Highland Happenings
Volume 10 - October 27, 2021
Principal's Message
Dear Families,
I want to thank our Associated Student Body (ASB) leaders and advisors for facilitating a successful Unity Spirit Week last week. It was exciting to see so many students and adults participating and showing their support to end bullying. Although Unity Day is over, I encourage all our students to regularly practice kindness, inclusion, and acceptance.
Students also participated in an Earthquake Drill last Thursday.
6th grade students took the 5th grade WACAS Science test earlier this week. We are finished with state testing until the spring! We will utilize this information as one indicator to show us where are students are with respect to state standards. Families will receive the results, please stay tuned for more information.
With Halloween occurring on the weekend this year, students have been asking about getting to wear costumes to school on Friday. We are allowing students to participate in costumes, if they so choose. However, they may not have full face masks and no props such as look alike weapons, etc. If a costume becomes a distraction, the student will be asked to remove it and finish the remainder of the day in their regular clothes.
Finally, thank you to the 6th grade parents who were able to attend the Principal's Coffee hosted by our PTSA this week. We hope to schedule more sessions like this by grade level and encourage our families to get to know each other as we build our community.
In Partnership,
Susan Thomas,
Principal
Every Eagle. Every Day. Every Way.
Cada águila. Cada día. En todos los sentidos
Highland Celebrates Re-Opening with Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony
On Thursday, October 21, the Bellevue School District community had the opportunity to celebrate a belated but highly anticipated grand re-opening of Highland Middle School. The BSD Board of Directors, Superintendent Jarvis, and a number of BSD staff and teachers were joined by City of Bellevue Councilmember, Janice Zahn, and representatives from McGranahan Architects and Spee West Construction, in a ceremonial ribbon-cutting.
Highland underwent a major rebuild over the last several years thanks to the 2014 bond, and was completed amid district-wide virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. While students and staff were housed at another facility several miles away, the old school was torn down and rebuilt from the ground up. Although COVID-19 delayed an official grand opening and prevented the district from celebrating with our entire BSD community in person, we are excited to provide students with a fresh and welcoming learning environment at the new building
Highland History
Procedures for Visitors to BSD Schools
School Visitors
A visitor is anyone entering school property who is:
- Not a staff member checking into their regularly assigned building, or
- Not a student enrolled at the school.
- Not a volunteer
All visitors must check in on arrival when the main office is open. All visitors will check-in via LobbyGuard, the district’s electronic visitor management system. LobbyGuard asks for verification of vaccination (yes or no) and requests contact information to include phone number and e-mail to assist with any subsequent follow-up contact tracing. School staff will visually verify vaccination status. The following are acceptable methods of verification:
- CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card or photo of the card;
- Documentation of vaccination from a health care provider or electronic health record;
- State immunization information system record; or for or an individual who was vaccinated outside of the United States, a reasonable equivalent of any of the above.
All persons visiting the schools must have a purpose related to the district’s educational program or the personal welfare of a student or employee and remain masked while indoors. Visits for any other purpose are prohibited. Visitors who are unvaccinated must maintain 6 feet of physical distancing from others.
Building principals will determine the necessity of visitors to the school, the duration, and time of visits based on minimizing disruptions to the school and school program. To the greatest extent possible, business will be conducted via telephone, video conference calls, or other means to minimize in-person meetings.
Those persons who are physically present at a site for a short period of time and confined to the front office or lobby area, and whose proximity to others is brief, will not be required to check-in via LobbyGuard. Examples of this include contracted shipping and delivery personnel or a parent dropping an item at the front desk.
Fall 2021 Resources and Updates
Find updated COVID-19 Health & Safety Information here
Highland Middle School
Email: thomass@bsd405.org
Website: https://bsd405.org/highland/
Location: 15027 NE Bel-Red Rd
Phone: (425) 456-6400