Sentinel Snapshot

We had a great first week of school! Students and staff had huge smiles on Thursday and Friday as they connected with their peers, learned about their new courses, and started building relationships in their new classrooms.

This coming week, we will have a more normal bell schedule, with Wednesday as our first early release day at 1:05 p.m. We will run our PM Assembly schedules on Thursday, and clubs are beginning to meet at lunch and after school this week. Sports competitions will also start this week.

Please check with your students and make sure you have reviewed the Student Handbook with them. Your child must complete the Acknowledgment form they can access in their school email. Academic work will start to ramp up this week, and you can monitor your student's work by connecting with them daily and reviewing items in Google Classroom and on Skyward.

We are looking forward to another fantastic week.

Go Sentinels!

Mr. Tyrrell, Mrs. Garza, Mr. Hilen

Please remember that you should only be on campus if you are in a scheduled SHS class. Running Start Students, please arrive at most 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 these are for buses. Thank you for helping make this transition time smooth.

On Friday, students went over the Steilacoom High School Student Handbook in their advisory classes. Please take a moment with your child and review this with them. It can be found at: https://shs.steilacoom.k12.wa.us/our-school/handbook-shs-student

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 48 th Steilacoom Apple Squeeze returns on Sunday, October 1 st 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.

Attention Running Start Students:

Washington State (SHB 1316) has Increased the combined AAFTE limit from 1.2 to 1.4 FTE. What does this change mean for RS Students?

Previously, students could only take one (1) class at SHS and be full time (15 credits) at the community college. For the 2023-24 SY, RS students can now take two (2) classes at SHS AND still be covered as a full time (15 credits) student at the community college.

If you would like to adjust your EVF and SHS schedule to reflect the new 1.4 FTE, please reach out to your counselor.

Senior Counselor

Mr. Brugman

cbrugman@steilacoom.k12.wa.us

Junior Counselor

Mr. Johnson

jajohnson@steilacoom.k12.wa.us

Information about athletics can be found at https://steillyathletics.com/ for schedules.

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.

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 the next week.

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.

If you are interested in taking the SAT, click here for more information.

*Note: This is not put on by SHS.

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