It is extremely important that students attend school on a regular basis. Good attendance is essential to student achievement. When a student is tardy, he/she is missing important instructional time. Please make every effort that your child is at school on time every day.

• Thursday, March 2: Wear a shirt from your favorite place
• Friday: March 3: Wear crazy or mismatched socks
• Friday, March 3: Early dismissal K-4:1:50pm; Pre-k am session hours: 8:45am-11:05am; Pre-k pm session hours: 11:45am-1:50pm
• Wednesday, March 8: Picture Day by Photography by Roman
• Friday, March 10: Early dismissal K-4:1:50pm; Pre-k am session hours: 8:45am-11:05am; Pre-k pm session hours: 11:45am-1:50pm
• Monday, March 13: Second Trimester Ends
• Thursday, March 16: Parent/Teacher Conferences - more information to follow
• Friday, March 17: Early dismissal K-4:1:50pm; Pre-k am session hours: 8:45am-11:05am; Pre-k pm session hours: 11:45am-1:50pm
• Thursday, March 23: Parent/Teacher Conferences - more information to follow
• Friday, March 24: Early dismissal K-4:1:50pm; Pre-k am session hours: 8:45am-11:05am; Pre-k pm session hours: 11:45am-1:50pm
• Friday, March 31: FULL DAY OF SCHOOL FOR ALL STUDENTS
• Friday, April 7: No School - Good Friday
• Monday, April 10-Friday, April 14: No school - Spring Recess
• Monday, April 17: School Resumes

Important Information:

• In-person conferences will be held on Thursday, March 16 and Thursday, March 23 between 6:00-8:00pm. Conferences will be 10 minutes long. Children ARE NOT permitted to attend in-person conferences. Please contact your child's teacher with any questions.
• Information on how to sign up for conferences will be sent out via email from your child's classroom teacher on Friday, March 3 at 4:00pm. Please contact the main office if your email address has changed, as this is how our conference information will be communicated to all parents/guardians.
• You also have the opportunity to schedule a conference other teachers and staff members that your child works with. Information about how to do this will also be communicated in the March 3 email from your child's classroom teacher.

Reminders for parent pick up at dismissal time:

• Anyone picking up MUST have photo identification. Please make sure if you have someone else pick up your child that they bring ID and that the office knows who will be picking up your child.
• After picking up your child(ren) from parent pick up, please move away from the pick up area.
  
• Be aware of moving cars in the parking lot. It is also a good idea to hold you child's hand when walking to your car.
• NEVER leave any children unattended in your car.
• Pets are NOT allowed at parent pick up.

In February, our Pre-K through fourth grade students students participated in the Kids Heart Challenge. Thank you to Mr. Beloin, our Physical Education teacher, who organized this event. Thank you to our students, parents, and staff members who helped make this challenge a success!

LHS raised $9,950 for the American Heart Association! Congratulations to our top three Kids Heart Challenge fundraising students:

• Evangeline Ramos
• Elroy Corbett
• Makenna Hammond

Our spring photos will be held on Wednesday, March 8, 2023. See the flyer below.

Per the February 24 district communication:

Upon receiving further guidance, Shelton Public Schools will participate in the upcoming "School Meals Assistance Revenue for Transition (SMART) version 2.0", which starts March 1st, 2023 for all students.

This means that one reimbursable Breakfast and one reimbursable Lunch will be provided to each student.

As part of this, we strongly encourage that households submit a free-and-reduced-price meal application, as soon as possible, to determine a student’s eligibility for this school year for any other state and federal funding that becomes available. To provide additional clarity to questions received, a household can submit this application at any time during the school year, as circumstances change.

Special Notes:

One milk is included with all reimbursable meals. By itself, milk is not free, and is considered A-La-Carte, at $0.75 each.

A-La-Carte items can not be charged. This means that the A-La-Carte item can only be purchased if there are $-funds on the students' Infinite Campus (IC) accounts.

A-La-Carte items will be offered at all schools, starting Monday, March 20th.

*** This is a reminder to parents/guardians, that if you think your student will be purchasing A-La-Carte items, please load some $-funds onto their IC accounts. ***

Second meals are a totally separate transaction from SMART 2.0. This is not part of the reimbursable meal, and the student will be charged $3.00 at Shelton High, Shelton Intermediate & Perry Hill Schools, as long as there are $-funds on the students' IC accounts.

What are SMART Funds 2.0 ?

This is a State of Connecticut program established through House Bill (H.B.) 6671 and funded through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) 2021 to assist school food authorities (SFAs) with providing USDA NSLP meals at no cost to all students from March 1, 2023, through the remainder of school year (SY) 2022-23.

Should Shelton Public Schools still collect free and reduced-price applications SY 2022-23? Yes. It is critical that SFAs participating in the SMART funds 2.0 collect free and reduced-price school meal applications. SFAs should increase efforts to engage families regarding the importance of completing the free and reduced-price school meal applications and of the opportunities to apply for SNAP.

Please see the links for the Parent Video: How to Fill Out the Application for Free and Reduced-price Meals or Free Milk • Addendum C: Information on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the USDA Nondiscrimination Statement.

How long are SMART funds 2.0 projected to last? SMART funds 2.0 are projected to last from March 1, 2023, through the remainder of each SFAs last official school day of SY 2022-23 and not past June 30, 2023.

Can SFAs still sell a la carte if the SFA accepts SMART funds? Yes. However, SMART funds 2.0 cannot be used to cover any costs associated with a la carte items and can be only used to support providing USDA reimbursable meals through the NSLP.

Can SFAs use SMART funds 2.0 to provide second meals? No. SMART funds 2.0 cannot be used to provide second meals to students eligible for free, reduced-price, or paid meals.

Can SFAs use SMART funds 2.0 to pay down student debt for charges from meal debt or a la carte charges? No. Student debt for meals or a la carte items are unallowable costs to the nonprofit school food service account. Funds from the nonprofit school food service account cannot be used to cover costs related to the bad debt, such as continued legal and collection costs.

We will continue to register incoming Kindergarten students for the 2023-2024 school year.

• Contact the school at (203)-929-4077 to register your child
• Children who will be five years old on or before January 1, 2024 are eligible to attend kindergarten

Please share this information with any families that you know who have children eligible to register.

Please remember that the school day begins at 9:00am. Students can be dropped off at school beginning at 8:45am. Any student dropped off after 9:00am is considered tardy. If you are dropping your student off after 9:00am, you MUST park in the parking lot, walk them to the front door, and buzz into the main office and wait for a staff member to come to the door. Please remember, our school day begins promptly at 9:00am and instruction begins shortly thereafter.

Any student who is dropped off and arrives after the 9:00am bell has rung is considered tardy.

Students with excessive tardies and absences will be referred to our youth outreach officer.

Please plan ahead and make sure that you have made the necessary arrangements for your child in cases of early dismissals and delayed openings.

• Kindergarten-Fourth Grade: 2 hour delayed opening - doors open at 10:45am; school begins at 11:00am; morning bus stop time is 2 hours past normal bus stop time.
• AM Pre-K: NO SESSION ON DELAYED OPENINGS
• Kindergarten-Fourth Grade: Early dismissal (unless otherwise noted) - 1:50pm
• PM Pre-K: NO SESSION ON WEATHER RELATED EARLY DISMISSALS
• Make sure the main office has current emergency contact information. Advise your emergency contacts that they must show photo ID. Your child will not be released to anyone who is not listed as an emergency contact on Infinite Campus.
• Delays, early dismissals, and cancellations will be posted on the district's website at www.sheltonpublicschools.org. There is no district phone call that goes out.
• Local radio and TV stations will also broadcast the message.
• You can also sign up for text message alerts from various news news stations.
• Please do NOT call the school as it is important to keep the phone lines open for emergencies.

As stated in the school's Policies & Procedures:

For planned absences, such as vacation during the school year, teachers are NOT required to provide students or parents/guardians with advance work or assignments. It is the student’s and/or parent’s responsibility to get the work upon their return. Taking time from school to go on a vacation poses a risk to your child’s educational progress. Both students and parents must understand that when school is missed due to vacations, it is not the responsibility of the teachers to provide remedial instruction for the assignments/content that has been missed.

We are seeing an increase of students being absent for an extended period of time. When a child misses school for an extended period of time, he/she is missing important and imperative instruction and content and can pose a risk to his/her progress.

Please be sure your child dresses warmly for winter weather, including a winter jacket, hat, and gloves. We will continue to have outdoor recess as the weather permits.

Please remember to report your child's absence. All absences are considered unexcused unless we receive a phone call (203-929-4077) or email about the absence. You can email either Mrs. Sastram (school secretary) at mailto:asastram@sheltonpublicschools.org or Mrs. Quirk (school secretary) at mailto:pquirk@sheltonpublicschools.org.

A voice mailbox is available for calls at night or early morning for your convenience. When you leave a message, please state the student's first and last name, the date of the absence, the classroom teacher, and the reason for the absence. If your child's classroom teacher uses Class Dojo, a Dojo message is NOT an approved way to report your child's absence.

Automated absence calls go out at 10:30am daily (AM Pre-K through Fourth Grade) and 2:00 daily (PM Pre-K). If you did not call your child out of school you will receive a call.

As previously stated, we will NOT accept any change of dismissals after 3:00pm on a full day or 1:00pm on an early dismissal day.

Each day teachers are diligently working to provide students with an academically challenging and emotionally safe environment. Teachers are consistently reinforcing positive behavior as well as redirecting students to make better choices.

In an effort to promote positive behavior, Long Hill wants to further connect our school and home communities. Each month we are collecting behavior data based on our positive behavior support intervention model.

February’s trends reflected that students need more reinforcement with: following directions, being respectful by listening to the speaker and choosing safe behaviors. In addition to what we practice at school, you can participate in the following activity or game with your child to practice the above skills. Try playing “Simon Says” to build on the direction following. Practice letting your child win in an effort to celebrate their successes. In addition, practice letting your child lose to celebrate good sportsmanship regardless of the outcome. If feelings of disappointment or anger arise, practice safe outlets of releasing anger or disappointment to teach them appropriate body regulation.

1. Chipotle Fundraiser on March 1 from 5PM - 9PM at their Shelton location. Flyers already sent home.

2. Boys event on March 3rd from 5:30pm - 7:30 pm in LHS Auditorium. Registration closed. Please use the Cafeteria entrance and check in at registration table for your game truck tickets.

3. Girls event on March 10th from 5:30pm - 7:30 pm in LHS Auditorium. Last Date to register March 3rd.

4. Spiritwear shopping site open now - https://longhillschool2023spring.itemorder.com

   Last Date to shop March 19th.

5. Egg hunt - save the date April 1st, 12:30 - 2:30. Easter Bunny will be available for pictures. Flyers coming home soon. Local Businesses invited to set up their table.

6. Book Fair on April 4th & 5th, Make up day April 6th. Flyers coming soon.

7. Yearbook picture upload - https://images.jostens.com/02ns1ii9vRcZVDs1HKegnUA

   Last date March 27th.

8. Thank you for your support at Bridgeport Islander and Gertrude Hawk Chocolate fundraiser.

9. No frill fundraiser coming soon.

We are excited to welcome back our Culture in the Classroom and our students have already learned about various cultures . Thank you to those who have already volunteered to come into your child's classroom.

If you are interested in participating in Culture in the Classroom please email Mrs. Krauss at skrauss@sheltonpublicschools.org.

Address: 565 Long Hill Avenue, Shelton

Phone number: (203)-929-4077

Fax number: (203)-929-8250

Website: http://longhill.sheltonpublicschools.org/home_page

Twitter: @DAiutoAndrea

LHS Policies & Procedures: https://www.smore.com/1uhka