Highland Newsletter 8/26-8/31/24

                                          HIGHLAND HIGH SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

2024-25 School Year

Dear Highland Parent, Student, and Ram Supporter,

CALENDARS                   

These calendars are continually updated and provide all the important academic and athletic/activities dates for the school year. Please look at them regularly for questions about calendar items. 

Highland Academic Calendar

Highland Sports/Activities Calendar

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The school year is already moving right along. Reminder that there is no school next Monday September 2nd for Labor Day. It is so great to be back with students and we are excited for this school year! 

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HIGHLAND VISION & MISSION

The Highland Vision & Mission provides standards and principles that form the culture we are continually trying to actualize. Our advisory that takes place during 1st hour on Monday's is focused on teaching these principles and standards to students. Our expectation is that students, staff, and parents strive to live, breathe, and actualize the vision and mission. This is who we are. This is how we define excellence at Highland. The principles that form this foundation for Highland are research based.

Vision: Highland High School offers a safe and comprehensive learning experience focused on preparing all students to achieve success and happiness in college, career, and in life.

Mission: Highland High School believes deeply that in learning and in life=Right Attitude Means Success.

The “Right Attitude” we strive to learn and live as RAMS includes being….

Respectful and caring towards ourselves and others;

• Contribute to a safe and trusting environment.

• Control the R Factor (Event+Response=Outcome) 

• Build healthy and appropriate relationships.

• Practice courage, vulnerability, selflessness, forgiveness and ownership.

• Have a positive impact on ourselves and others.

Accountable and prepared for each class and event;

• Establish a vision/goal.

• Learn what it will take to accomplish the vision/goal.

• Plan for success and setbacks.

• Relentlessly engage in the work.

• Seek support and feedback on the journey.

• Take ownership-Own Your 20 Square Feet, DMGB, Do The Work.

Motivated and focused in academics, activities and athletics;

• Continually improve.

• Practice self-discipline. 

• Establish goal driven routines.

• Collaborate to overcome barriers.

• Learn from examples and experiences.

• Use adversity to fuel your fortitude, your growth mindset, your grit, your confidence, and ultimately your efficacy.

Scholarly and spirited in school and in life.

• Represent ourselves, our family, our school, and our community with excellence.

• Invest in improving yourself. 

• Learn to be organized, strategic, hardworking, patient and optimistic.

• Become a self-driven learner.

• Help others in their journey. 

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HIGHLAND PARENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Parents that are interested in being a part of the Highland Parent Advisory Committee, we would love to have your input. The committee will meet at 3:15pm at Highland one Monday a month. This committee has been a major part of leading Highland High School and enacting changes to help the school continually improve. If you are not able to attend the meetings, but would like to be involved and provide input, you are also able to do so through email. We will make sure you are on the email list. Please fill out the form below if you want to be involved for the 2024-25 school year. If you were involved last year and want to continue to be participate, please fill out the form again. We are so grateful for the amazing collaboration and support we receive from our Highland Ram Family.  

Highland Parent Advisory Committee Interest Form

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ATTENDANCE MATTERS

Each week we will pose some common challenges and questions we face with attendance and provide answers. 

This week we will examine Excused Absences and Verified Absences. 

The only absences that are considered excused are a visit to a Physician or an absence resulting from Legal circumstances, such as court. Both require documentation provided from the Physician or Legal authority in order to be considered Excused. It must also be understood that in both circumstances a parent/guardian has 3 days to provide the documentation to the school following the absence in order to verify the absence, otherwise the absence will remain coded as “absent.” 

Parents who call in can verify an absence. This is not an excused absence, but this is taken into consideration when issuing truancies. If the school has record of where a student is then it places the student in a much better situation then if an absence is not verified by a parent/guardian. If a student has absences that are not verified then it is determined that they simply missed class. It is essential parents notify the school if their student is absent in order to avoid truancy, however, excessive verified absences will result in a truancy. 

There is an understanding that sometimes students are sick, but not sick enough to go to the doctor, or there are other circumstances that pull students from a school day at times or cause them to be late. Because of this students do have 5 absences each trimester and 4 tardies they can accrue before receiving a truancy. After that, generally speaking, on the 6th absence and/or on the 5th tardy a truancy will be issued. From then on every absence is considered another truancy. With tardies, every 5 tardies is considered a truancy and an additional absence.  At a students 4th truancy if they are 15 years old and younger they will be referred to the School Resource Officer for a Citation for Habitual Truancy. Students 16 years old and older will lose credit and be dropped from the class or classes in which they have 4 truancies. 

 

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COLLEGE & CAREER ADVISORS/COUNSELORS

Each grade is assigned a Google Classroom where important information is provided along with forms for schedule changes and more. Here are the assigned google classroom codes:

Freshman-adkvm3s

Sophomores-etkszsu

Juniors-ljnspeq

Seniors-2kre7ct

For Seniors interested in applying to BYU for college, please visit the Seniors Google Classroom for important information.

If you are interested in Cosmetology please let the CCA’s in room C-36 know. Paul Mitchell of Rexburg would like to come for a visit and we would like to have them come on a day that would best fit your schedule.  

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EXTRACURRICULARS'

Please check the Highland Athletics and Activities Calendar for the most up-to-date schedule of events.

Two applications you will want to download if your student is involved in athletics are Max Preps and Team Reach. Max Preps provides rankings, scores, etc from all teams across the state that district and state competitions are based off of and Team Reach is the communication tool coaches use to keep in contact with players and parents. Please reach out to the school if you need help downloading these apps on your phone.  

Congratulations to our Football,Cheer, Dance, Volleyball, Cross Country, Swim, Marching Band,Golf, Girls Soccer, and Boys Soccer teams. They are all fully engaged in practices and competitions. We are proud of the hard work these students and their coaches put in. 

The Highland Drama Department has started auditions for its rendition of Alibis. For questions please contact Director Van Noy  (vannoal@sd25.us).

Homecoming week is scheduled for September 16-September 21st with the Homecoming Football Game at Highland Stadium versus Thunder Ridge High School. 

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LOOKING TO THE FUTURE-HIGHLAND REBUILD

Our amazing school board of trustees and district administration have been hard at work along with a committee of administrators, teachers, Highland parents, and community members in planning and designing the rebuild of the parts of Highland High School that was burned down. The goal is that the new areas for rebuild will be opened for the 2027-28 school year. Please contact Principal Wallace with any questions or concerns.

Highland Rebuild Design and Information

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Highland High School Administration (208)237-1300

-Dr. Brad Wallace-Principal (wallacbr@sd25.us) phone ext.103

-Travis Bell-Assistant Principal/Athletic and Activities Director (belltr@sd25.us) phone ext.105

-Ed.S. Jena Wilcox-Assistant Principal (wilcoxje@sd25.us) phone ext.104

-Dr. Steve Morton-Assistant Principal (mortonst@sd25.us) phone ext.107

Bursar

-Shelley Huelsman (huelsms1@sd25.us) phone ext.106

Registrar

-Elaine Whitehead (whitehel@sd25.us) phone ext.114

-Katie Schwartz (schwarka@sd25.us) phone ext.111

Attendance

-Mindy Murphy (murphymi@sd25.us) phone ext.115

-Sloane Lewis (lewissl@sd25.us) phone ext.135

Counseling Center (208)237-1300

-Tami Romriell=students with last name A-D (romrieta@sd25.us) phone ext.131

-Christa Santos-Smith=students with last name E-K (santosch@sd25.us) phone ext.109

-Cali-Ann Hilliard=students with last name L-R (hilliaca@sd25.us) phone ext.110

-Tricia Harvala=students with last name S-Z (harvaltr@sd25.us) phone ext.116

-Sarah May Clarkson=College & Career Advisor (clarksa@sd25.us) phone ext.123

-Alice Rowe=College & Career Advisor (roweal@sd25.us) phone ext.236

School Psychologist

-Amy Holloway (hollowam@sd25.us)

Highland Newsletter 8/19-8/24/24

                                         HIGHLAND HIGH SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

2024-25 School Year

Dear Highland Parent, Student, and Ram Supporter,

CALENDARS                   

These calendars are continually updated and provide all the important academic and athletic/activities dates for the school year. Please look at them regularly for questions about calendar items. 

Highland Academic Calendar

Highland Sports/Activities Calendar

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We are very excited for the school year! The first day of school is this Wednesday 8/21/24. We have a Freshman/New Student Orientation that will begin at the Highland Stadium at 6:30pm on Tuesday 8/20/24. This event will provide new students with the opportunity to go through their schedules and familiarize themselves with the school before the first day. 

Here provided is a Parent/Student Handbook with some of the general information and guidelines for Highland High School. If there is something not provided in the handbook that you feel should be, please contact Principal Wallace and he will get it added. This is our first handbook and will take a little time to fine tune. We appreciate constructive feedback.

Highland Parent/Student Handbook

Student Leaderships' theme for Highland this school year is "Stand Together, Win Together!" We believe that together we are strong enough to overcome any obstacles or adversity that we may face. 

Reminder that the best way to keep up on events is by following the Highland Academic Calendar and the Highland Sports/Activities Calendar. A link to these calendars is provided at the beginning of this newsletter. 

Being at school, in class, on time, every day is one of the most influential factors for student success. It makes sense that when students attend school they do better than when they don't. Please prioritize attendance this school year. 

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FRESHMAN/NEW STUDENT ORIENTATION & HIGHLAND STUDENT CHALK PARTY

Freshman/New Student Orientation is scheduled for the evening before the first day of school, Tuesday August 20th at 6:30pm. The event will begin at Highland Stadium and then parents and freshman/new students will be released to go walk through the school to familiarize themselves with where their classes are located and the general layout of the school. Highland spirit shirts will be on sale for $5. 

Starting at 7:30pm there will be a Highland Student Chalk Party out on the sidewalk heading towards the stadium where students will be decorating the sidewalk for the first day of school assembly. All students are invited to come and have some fun and participate. 

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HIGHLAND PARKING CHANGES

Highland Parking is undergoing some changes this school year and moving forward until construction of the back part of the building is complete. Some of the parking available has been fenced off as staging/work areas for construction companies who will be building back the parts of Highland that burned down. 

Changes include the following: 

1. The School District was able to acquire the land directly in front of the school and has started work on developing it into a parking lot. Part of this development will be used as a student parking lot this school year. 
2. The north parking lot previously used for teacher parking and parent drop-off and pick-up will no longer be available for parking, but a portion of it will still be available for parent drop-off and pick-up. The bus loading zone on the north side of the school will remain the same.
3. With the loss of the teacher parking lot, a section of the south parking lot will be used by Highland staff as parking. These parking spots are clearly painted as staff parking with an identified number. Only those assigned staff members should park in these spots. 
4. The Gateway parking area is assigned as staff parking. Students will not be allowed to park in the Gateway parking lot.

These changes provide more parking spots than students have had access to in the past. Those who park in any area not assigned to them will be ticketed and ultimately towed at their own expense. Handicap parking will still be available in front of the building and on the south side of the building.

These changes will create traffic patterns different from those that have existed in the past at Highland. We strongly request those driving at Highland to be patient, be aware, and be cautious of people and drivers who may be using the new student parking lot area in front of the school.  

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FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

The first day of school is Wednesday 8/21, students will report to Highland Stadium for the opening school assembly. Students who travel to PV-TEC or other schools for classes will not travel the first day of school. Band, Choir, and Orchestra will meet in the Highland Media Center. The schedule is provided below:

Assembly-Highland Stadium	8:32	9:32
TA-Chromebook Checkout	9:40	10:00
1st Period	10:05	11:00
2nd Period	11:05	12:00
Lunch	12:00	12:42
3rd Period	12:47	1:42
4th Period	1:47	2:42
5th Period	2:47	3:42

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EXTRACURRICULARS'

Fall sports start competition this weekend. Volleyball is hosting the Peg Peterson Invite here at Highland, Varsity Football is headed to play Legacy High School in Las Vegas, and Girls and Boys Soccer are traveling to Boise to play some of the schools from the Treasure Valley. 

Homecoming week is scheduled for September 16-September 21st with the Homecoming Football Game at Highland Stadium versus Thunder Ridge High School. 

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LOOKING TO THE FUTURE-HIGHLAND REBUILD

Our amazing school board of trustees and district administration have been hard at work along with a committee of administrators, teachers, Highland parents, and community members in planning and designing the rebuild of the parts of Highland High School that was burned down. The goal is that the new areas for rebuild will be opened for the 2027-28 school year. Please contact Principal Wallace with any questions or concerns.

Highland Rebuild Design and Information

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MESSAGE FROM THE REGISTRAR

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Highland High School Administration (208)237-1300

-Dr. Brad Wallace-Principal (wallacbr@sd25.us) phone ext.103

-Travis Bell-Assistant Principal/Athletic and Activities Director (belltr@sd25.us) phone ext.105

-Ed.S. Jena Wilcox-Assistant Principal (wilcoxje@sd25.us) phone ext.104

-Dr. Steve Morton-Assistant Principal (mortonst@sd25.us) phone ext.107

Bursar

-Shelley Huelsman (huelsms1@sd25.us) phone ext.106

Registrar

-Elaine Whitehead (whitehel@sd25.us) phone ext.114

-Katie Schwartz (schwarka@sd25.us) phone ext.111

Attendance

-Mindy Murphy (murphymi@sd25.us) phone ext.115

-Sloane Lewis (lewissl@sd25.us) phone ext.135

Counseling Center (208)237-1300

-Tami Romriell=students with last name A-D (romrieta@sd25.us) phone ext.131

-Christa Santos-Smith=students with last name E-K (santosch@sd25.us) phone ext.109

-Cali-Ann Hilliard=students with last name L-R (hilliaca@sd25.us) phone ext.110

-Tricia Harvala=students with last name S-Z (harvaltr@sd25.us) phone ext.116

-Sarah May Clarkson=College & Career Advisor (clarksa@sd25.us) phone ext.123

-Alice Rowe=College & Career Advisor (roweal@sd25.us) phone ext.236

School Psychologist

-Amy Holloway (hollowam@sd25.us)