Sentinel Snapshot

This week students started to dive into concepts in their classes, and as we walked around the school, it was cool to see students engaging with their learning. We saw Science classes have deep discussions about lab safety and learning about the brain, Math classes reviewed foundational skills, and the Culinary students started to cook this week just to name a few of the classes we dropped into. Students formed new friendships and it was fun to see them connecting with their interests at lunch. Clubs started to meet and we had our first week of athletic competition. Remember, an activity bus can take students home at 3:15 and 5:15 p.m. if they stay after for extracurricular activities.

This week will be a regular bell schedule week, and Wednesday is our first WIN Advisory and Choice Day.

As always, if you have questions, please reach out to us.

Go Sentinels!

Mr. Tyrrell, Mrs. Garza, Mr. Hilen

Students reviewed the 2023-2024 SHS Student Handbook in their advisory classes the past two weeks.

We are asking that parents please review this and the 2023-2024 Steilacoom Historical School District Family and Student Handbook by this Friday and complete the form indicating you have reviewed and understand where the handbooks are located. This form will be sent via Parent Square on Monday.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact the school.

On Friday, we were informed that Pierce College has had a "service disruption" that has taken some of their computer systems completely offline. Because of this issue, Pierce is unable to review any enrollment verification forms (EVF) submitted after July 18. This creates a big impact to our student population, and that is why we are sending this message now.

The following outlines what the Pierce College expectations are in light of this unexpected change.

• If you submitted your Fall 2023 EVF after July 18, you must resubmit your EVF by 5:00 PM on Tuesday, September 12 to avoid disruption in your class schedule.
• If you submitted for Fall 2023 EVF before July 18, you should verify that they still have your EVF.
• If you have recieved a tuition charge for the Fall semster, they are instructing you to resubmit your Fall EVF.
• Here is the link Pierce has provided to assist you.

While we are disappointed with the situation at hand, we hope this error doesn't prevent you from accessing the college credits you are seeking. Please contact your Steilacoom High School counselor if you are experiencing any issues getting an EVF completed. We are happy to help you navigate through this challenge.

Students have until September 14th to request a schedule change. We ask students to come in during their lunch to request a change. Counselors will not change schedules to move your classes around, have a different lunch, or have a different teacher.

SHS has a Military & Family Life Counselor to support our military connected families. MFLCs provide short-term, non-medical problem solving counseling and support.

For more information, please contact Molly Grogan, LICSW 253-363-5600.

Starting this week, we will be enforcing our Tardy Policy and our 10/10 Policy. These have been reviewed with students in Advisory the last two weeks.

10/10 Rule

Students are not allowed to be out of the classroom the first 10 and last 10 minutes of class. Bathrooms should be used during passing periods. We believe that the first and last 10 minutes are critical in student learning and also allows us to ensure the hallways are clear when class starts and that students are not trying to skip the last 10 minutes of class.

School Tardy Policy

If students are not in class when the bell rings they are considered late.

Being Tardy is defined as: Being less than ten minutes late to the start of class.

Being Truant is defined as: Being more than ten minutes late to the start of class.

If a student is late to class, the teacher will let them in and change their attendance record in Skyward to tardy if its before the 10 minute mark. After 10 minutes it will stay as Unexcused Absence until the student has a meeting with the attendance secretary or Mr. Wells. (Students do not need to go to the attendance window for a pass. Report straight to your classroom.)

Tardies are reviewed daily and 3 tardies will result in After School Detention (ASD) and Restorative Work. After-school detentions (ASD) will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 2:20-3:05 pm.

This assignment will take precedence over co-curricular activities like club meetings or athletics practices. Failure to attend an assigned after-school detention will result in a progressive consequence.

Additional requirements or consequences can be determined by the teacher.

We are required by law to refer students with a pattern of truancy and/or absence to the Community Truancy Board and the Pierce County Juvenile Court.

Student Parking Passes can be picked up at no charge.

Students must register (must be signed in on student's Google account) their car with the school and have their parking pass clearly positioned on their windshield at all times if they park at SHS.

Parking Passes will be available Tuesday, September 5th at the ASB Bookkeeper.

Parking Passes will be enforced starting this week.

U.S. News and World Report recently named Steilacoom High School to their “Best High Schools 2023” list. The school also received this honor in 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. Steilacoom High School is ranked 37th out of 754 public high schools in the state of Washington. High schools around the nation were ranked on the following indicators of school quality: college readiness, college curriculum breadth, state assessment proficiency, state assessment performance, and graduation rate.

Add a Pierce County Library card to the back-to-school list and access Pierce County Library System’s Tools for Students for free. With access to live tutors 24/7 and in-depth research and study tools, students will start the school year strong.

Tools for Students is a suite of online tools to help with reports, science experiments, world languages and more, and all of these services are available outside of the library.

Tools for Students includes:

• Live tutors available 24/7, in English and Spanish.
• Research databases for world cultures, historical figures and science.
• Reference content such as newspaper and magazine articles and videos.
• Ideas for science fair projects, STEAM activities and science research.
• Practice tests and study guides for standardized tests.
• Tips to help complete WASFA (Washington Application for State Financial Aid) and FAFSA (Federal Application for Federal Student Aid).

• Learning assistance for more than 160 languages.

In addition to these tools, the Pierce County Library has a vast supply of books and other materials to support school success. Explore them all at mypcls.org.

Please remember that students should only be on campus if they are in a scheduled SHS class. Running Start Students, please arrive no more than 5 minutes before your class starts and leave right after class. This allows us to keep an accurate account of student safety. Students who are on campus need to report to the Sentinel Center or Library after they check in at the front desk.

Students, the parking lot is off limits once school starts until the end of school (7:35-2:05 PM). If you need something from your car, please go to the front desk and ask for an escort to your car.

Parents, before school parent drop-off is in front of the school in the loop.

After school parent pick-up is located in the back student Parking Lot. Please do not park in either of the front loops for pick-up as these are for buses. Thank you for helping make this transition time smooth.

All riders 18 and younger can take transit for free thanks to Move Ahead Washington, a statewide transportation funding package. We’re very excited to welcome more youth to the freedom of transit. For more information, click here.

For more information on the Bell Schedule, please visit the school Website.

The 48th Steilacoom Apple Squeeze returns on Sunday, October 1st from 10 am - 4

pm. Sponsored by the Steilacoom Historical Museum Association, this family

event celebrates the apple.

Student clubs from the Steilacoom High School will offer activities for children in the tennis court area. Stroll through the street fair featuring quality handcrafts and booths. Enjoy an apple cider float, apple fritters, apple pie with ice cream or other great food. for

more information or go to www.steilacoomhistorical.org.

Our after school activity bus will begin running routes on the first day of school Thursday, August 31. One bus will leave campus at 3:15 PM and the second bus will leave at 5:15 PM. Both of these routes will run Monday - Friday, unless there is no school on that particular day. For specific information about drop-off locations please visit this website. After the school day ends we close our building to any students that are not working with an adult. These additional bus routes are designed to support students involved in after-school activities with their transportation needs.

Please note, if you are a Pierce County Skills Center student, your first day is Wednesday, August 30. Since this is a non school day for SHSD, we cannot provide bus transportation. You will need to find your own ride, or communicate with your teacher(s) at PCSC about your absence.

School pictures taken at STEILACOOM HIGH SCHOOL on 08/22/2023 are now available for parents to view and order online.

View and order at https://shop.jostenspix.com/login

• STEILACOOM HIGH SCHOOL
• Event Code: FE21223
• Also Needed: Skyward Unique Student ID

Students who ride the ferry to Anderson Island may sign out their ferry tickets weekly at the bookkeeper's window. This can happen before school or during lunch.

Fall sports are underway and we had a successful first week of competition.

Go Sentinels!

This week in athletics:

Monday 9/11:

JV Football away at White River-6pm

Volleyball home vs White River- JV at 5:45pm; Varsity at 7:15pm

Tuesday 9/12:

Boys/Girls Golf home vs Clover Park at The Home Course at 3:15pm

Boys Tennis home vs Enumclaw at 3:30pm

Girls Soccer away vs Fife-JV at 5pm; Varsity at 7pm

Wednesday 9/13:

Boys Tennis away vs Curtis (non-league) at 3:30pm

Volleyball away at Orting-JV at 5:45pm; Varsity at 7:15pm

Thursday 9/14:

Boys Tennis home vs Clover Park at 3:30pm

Girls Soccer away at Enumclaw-JV at 5pm; Varsity at 7pm

Friday 9/15:

Football home vs Enumclaw at 7pm

Saturday 9/16:

Cross Country Ft. Steilacoom Invite 2pm

Visit https://steillyathletics.com/ for schedules, registration, and to purchase tickets.

To register for Fall Sports Season, click here. All paperwork and a current physical must be complete before you can practice.

Please be sure to pay your user fee. Players may not compete or attend away games until they've paid their user fee. If you need assistance please reach out to our ASB bookkeeper or Athletic Director. Use this link https://www.steilacoom.k12.wa.us/who-we-are/departments/financial-services/how-to-make-payments-for-fees-fines-and-food-service for more information on how to sign up or sign in to your account to make payments.

Please log into Skyward and verify all of your information is correct, including your primary email address, so we can ensure you are receiving important communication throughout the year. Skyward provides parents with near real-time information on many important areas of their student's education, including attendance, schedules, and grades.

With the start of school just around the corner, there will be several reminders going out to parents & students to log into their Skyward Family & Student Access accounts, including to view teacher assignments & scheduling, busing information, food service balance info & applications, etc.

• For the following Skyward updates, contact the District Office.
  
• Updates/changes/corrections to student names
• Updates/changes/corrections to parent names
• Requests to split or join families
• Address change requests
• School offices can update the following in Skyward:
  
• Parent/Guardian contact information (phone numbers & email address)
• Emergency Contact info (names, relationships & phone numbers

Students and families, please continue to check Skyward for an updated schedule as schedules may have changed in order to help balance classes.

Students may request a schedule change by stopping by before school or during lunch. If you have a missing period or an academic misplacement, please see your counselor during that class period on the first day of school.

For example, if you are in AP World History 1st period and you would rather be in World History, please come during 1st period to make that change. Students can request a schedule change until September 14.

Counselors will not be changing schedules to be with friends, to have a different lunch or to switch teachers.

A current school picture is required to be taken of all students. If you missed Sentinel Day, we will get your picture on our Retake Day in the fall. If you are interested in purchasing your school pictures, click here.

Students are required to have their Sentinel ID Card on them at all times. The school uses the ID card to verify student enrollment/identification, late check in to school, library check out, and various events though out the year. There is no cost for a students fist ID Card.

An ASB Card is indicted by a sticker on the ID Card. An ASB card allows students to participate in extracurricular activities like clubs, sports, and discounts events like dances. To purchase the ASB card, click here.

Steilacoom Historical School District uses ParentSquare for school communication, primarily with email, text and app notifications. ParentSquare automatically generates an account for each parent, using their preferred email address and phone number. We encourage parents to access their accounts so they can download the mobile app and update their preferences on when and how they are notified.

Here’s what you can do with ParentSquare:

• Receive messages from the school via email, text or app notification
• Choose to receive information as it comes or all at once at 6pm daily
• Communicate in your preferred language
• Comment on school postings to engage in your school community
• Direct message teachers, staff and other parents
• Participate in group messages
• Sign up for parent-teacher conferences with smart online technology
• Sign forms & permission slips, receive report cards, sign up to volunteer and more all from your phone or web portal

Download the app for the easiest way to receive all ParentSquare communication!

You can find instructions for downloading the app here.

Additional ParentSquare resources/help documents are available here.

A reminder from our Food Services team:

Applications for Free and Reduced Lunch are available now in Skyward Family Access.

Once approved, your eligibility entitles your student to one free/reduced breakfast and lunch each day. Any items over the first meal will be charged at the a la carte rate.

We encourage all eligible families to apply in the Food Services tab in Skyward, as an approval can provide additional benefits such as waived extracurricular ASB activity fees and AP testing fees.

Find your student's pick up/drop off times and stop location information:

By entering your home address into VersaTrans

By logging into Skyward Family Access > Busing Tab.

Need help logging into Skyward Family Access? Login instructions can be found here.

Have you signed up for the Durham Bus Tracker? Your student, your bus, at your fingertips.

If you have any questions, contact the Durham Student Transportation Department at transportation@steilacoom.k12.wa.us or (253) 584-1365.

Our district is committed to providing safe, healthy environments in which all students can learn and thrive. We will do our best to listen and partner with you so that our children have a successful year. Information and resources for families related to absences can be found on our district website. Here is a brief summary from our family and student handbook:

Regular school attendance is necessary for mastery of the educational program provided to students of the District. Students are expected to attend all assigned classes each day. School staff will keep a record of absence and tardiness, including a call log and/or a record of excuse statements submitted by a parent/guardian or, in certain cases, students, to document a student’s excused absences.

In case of absences, parents are required to notify the school office and provide the student's name and reason for absence. The student is responsible for completing missed work. Students should notify their teacher(s) if they have a planned absence to arrange for the make-up of any lessons or assigned work that day.

Email: steilacoomhsoffice@steilacoom.k12.wa.us
Website: www.steilacoom.k12.wa.us
Location: 54 Sentinel Drive, Steilacoom, WA, USA
Phone: 253-983-2300
Instagram: @bigsteilly

Facebook: Steilacoom Sentinels