Friends and Families of High Plains,

I hope this letter finds you well! It’s hard to believe we’ve already completed the first month of school, and what a fantastic start it has been! The energy and enthusiasm of our students, teachers, and families have truly set the tone for an exciting school year.

Our Family Connection Meetings have been a tremendous success! We’ve enjoyed getting to know so many of you and appreciate your time and dedication to partnering with us in your child’s education. If you have not yet had the chance to meet with your child’s teacher, we encourage you to schedule a time soon. These meetings are a wonderful opportunity to connect and ensure we’re all working together to support your child’s learning journey.

With fall just around the corner, we have some exciting events coming up! Please keep an eye on your emails and our school calendar for more details.

Thank you for your continued support and involvement. Together, we are building a strong, caring community here at High Plains Elementary.

Warm regards,

Robert Romero

Principal, High Plains Elementary

• Breakfast starts at 7:30! Please bring students to school early if they are going to eat breakfast. We want to avoid food in the classroom during instruction as much as possible.
• Please do not allow students to play on the playground or field after school
• Before & Aftercare (GTG) needs access to the playgrounds and field after school.
• They are not able to be in spaces with non registered students, it is a violation with their licensing.
• Please drive carefully in the neighborhood. We have many families that walk to and from school each day!
• No Dogs on Campus!
• While we love our furry friends, please do not bring dogs on school property
• Please keep the pre-k parking lot open for our pre-k families
• Please see breakfast and lunch menus here
• Walk bikes and scooters on school property

• Friday, 9/20/24 - No School - Teacher Work Day
• Thursday, 9/26/24 - CCHS Spirit Bus
• Saturday, 10/5/24 - CCSD Military Appreciation Game - Legacy Stadium - 12 PM
• Wednesday, 10/9/24 - Bond and Mill Levy Presentation - High Plains Library - 7 PM
• 10/14 - 10/18 - No School - Fall Break

Health and Wellness Reminders from CCSD Health Services

More information can be found at The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE)

How Sick is Too Sick? / (¿Qué tan enfermo es demasiado enfermo?)

The best way to remain healthy and prevent illness from spreading is through good handwashing habits (washing hands for 20 seconds with soap and warm water after using the bathroom, blowing nose, sneezing/coughing, and before/after eating), getting vaccinated for preventable diseases, and staying home when sick!

Stay home when sick!

· If your student is not feeling well enough to take part in their usual activities, due to illness symptoms, they should stay home.

· If your student needs to be picked up from school, have a plan in place to pick them up as soon as possible.

Fever

· Defined as a body temperature over 100.4° F.

· Students may return to school after being 24 hours fever-free without the use of fever-reducing medication such as Tylenol (acetaminophen) or Motrin (ibuprofen).

Vomiting/Diarrhea

· Students may return to school 24 hours after the last episode of vomiting and/or diarrhea unless it is caused by an illness that requires them to stay home longer.

· If your student has a medical condition that causes them to have a baseline of spit-up, reflux, or loose stools regularly, notify your school nurse, so we can best support your student's success.

Cough

· Remind students to cough into their elbow, this helps keep the hands clean from illness and can decrease the spread of illness.

· Keep your student home if the cough is severe or uncontrolled.

· If a cough lasts longer than 2 weeks, we encourage checking in with your healthcare provider.

Lice

· Signs of lice:

o Itching of the scalp, presence of live lice, eggs attached to the hair shaft, and/or small pinpoint scabs at the base of the hairline.

o If live lice are present, students may remain in school until the end of the school day; however, they cannot return until after receiving an approved pediculicide treatment per CDPHE guidelines.

· Reminder: lice is a nuisance and not a public health concern.

o This means it is not a reportable infectious disease, as it does not spread disease.

o It is not due to poor hygiene habits.

o We do not send notification letters home when cases of lice are present.

o We do not perform routine classroom-wide lice checks.

Vaccines

· Many childhood/school-aged illnesses can be prevented by receiving routine vaccines. Talk with your provider or school nurse for more information.

Wishing all students, parents/guardians, and staff a healthy school year!

Cherry Creek School District Health Services Department

As you know, we did not host a Back to School Night this year. We hosted Family Connection Meetings in place of this. Please click the link below for information that is traditionally shared at Back to School Night.

Parents - we need you to make sure your household information is updated in our school directory, Membership Toolkit! Please log into membership toolkit and update your family information, what contact info you want in the directory, and your child's teacher. This will ensure families can reach you through the school directory, that you receive HP PTCO updates (events, reminders, etc.) and that you'll receive messages from your room parents for teacher celebrations, class parties, and more. Check out the attached flyer for more information on how you can update your information and stay in the loop!

Dear High Plains Families,

Welcome to the 2024-25 school year at High Plains! We are looking forward to a successful year of fundraising to ensure that our school continues to provide amazing resources and learning opportunities for our students! The High Plains PTCO has agreed to take on the challenge of raising nearly $140,000 to help fund the following school programs and community events:

• ● Instructional Paraprofessionals* (non-special education) and Library Tech $118,000

• ● Grade-Level Field Trips $6,000

• ● Academic Enrichment Funds for

  Individual Teachers $11,000

● Field Day $750
● Classroom Parties $2,200
● Hospitality and Community Events

$8,000
● School Technology Maintenance &

Upgrades $3,000

*Instructional Paraprofessionals are a significant portion of the PTCO budget, serving an important role supporting our classroom teachers and students. These paraprofessionals assist with overseeing recess and lunchroom periods, administrative classroom tasks and additional staff support.

We are excited to kick off our fundraising efforts with our Hawk Pledge. New this year, Hawk Pledge is a year round opportunity to financially support our school. Through our PTCO Website, families will be able to set up a one time or recurring donation.

Mark your calendar for Friday, October 25th for Hawktoberfest. This is our annual fall auction and biggest fundraiser of the year. Please plan to join us for an evening of adult fun at Curtis Ballroom DTC, with a live band, food, silent auction, and much more.

Our large fundraising efforts will conclude in the spring with our annual Run-A-Thon. This is a student-led event where students collect pledges for each lap they run and receive fun rewards for funds raised.

Our Community Partners provide wonderful support to our school and our fundraising efforts. For more information on becoming a sponsor and the publicity opportunities offered, please contact Jessie Ippel at highplainssponsorship@gmail.com.

In addition to the large-scale fundraising efforts listed above, we offer a multitude of other easy opportunities to support the PTCO. These partners return money to the PTCO for doing a lot of the things you already do: dining out, grocery shopping, purchasing school supplies, and so much more!

• ● Hungry Hawks

• ● Donate while you shop (King Soopers,

  AFW, Minted.com, etc.)

• ● School Supply Boxes

• ● Spirit Wear

● Yard Signs
● Yearbooks
● Ad hoc opportunities

More information on all of our fundraising opportunities can be found on our PTCO Website. Furthermore, information will be available in Friday folders, High Plains Happenings emails, and school newsletters.

We appreciate your support and look forward to making this an extraordinary year for our Hawks!

Thank you for being a HERO,

Ashley Wilson & Robin Andersen PTCO Co-Vice-Presidents – Fundraising

*The PTCO budget can be found here: PTCO Website. Unless otherwise stated all funds collected go into the general fund to be used at the discretion of the Board.

**PTCO Website and Membership Toolkit are synonymous.