Pleasant Hill Family News

Students worked hard on their iReady Diagnostic Reading Assessments at school this week. We'll dive into math next week. As you may recall from prior communication, i-Ready is an online program that helps us determine your child’s strengths and areas for growth, personalize their learning, and monitor their progress throughout the school year. i-Ready allows us to meet your child where they are and provides us with data to inform instruction. We look forward to sharing these results with families soon after we wrap up these assessments.

As always, please reach out with any questions.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Jenn

Jennifer Humphrey

Principal

Pleasant Hill School

You are in for some FUN! Come join us on Friday, February 28th for "Pleasant Hill Play Day," inspired by the Global Day of Play, which involves over half a million children worldwide. We invite you to sign up here for one or both of the time slots listed below. Please remember to bring your ID when you check in at the office so we can provide you with your badge. Sign up will close on Wednesday, February 5th and you will receive a confirmation email no later than Friday, February 14th. We are so excited to have you with us for play time!

PLEASE NOTE: All volunteers need to have completed the Volunteer Training to assist at Play Day. There will be only one training before then and it is on February 3 at noon (more info below.) Please plan to attend if you need to be trained before Play Day. Thank you!

We are eager to welcome our newest students to Scarborough Public Schools for Kindergarten in 2025- 2026.

• Kindergarten is open to any student who turns 5 on or before Oct. 15, 2025.

• If your child meets this criteria, and you are sending them to school in the fall, please complete the form linked here: New Student Enrollment Form

• If your child meets the age requirement, but you are undecided about sending them due to their age or developmental level, please complete the REGISTRATION FORM anyway. This will help us plan for all potential students.

• Appointments will be scheduled later this spring in each of our schools to review paperwork, including notarization of residency.

• If your child has specific health concerns, you can call or set up an appointment with one of our school nurses at any time.

• More information will be provided throughout the spring!

If you would like help completing these forms, we are happy to meet with you and provide an interpreter. Please call any of the school offices listed below.

Blue Point- 207-730-5300 Eight Corners- 207-730-5200 Pleasant Hill- 207-730-5250

Click here to access the registration page.

This section of the Family News will remain in the coming months so you have quick access to the latest information related to the K-8 school solutions being considered.

Check out:

https://www.scarboroughschools.org/building-project (always found under "Quicklinks" on the district website.)

Latest Building meeting slidedeck

in funding two upcoming projects at the K-2 level.

Congratulations to Maura Heffernan (Teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages) on receiving a grant to bring learning related to birds of Maine to her students. Last spring, Ms. Heffernan's students studied birds by walking outside, taking pictures, reading bird books and doing research. This year, they will keep track of what they see in their journals. With the materials provided from the grant, students will be able to go deeper into the study of Maine birds. Where do they live? How big are they? What do they eat? The unit of study will culminate in a birding trip to Gilsland Farm in Falmouth where students hope see a variety of Maine birds!

Congrats to Mrs. Pinkham and Ms. Spark! Pleasant Hill School will be participating in some outdoor learning this spring and in the future! Mrs. Pinkham (Instructional Coach). along with Ms. Spark (PE Teacher) partnered together to apply for a grant from the Scarborough Education Foundation and they were selected as recipients. Supplies have been rolling in and Mrs. Pinkham and Ms. Spark cannot wait to get our students outside, being active, and learning about gardening right here on our school grounds. More info to come this spring as these exciting plans unfold.

Influenza-like illnesses (Influenza, RSV, Covid, the "common cold"...) and Norovirus are currently surging in our community. Many staff and students have reported Norovirus symptoms: vomiting, diarrhea, intense stomach pains, headaches, fever, and body aches. Norovirus is extremely contagious. Most people get better within 1 to 3 days but can still be contagious a few days after symptoms stop. For this reason, the CDC has recommended that students with norovirus symptoms stay home for 2 additional days AFTER symptoms have stopped.

Please see the attached PDF for more information regarding Norovirus and preventing its spread.

We appreciate your diligence when deciding to send your child to school.

Our school calendar allows for 2 traditional snow day cancellations. After those 2 days, all subsequent school closure days will be remote learning days. The district has created a website (www.scarboroughschools.org/district/weather-closures) to make it easier for families to access information about school closure and to plan accordingly.

Each phase level has a plan for students that can be accessed on the website (K2 Phase Level Remote Learning Plan for Snow/Inclement Weather Days linked here). Non-perishable meals are available in advance. Please fill out this form (also located on the website) to receive this support. Please reach out with any questions about snow days or remote learning days. Hard copies of this plan and the linked choice boards for students will be coming home after our first snow day.

To promote safety and prevent congestion, please park only on the right hand side of the road when heading up the hill, leaving 30 feet from the stop sign. Thank you for your assisting, as we work to keep pedestrians safe.

Please make sure your child has a winter coat, hat and mittens/gloves every day. Snow pants are helpful to keep children warm even if we have no snow. Once we have snow, please make sure your child has snow pants so they can enjoy the snow. We do have some coats and snow pants here that children can borrow if they forget theirs.

Should your family need assistance obtaining winter gear, please reach out to our Social Worker, Danielle Anderson at danderson@scarboroughschools.org.

Thank you!

NOW is the time to get volunteer trained! This is REQUIRED for anyone who wants to volunteer, chaperone a field trip, or visit your child's classroom.

Trainings will be held monthly, and you only need to be trained ONCE during your time here at Pleasant Hill School. If you are unsure if you have received training yet, you can always check with the front office at 207-730-5250. If it turns out you have already taken the training, we will send you the updated confidentiality link, which you are required to sign ANNUALLY.

UPCOMING TRAINING SESSIONS:

Monday, February 3, 12:00 pm

Training is 20 minutes in length.

Where: https://scarboroughschools.zoom.us/j/9577613642

No need to sign up, just hop on Zoom!

Important Dates

• February 11, 2025: PTA Meeting 7-8PM, Town Hall or virtually: *NEW* monthly meeting link

• Bus Driver Appreciation 2/13

• Romeo's Pizza Fundraiser night 2/10

• Race2 The Point 4/13

Bus Driver Appreciation! We need your help!

On February 13th we are planning to show our gratitude to our bus department staff. PTA is putting on breakfast and will be asking for donations/support from you parents!

You can donate directly to the PTA on Venmo

@Scarborough-PrimaryPTA or click here to sign up on Signup Genius to donate specific items!

Romeo's Pizza Night

Romeo's! Not just great pizza, but great neighbors! Romeo's is always willing to help our community, make dinner easy on February 10, support our Primary Schools and their business!

Race2 The Point

Sunday, April 13th- We're looking for more volunteers to make this year a success!

Our committee has been working so hard to pull this together, if you're able to help, sign up here!

Click here to register for this awesome event! 5k, a kids fun run and so much more!

Interested in sponsoring this event? Click here to find out more

Coming soon! We will be looking to fill PTA board positions for the 2025/2026 school year! If you or someone you know are interested, consider joining for next school year!

We are always looking for people willing and able to help! Join a committee or our email list to find out more! Thank you!

PTA | Email Sign Up

For all communication regarding students, please contact the office via email -phoffice@scarboroughschools.org or by phone at 207-730-5250. Please include your child's teacher on the email if it is regarding a change in dismissal plans.

Absence Reporting:

We ask families to report their child's absence from school by calling the main office at 207-730-5250 or by email at phoffice@scarboroughschools.org. When leaving a message, we ask that you state the reason for the absence, otherwise, office staff will reach back out to you for that information.

Excusable reasons for an absence:

• illness
• appointment
• religious holiday
• family emergency
• planned absence

For Planned Absences (a day out of school which is not illness or medical appointment related), families should fill out the PH Planned Absence Form. To reduce lost instructional time, we ask families to do their best to coordinate vacations so they line up with our scheduled school vacation weeks.

For questions about attendance, please contact the main office at 207-730-5250 or email us at phoffice@scarboroughschools.org

For breakfast meals in all of our schools, you can order online on the same day before 6:30 AM, while for lunch meals, you can order online on the same day before 7:30 AM. You can order meals for the day, or set up a weekly or monthly plan for meals to be provided to your children. The menus for all meals for a new month will be posted on the school’s website and on the Nutrislice app the last Monday at the end of the previous month.

School Menus Page

January 27-February 7 iReady Winter Diagnostic Assessment

February 3 12:00 pm Volunteer Training. No need to sign up. Just join at:

https://scarboroughschools.zoom.us/j/9577613642

February 5 Last Day to sign up to volunteer at Play Day

February 7 Kindergarten Trip to Maine Children's Theater 9:30-11:05

February 10 Romeo's Pizza Fundraiser night
February 11 PTA Meeting 7-8PM, Town Hall or virtually: *NEW* monthly meeting link

February 12 Early Release. Dismissal at 1:45 pm

February 13 Bus Driver Appreciation

February 17-21 February Break

February 28 Play Day

April 13 Race to the Point

* On Fridays: We invite you to wear red or your Scarborough gear to show your Red Storm Pride!

Email: jhumphrey@scarboroughschools.org
Website: https://pleasanthill.scarboroughschools.org/
Location: 143 Highland Avenue, Scarborough, ME, USA
Phone: 207-730-5250