

Worthington Hills Weekly Update
March 7, 2025
Worthington Hills Families,
Learning and student engagement continues in our building, and we are so proud of our Hawkeyes for demonstrating our three core competencies: being Thinkers, Leaders, and Friends—this is The Hawkeye Way! Parents, we encourage you to ask your child how they’ve chosen to show these qualities at school and at home. Try asking, "Who did you help today?" or "How were you a leader in your classroom?" to spark great conversations.
With warmer temperatures on the way, please make sure your child’s sweatshirts, jackets, and other items are labeled with their name so they can be returned if misplaced.
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!
Warmly,
Tiena Miller
Principal
New News...
Spirit Day
Next Friday, 3/14 will be Beach Day. Students can come in festive beach attire such as Hawaiian shirts, sunglasses, grass skirts, flower leis, etc. We will also be collecting donations for Stop the Suffering Animal Rescue. Stop the Suffering (STS) is a Columbus, Ohio based nonprofit that rescues dogs and cats and matches them to their forever home. They also raise funds for veterinary care, transportation and food for rescued animals. They are in need of dog treats and paper towels. We look forward to seeing everyone dreaming of warmer weather in their festive summer beach attire while collecting items for a great organization!
Read Across America
Join the Worthington Education Association for FREE Family Fun this Friday, March 7 from 6:00-8:30 at the Worthington Community Center! We are celebrating Read Across America Week with character visits, themed snacks, library storytimes, live animals from the Ohio Wildlife Center, balloon twisting, open gyms, and more!
Spring Panorama Survey
We sincerely appreciate you and your family for being valued partners in our mission to educate and support the children in our district!
As you may know, fostering student well-being is a key priority for our school—this year and every year. In the coming weeks, students will participate in activities designed to deepen their understanding of these important concepts and reflect on their own skills.
To support this effort, we are partnering with Panorama Education, a trusted third-party organization, to administer an online survey for students in grades 3-12. This survey will encourage students to self-reflect on essential areas such as Sense of Belonging, Self-Management, Emotion Regulation, Social Awareness, and Supportive Relationships.
The survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete and will be administered during a two-week window from March 3 to March 14. Students may skip any question if they feel they do not have enough information to respond.
This initiative aligns with our district’s Portrait of a Learner, a framework developed in collaboration with Battelle for Kids and our community design team—including students, families, educators, and local stakeholders. Through this process, we sought to answer key questions:
What are the hopes, dreams, and aspirations that our community has for its students?
What are the skills and mindsets our children need for success in this rapidly changing, and complex world?
What are the implications for the design of the learning experiences and equitable access to those experiences we provide in our school system?
By aligning our survey topics with the Portrait of a Learner Competencies and our elementary and middle school Learner Profiles, we aim to better understand and support our students’ growth. Student voice is essential, and their responses will provide valuable insights that help us refine and improve our approach to instruction and support.
If you have any questions about the survey, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 614-450-4700.
Thank you for your ongoing partnership in creating a supportive and enriching learning environment for all students.
Warmly,
Tiena
Information for Your Review...
Dear Worthington Hills Families,
Ohio Revised Code requires that school districts deliver annual lessons for Ohio’s K-6 students in child sexual abuse prevention. The portions of the law that outline the requirements for child sexual abuse prevention are often referred to as Erin’s Law. Erin’s Law is named after Erin Merryn, who after working in her home state of Illinois to pass legislation requiring sexual abuse prevention lessons in 2009, has worked to expand the program to 38 states, including Ohio.
In order to meet the requirements of the law, Worthington Schools school counselors will be delivering a one-day lesson to students aimed at helping students prevent sexual abuse and keep themselves safe.
School counselors will begin teaching age-appropriate sexual abuse prevention lessons in the month of March. While the legislation requires Ohio schools to teach sexual abuse prevention, given the sensitive nature of the topic, parents do have the right to opt their children out of receiving the instruction. Should you prefer your child to be excused, please contact your child’s school principal or counselor. Students not participating in the lesson will be provided an alternate location in the school for supervised school activities.
Worthington Schools counselors will utilize instructional materials from the Second Step Child Protection Unit for the required lessons. For a broad overview of the program, you can visit the website at: https://www.secondstep.org/child-protection. While the program’s Scope and Sequence document from the website shows six lessons per grade level, the school counselors will emphasize content focused on unsafe and unwanted physical contact in a one-day classroom lesson. Should you have additional questions regarding the requirements of the law or instructional materials, please contact me at rmessenheimer@wscloud.org.
Sincerely,
Rob Messenheimer
Director of Elementary Education
Tiena Miller
Principal, Worthington Hills Elementary School
The Dance!
Worthington Connects
Worthington Connects is a community-driven organization dedicated to supporting local families in need year-round. We partner closely with schools to identify families who could benefit from assistance and rely on generous donations from the community to make our efforts possible. Every contribution helps us provide meaningful support to those in need.
If you would like to donate or get involved, please visit https://www.worthingtonconnects.org Families seeking assistance are encouraged to reach out to their school counselors, who work with us to connect resources to those who need them most. Together, we can make a lasting impact in our Worthington community!
Direct donation: https://www.worthingtonconnects.org/giving-page-3
Kindergarten Registration for the 2025-2026 School Year is Open!
Kindergarten Registration has begun. Starting in the 2025-2026 school year, Worthington Schools will offer free, all-day kindergarten. All students who will turn 5 years old by September 30, 2025 are eligible for enrollment.
You can learn more about the kindergarten program on this webpage. If you know a family that has a child entering school next year, please share this information with them!
Volunteers
The PTA needs your help. Please consider volunteering for the following:
Library Volunteering:
Mrs. Steele needs help shelving books on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for an hour, at most.
Please sign up here:
https://bit.ly/wheslibraryvolunteer2425
Please contact Karli Hill (karli.hill22@gmail.com) with any questions related to Library volunteering.
Important Reminder Regarding Food Allergies
This serves as a reminder that there may be some students in your child’s school who have peanut and/or tree nut allergies. As the safety of our children is paramount to all, we need your support to make our cafeteria “nut free”. A child with a nut allergy can suffer a serious reaction merely by touching a food containing a peanut or tree nut. Therefore, we ask that you adhere to the following safety guidelines:
Please do not send in any peanuts, peanut butter or foods containing peanuts or peanut butter to be eaten during lunch.
Read ingredient labels carefully to ensure that the snacks sent in with your child are peanut and tree nut-free.
Please do not hesitate to contact our Health Office Assistant, Liz Martin, RN @ lmartin@wscloud.org or our School Nurse, Beth Laflumboise RN @ elaflumboise@wscloud.org with any questions or concerns about food allergies. They can also be reached at 614-450-4015.
Dismissal Changes?
If your child has a change in dismissal - we need to know! Please use the form below or email your child's teacher and our office staff so we can ensure they are where they need to be at dismissal.
Erin Neville - eneville@wscloud.org
Linda Watts - lwatts@wscloud.org
Lori Kallas - lkallas@wscloud.org
A message from our Health Office...
Here are some guidelines for when to keep your child home from school:
The protocol for management of communicable disease in Worthington City Schools is based upon the Ohio Department of Health’s guidelines and recommendations. Your child is too ill to go to school if any of the following symptoms are present:
● Temperature of 100 F or above by mouth (Student must stay home until fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medication. In most cases this means the student will miss the following school day. Please understand fevers can reoccur within a 24 hour time period and this policy is in the best interest of all students.)
● Vomiting or diarrhea within the past 24 hours (Student must stay home for 24 hours to ensure these symptoms are gone before returning to school.)
● Shortness of breath or increased wheezing during normal activity
● Has a cough that interrupts normal activity
● Pain from an earache, headache, sore throat or recent injury
● Has yellow or green drainage from nose or eye(s)
● Rash over body or localized to one area of the body (A student who shows signs of a communicable disease exhibiting as a rash may return to school once the rash is gone or a doctor’s note is presented stating the student may return to school.)
● Fatigue that requires bed rest (common with flu-like symptoms)
● Signs of conjunctivitis such as red, crusty or swollen eyes (Student may return once symptoms have been treated and are gone or a doctor’s note is presented stating the student may return to school .)
If your child is ill, please do not send them to school to be checked by the school nurse. Such exposure may be harmful to the child as well as to the children with whom they come in contact. Please report all contagious diseases to the school office in order that the proper steps may be taken within the school to prevent the spread of disease. If your child becomes ill, or is injured at school, you will be called and expected to come to school to pick-up the child. We will be guided by information on the “Health Services” portion of your student’s Online Registration Summary. You are asked to supply that information on or before the start of school. If there are ever any changes to this information during the school year, please notify the school office immediately and make those changes online.
Please click here to learn about lice protocols. Please note that Worthington Hills appropriately handles lice cases as outlined in the link above. For more information on head lice visit:
School Hours...
Dismissal is at 2:50 pm
News from PTA
PTA meeting will be held on Wednesday, 3/19/25 at 6:30pm. Place is TBD.
Want information about PTA meetings and other PTA sponsored events?
- Sign up at Givebacks, the hub for all PTA things. There is no fee to sign up to receive information on events, meetings, and volunteer opportunities. The link to sign up is https://wohills.givebacks.com/join/fc83d8
- Join our Facebook Group. You can find it by searching for Worthington Hills PTA or click on the link below. Please make sure to answer the questions for approval. https://www.facebook.com/groups/141468395941390
- Check out our PTA page on the school district page, or click on the link below. There you will find meeting minutes, who your board members are, and how to get in touch with us. https://hills.worthington.k12.oh.us/studentsparents/departments
Looking for ways to support the PTA?
- Become a voting member of the PTA. Your donation of $10 allows you to have a vote at the PTA meeting as well as give to the PTA fund for school programming, school events, and curriculum needs. Click on the link below to become a voting member: https://wohills.givebacks.com/store
- Attend the monthly PTA meetings. Your input is crucial to the success of our school community. See ways to access the calendar above.
- Volunteer at PTA events. Volunteers are what make our PTA such a success. See links above for upcoming volunteer opportunities.
- Join one of our many committees to help plan PTA events for students and staff.
- Email Janet Glazier (jglazier928@gmail.com) for a list of committees.
How do I contact the PTA committee chairs or the board?
Please send an email to worthingtonhillspta@gmail.com, or jglazier928@gmail.com.
Dates for Your Calendar...
3/9 - 3/15 - Virtual State of Schools
3/14 - Spirit Day - Beach Theme!
3/17 - 3/21 - Health & Wellness Week - more info. to come
3/24 - 3/28 - No School - Spring Break
WoHills Digital Lost & Found
Click the link below!
Third Grade Girl Scouts from Troop #6903 who have volunteered to help organize, sort and reunite lost items with their owners! We are SO excited about this!