Hidden River Newsletter

SAVE THE DATES - This Week:

Tues., April 15th - All School MCA Reading Testing from 9:00-11:00am (Bring charged iPad)

Tues., April 15th - Family Budget Presentation @ 5:30pm

Wed., April 16th - Coffee with the Principal @ 8:15-9:00am

Fri., April 18th - NO SCHOOL (Staff Professional Development)

Next Week (4/21-4/25)

Thurs., April 24th - Family Staff Organization Meeting @ 5:30-7:00pm in library

Hello Hidden River Families!

Happy Spring! We have a little over 8 weeks until summer break! It is really important to our scholar's success that we continue to emphasize our building expectations consistently! Families can help with this by checking Schoology weekly and reminding their scholar to complete and turn in missing work. Please check their attendance and tardies on Campus! Check in with your student and make sure their binder is in working order with sufficient materials to support learning through June! Finally, remind them about keeping their phone put up in their locker/binder, off and out of sight during the school day.

As the weather warms, help your scholar find outside activities and opportunities to play! Research shows unstructured play allows students to develop a healthy mental well-being! Interested in learning more about how screentime is impacting our youth's well-being, read The Anxious Generation, How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, by Jonathan Haidt. Here is a link to a SUMMARY of the book!

Reminder, we have a family budget presentation for the FY2026 on Tuesday, April 15 at 5:30 p.m. Grateful to partner with amazing families and staff to support our middle school students!

Sincerely,

Teresa Vibar

Safety Drills: The "Spring Safety-Drill Season" has arrived at Hidden River. We will practice a school-wide Tornado Drill on Thursday, April 17 @ 1:45 PM. We will also practice two Fire/Evacuation Drills and two Lockdown Drills during the month of April. Please reach out to a school administrator if you have any questions.

MCA Testing: Hidden River Middle School students will take the Reading MCAs this week on Tues April 15th. Students must have a charged iPad for testing. Math MCA April 22nd and the Science MCA (8th grade only) April 29th. Info for students and families about testing here. If you have questions about your student’s participation in statewide assessments, reach out to Katie Bannon, testing coordinator at kathryn.bannon@spps.org. Additional information can be found here.

Food and snack expectations: As a reminder outside food cannot be ordered or delivered to school (DoorDash or GrubHub). Additionally, food/snacks are limited to breakfast time and lunch time. Snacks during class and in the halls cause messes and are a distraction to the learning environment. We also encourage students to eat healthy snacks, if you are interested in learning more about healthy snacking click here.

SPPS Arts Alive: Hidden River will have student art work showcased in the Arts Alive event on April 16th from 6-8pm at the LANDMARK CENTER, 75 W 5TH ST Click Here for more info.

Welcome Back!

All practices (Baseball/Track/Badminton) will be Mon-Thur 3:15pm-4:45pm. Bring water bottles and comfortable clothing to practice in.

At this time all Fall/Winter Sports Gear is overdue; a fee ranging from $25-$80 is now owed.

If they have not already completed this, please complete the Middle School Athletics Participation Fees Survey below:

• English

• Hmong

• Karen

• Somali

• Spanish

Please join us! Email wendy.caucutt@spps.org or call 651-744-2007 with any questions.

This week:

• 2025-2026 Budget Update: Tuesday, April 15th at 5:30 PM in the library.

• Coffee with the Principal: Last one of the school year on Wednesday, April 16th from 8:15 - 9:00 AM.

Next week:

• FSO Monthly meeting: Thursday, April 24th at 5:30 PM in the library. Come here about the renovation of 1700 Summit Avenue from the SPPS Facilities team in charge. Childcare and transportation available.

The Hidden River French Immersion Intern Program intends to recruit one native French-speaking intern for the 2025-26 school year. French interns help students continue to improve their French literacy skills in their two French immersion classes in all three middle level grades and prepare them for their path to bilingualism at Central High School.

The Intern Program is operated by a committee made up of Hidden River parents, teachers, and administrators. The committee is collaborating with the L’Etoile du Nord French Immersion (LNFI) Intern Program to recruit interns and host families. Interns live with host families from the Hidden River community and we are asking for three Hidden River families to sign up to host (2 primary / 1 backup).

Please see the following frequently asked questions to learn more about being a host family for the French Intern Program.

Host Family Q&A:

• Do families host for the whole school year?

No. Hosting is for 5 ½ months, either from mid/late-August through mid-January, or from mid-January through mid-June.

• Do host families need to provide a private bedroom for the intern?

Yes, but not a private bathroom.

• Do host families need to provide food for interns?

Yes. All meals must be provided. During the week, families can either fund school lunches or provide food for interns to make a lunch to bring from home. Host families are not compensated.

• Do host families need to transport interns to/from school?

Interns can either ride the school bus or be transported by the host family.

• Do host families need to live in Saint Paul to host an intern?

No; however, the closer to public transportation, the better.

• Do host families need to provide health insurance for the intern?

No. Insurance is provided through the FSO.

• Do host families need to have a student in the French Immersion program, or speak French at home?

No. Anyone from the Hidden River community can be a host family and interns are able to communicate in English.

For more information about the Intern Program or to get involved with hosting, please send an email to HiddenRiverFSO@gmail.com.

Keep Connected Family Engagement Partnership with Search Institute and Change Inc.:

As you might be aware, Hidden River has partnered with Search Institute and Change Inc. to offer the Keep Connected program to students and their families this year. Keep Connected offers resources to families, including tips, ideas, activities and learning opportunities to support strong family relationships.

Family Talk Starters - This Week’s Focus: As a family, share new ideas, experiences, and places together. This is a great way to EXPAND POSSIBILITIES through family relationships.

When you have a few minutes, ask other family members a question or two. Enjoy the conversation!

• What is something about your family’s history or ancestors that you would like to know more about?
• If you could explore any part of the world for a month, where would you explore? What would you be most interested in?

Don't forget to keep scanning to support our school. Look out for new products joining Box Tops in April! Download the app, scan your receipts, link your Walmart account and use code SW407DT3 for a bonus to keep supporting Hidden River!

No te olvides de seguir escaneando para apoyar a nuestra escuela. Busca nuevos productos que se unan a Box Tops en abril! Descarga la aplicación, escanea tus recibos, vincula tu cuenta de Walmart y usa el código SW407DT3 para obtener un bono para seguir apoyando a Hidden River!