Education Director's Newsletter

Thank you parents and students for making our first week in our new school absolutely amazing! We can't begin to describe the excitement we all felt seeing the halls filled with happy faces. I loved hearing so many students telling their parent(s) that they "had a great day" or "today was so much fun!" What an awesome group of Trailblazers we have! I can't wait to see what the rest of the school year brings!

We have been working hard to devise a pick up plan that reduces the wait time and traffic congestion on Government Way. We have emailed a map and pick-up procedures as well as posting it on our website under the Parent Info tab. Thank you so much for your patience this past week!

We realize many of you have recently enrolled and have not yet received your uniforms. All new students should have their uniforms by the second week of attendance (hopefully). Students must wear plain solid colored shirts in approved uniform colors until uniforms arrive. Please make sure all pants, skirts and leggings are approved colors: navy, black, or khaki. Skirts and dresses must be the approved color and length (no shorter than 2" above the knee.). If wearing a shirt underneath a polo or t-shirt please make sure the shirt underneath is an approved color. REMEMBER all shirts, jackets, cardigans, and hoodies that are to be worn inside class must have a logo. Winter coats that are not worn in class do not need to have a logo.

If your child is needing uniforms ASAP, you may purchase T-shirts, Polos (short or long sleeved) or hoodies in shades of green or blue (no neon) and take them to Pyramid Printing to have the logo screen printed or embroidered for $5.50. For examples of acceptable colors you may view Pyramid's link or see our dress code guide with samples under our Parent Info Tab on our website. All shirts MUST be screen printed or embroidered by one of our vendors using our official logo. Please do not copy and use our logo for personal use, as it is for school use only.

We have made tremendous progress in getting our playground grass in. A big thank you goes out to the MBM Group and Con Mat for their generous donation of top soil for our lawn area!!! (our community is the greatest!) Sprinklers went in this past week and sod was put down on Saturday. A huge thank you to all of you coming out to rake and help with the sod installation. Next up is temporary fencing the installation of 2 hillside slides, swings ,and bark. Our final plans include a nature scape playground, climbing structures, and outdoor learning lab made of logs! Stay tuned, as we will be looking for creative builders to help construct our dream playground!

From Mr. Hampsch, your friendly neighborhood music teacher at HCC,

To the parents, families, or anyone with a stake in the education program here at Hayden Canyon Charter. Please read to the end, there’s a call to action!

I have spoken to many parents about their desires for their children’s music education this year. First of all, I LOVE these conversations; they let me get a finger on the pulse of how I can best serve the students in a meaningful way. One of the recurring questions is about the rolling out of a strings program. I’ll briefly lay out the plan below, before getting to my main point.

Due to regulations by Panhandle health, we could not designate a separate choir and strings program in an equitable way for families. What we WILL be doing is providing a rigorous exploration of music through different means. The beginning of the year will focus on singing, solfege, and understanding melody. The second third of the year will involve piano, theory, and harmony.

The final third of the year is where we need some help to reach our goal. My wish is to do a full 6th grade, and full 7th/8th grade instrumental program. To make this equitable for families who cannot afford to rent instruments, I have been collecting quality instruments using a part of our music budget. We will have some of these stringed instruments for families who qualify through a need-based scholarship, but we want to offer this to as many of the families who will need it.

So, I am calling out for any stringed instruments (or orchestra instruments: brass, woodwind, percussion, etc for next year) that families may have to donate to the school. This will help ensure the opportunity to begin to work in the orchestral medium without excluding families. The scholarship forms will be available soon so that we may determine which families will receive assistance.

Thank you for reading all the way to the end! If you have any questions, you can contact me directly at jhampsch@haydencanyoncharter.com

Due to our delayed opening, we have moved our parent conferences to the week of Oct.26-30. During these conferences we will be going over student progress, IRI scores, MAP Growth scores, and literacy plans. Students will share their portfolios with parents to highlight their progress, areas where growth is needed, and their expeditionary work.

Students in grades K-5 will be dismissed M-Th at 12:30, with conferences held on M-Thur.

6th-8th will attend a full days on Mon-Wed. and will be dismissed at 12:30 on Thurs. with conferences held after school and on Friday. Please watch for detailed information and times.

There are 3 easy steps to becoming a volunteer Hero:

Step 1: Complete the volunteer screening form https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Okb6J1Jjdv7m-PpwtrgrKEmywtikkksc/view?usp=sharing

Step 2: Have your driver's license or State ID scanned in our office (scanning device is on it's way).

Step 3: Sign up on our volunteer calendar upon being cleared through our background check system: https://hccheroes.ivolunteer.com/.

Please note: Our current volunteers have been vetted and are either board members, their spouses or one of our Parent Crew Officers, whom have been involved with the founding of this school over the past few years. All have been carefully chosen and screened. We will be opening up our volunteer system to anyone interested as soon as our scanner has arrived. Your child's safety is of the utmost importance to us and is not taken lightly.

Parent Crew is off to a great start and would like to thank everyone who has helped out so far. The Cornerstone Celebration was a huge success with lots of parent interest and support. If you're not already part of Parent Crew's email list and would like to be involved, please email them at HCCParentCrew@gmail.com and/or find them on Facebook at HCC Parent Crew.

The next Parent Crew meeting is Tuesday, October 6 at 5:30 pm. There will be several committee and volunteer opportunities available. All are welcome to attend!

Our Board meetings are held on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month at 7:00 in room #221. Agendas and minutes can be found on our website. Please be on the look out for a message from our Board regarding upcoming board positions.

Cynthia Lamb, Education Director

Email: info@haydencanyoncharter.org
Website: http://haydencanyoncharter.org
Location: 13950 North Government Way, Hayden, ID, USA
Phone: (208) 477-1812
Facebook: facebook.com/haydencanyoncharter