During our annual Reaching New Heights Week, we will be providing awareness and experiences at school for exploration of post-secondary opportunities. We are excited to have nearly 20 community members on campus to provide valuable information for students. We appreciate our local partners, One Zone Chamber and Invest Hamilton County, for their continued support. Grade 8 students will also be participating in a project to present a post secondary option to their younger grade level peers. I also included a video below the dress up days graphic produced by Mr. James that explains our Portrait of a Graduate and Reaching New Heights. It's important to note that the focus on post-secondary opportunities is not about pressuring students to make decisions as young adolescents. The goal is to stir curiosity, identify interests, and build background knowledge so that students can make informed decisions about their futures when the time is right for them. Too often these experiences were inconsistent or only for some students. Our vision is to provide all students with meaningful, fun, and engaging post-secondary learning activities with a focus on enrollment, employment, or enlistment, so that all students can know what's possible for them after they graduate high school and be intentional about crafting their high school schedule to align with their own goals.

HHMS will host our first dance of the school year. We are splitting the event into two parts. There will be snacks available for purchase at the dance (while supplies last).

5th and 6th graders who decide to attend will stay after school until 5:00. They can be picked up at Entrance C on the north side of the school. Please form the car line by entering from 256th street instead of 19.

7th and 8th graders will come to their part of the dance at 5:30. They should be dropped off at the CAR RIDER ENTRANCE O on the south side of the school and be picked up at 7:00 at Entrance C on the north side of the school. Please form a line by entering from 256th street instead of 19. Tickets must be purchased for $5 during lunch on Oct 21-24.

HHMS students can invite a veteran they know (family, friend, neighbor, etc.) to Hamilton Heights Middle School for a special luncheon in the Media Center on Friday, November 8. Students will be permitted to eat with their invited guest and should complete the information on the form linked below so that we are able to properly plan for this event. Please detach the form and return it to your social studies teacher by Friday, October 25 for planning purposes. You can also click here to conveniently register using a digital link.

Please be sure to follow these guidelines for drop off and pick up to ensure a smooth and safe process.

DROP OFF

• It is essential that all students get out of the car once the car parks along the sidewalk. Do not wait until the last car to drop off by the entrance. This is the number one issue that backs up the cars on 19.
• Follow regular traffic rules when exiting and entering St. Rd. 19. It's often most dangerous when people are being nice and letting other cars go in front of them, not paying attention to traffic heading north or south on 19.
• When you turn into the south entrance of the parking lot, please pull as far up as you can along the sidewalk, but please leave a gap to allow exiting cars to turn north when you stop. Often cars pulling in wait for cars to turn north in front of them when there is a lot of room to pull up along the sidewalk. Pull up all the way first before allowing cars to turn north. This also backs up the cars on 19. Pull all the way forward, but leave a gap if you have to stop due to cars parked along the sidewalk.
• Please have your child ready to get out of the car once you stop by the sidewalk.
• If you see the sign moved into the way of the car rider line at 8:00 AM, please drop off your child at the front office, NOT Entrance O. This means Entrance O is closed and locked due to the start of the school day.

PICK UP

• Cars parked in the front row nearest the school must pull all the way out before turning right to exit. We've had some cars turn right immediately without pulling out first, which causes them to scape the front left side of the car parked to the right of them. Take your time and pull out before turning right.
• Please be parked in a spot by 3:00. It takes a lot of time to allow cars to enter from 19 when we are trying to send all of the cars to 19.
• It also helps if you can exit only using the middle and north lanes. Leaving the back south lane for cars entering enables us to exit cars more efficiently.
• If you are parked in the second row, please try to refrain from backing out into the middle lane to exit. It's best if you can only pull forward to exit.
• While last Friday was an exception due to homecoming events, we are usually able to clear the parking lot within 10 minutes. Please be patient and drive slowly.

All 7th grade students will participate in a hearing screening on Monday, November 4 during their social studies classes. If you would like to opt your child out of this screening, please turn in the form attached below.

Classic Tours has online registration for the Washington, D.C. Trip. Please visit their website at http://www.ClassicToursInc.com and click on "Find My School". You will then have the option to register online. If you do not wish to register online, you can click on the printable PDF and print the registration form and mail it in to Classic Tours with your deposit. Click here for a link to a video for parents to view.

On Monday, October 28, all 6th grade students who are being dropped off for the Camp Tecumseh Trip should be dropped off starting at 8:15 in the car rider line. This will enable normal drop off traffic to continue without disrupting the flow of traffic while unpacking luggage and bedding for the extended trip. Thank you for your cooperation.

If you have any questions about the Camp Tecumseh Trip, please contact Mrs. Williams (mwilliams@hhschuskies.org) for additional information.If your child will need to take medication during the trip, all medications are due to our school nurses by THIS Thursday, October 10. Please do not send the medications with the students to school. The nurses monitor and distribute the medications during the trip.

If your student will NOT be attending, fill out this form.

If you have any questions for the Junior Huskies Basketball League (Includes HHMS 5th Graders), contact Chad Hartwick (chad.hartwick@ebpaving.com) or 765-623-2722.

Order pick-up will be on October 8 inside Entrance O from 2:30-6:00. Please contact Mrs. Garrison (sgarrison@hhschuskies.org) if you have any questions or would like to place an order. We do sometimes get extra trash bags to sell if you missed the deadline.

Grade cards for the first grading period (Q1) should be available in PowerSchool before Fall Break. If you have a question about your child's grade, please contact your child's teacher.

Our Study Tables program is available again every Tuesday and Thursday from 3:25-5:00. Study Tables is not one on one tutoring, but there is at least one teacher or instructional assistant who supervises and can provide some support. Many students have found this helpful in the past. If you would like your child to participate, he/she should go to the gym to be supervised from 3:00-3:25, then the study tables supervisor will direct the students on where to go for Study Tables (Media Center or the teacher’s classroom). Students must stay for the duration of the study tables unless you provide the office with notification ahead of time that your child needs to be dismissed early. Students may be picked up outside of Entrance O at 5:00.

It takes at least 4 people to help the car rider pick-up process go smoothly each afternoon. If you would like to volunteer to help us for 10-15 minutes after school each day, please contact me. We've had a few great volunteers in the past who really helped us serve our families well with this process. It would be helpful if we had a few more volunteers for the new school year. Thank you for your consideration.

If you'd like me to add you to my daily announcements parent email list, please email me and simply write "add" in the subject line. Anytime you want me to remove you, just email me "remove" in the subject line. All daily announcements are also available on Canvas for students and posted on our middle school webpage (click here).

Per the State of Indiana, a student is considered Chronically Absent when he or she misses 10% of the school year (including both unexcused and excused). We have completed 43 days of school, so missing 4 days at this point in the school year would classify a student as Chronically Absent for the first quarter grading period. Last year, we had 34.7% of our students meet the definition of Chronic Absentee. Our goal is to improve this rate for the current school year.